OK I'm looking at hving an aftermarket stereo installed and the dealer is telling me I need to do one of two things:

1. I can get a wiring harness and have the stock stereo remote mounted and the new one installed in the dash in order to keep the data bus happy and keep everything working like normal.

2. Or, I can purchase a module that will emulate the stereo and it plugs in behind the new stereo to keep all functions working.

What the heck is this data bus all about and is it all neccessary? Is the car stereo dealer pulling my leg? :confused:

I tend to trust this guy but I would like more information and a reality check. Thanks for the help.

yeah you gotta run the modules if your gonna put in an aftermarket deck..........theres 3 of them and jpcustoms has them all.......

1 is for the on star if equipped
1 is for the bose if equipped
and the other is for the steering wheel controls

from what i hear if you use an aftermarket deck you also lose the rear radio ......
someone please correct me if im wrong!!!

A little more info... I don't have Onstar, I don't have steering wheel controls and I have a standard AM/FM/CD deck. Not sure if it is Bose or not. Sounds like I'll need 1 module at most. Any configurations in an 02 that don't require the module?

No, 02's are not data bus. He doesn't know what he is talking about. The Stereo installation is simple no extra modules required.

Max Power is right, I've got a custom stereo and deck in my 02 and there was absolutely no extra modules needed. You can buy one for the onstar, but since you don't have it no worries. We don't have bose or steering wheel controls. Just buy a wiring harness ($10-20) for your new deck which will plug into the truck's wiring harness.... The wires coming from the new harness will be color matched to the harness coming from your new deck... Match them up and your done.

Hooollld on ! I do have onstar and i do have steering wheel controls but they no longer work because of my after market deck. To my knowlege there is no way to make them work. So are u guys saying i can make my onstar and steering wheel controls work with my aftermarket deck? If so PLEASE tell me how i miss onstar!

Aron, look at these 2 links.
http://www.jpcustoms.com/store/customer/home.php?cat=305
http://www.jpcustoms.com/store/customer/home.php?cat=310

Thanks for the replies, everyone. I THINK the installer would have been straight with me when I got the stereo put in, but it's always nice to be "in-the-know" before having something like that done. He didn't look in the truck, just went off the year and description and said it would take a module to fix the data bus.

I guess the up-side to this is the fact that I could probably do it myself. I may tackle this and just pay for the nicer stereo.:ro)

Again, thanks for the info.

Do it yourself... It's VERY easy. Lots of people here to help if needed. Just pull the dash bezel off, pull the head unit out with the tabs, unplug harness from radio. Plus new harness into truck harness and get your new head unit... Match the wires and solder or "button" if you want... Reverse process. Done.

Max power thanks that is what i have been searching for, ill order them tonight thanks again.

For those of you with Bose, OnStar, and Steering Wheel controls you can also look at soundgate.com. They are supposed to be a high end audio interface manufacture.

No, 02's are not data bus. He doesn't know what he is talking about. The Stereo installation is simple no extra modules required.
oops my bad didnt know that 02's didnt need all that stuff.......

I did an Alpine deck on my 2002 and the guy I bought it from said the same thing. He said I could not do it due to the can bus.I knew it was BS and I went ahead and installed the deck anyway. After, I went back and "educated" him a little....It really is cake. Buy a good quality mounting kit I used crutchfield) wire it up on a bench and swap them out. Really easy.

For an 04: The wiring harness was like 90 bucks so way more than a normal wiring harness due to the data bus stuff. However the nice thing about it is since the stock stereo made the ding tones, the new wiring harness came with a little dinger box, so before I installed it I tore the wire off the little dinger speaker and now my truck has no loud annoying dinger when I leave the door open and listen to the radio. Sweeet. Other than waiting for a new harness it was quick and easy. Did it 3 days after buying the truck, only took so long because I had to wait for the harness. I already had the stereo and sub and amp from my old truck...