paulguy

Bose™ Amplifier Removal & Replacement http://www.chevyavalanchefanclub.com/cafcna/index.php?topic=44768.0 About half way down the page

The only real way that I know how to troubleshoot is to plug a new amp in. There's only two types of bose amp, luxury and non-luxury. Our trucks have a non-lux bose amp. Plug in a new amp, if you don't have sound, then it's the deck, but it's usually the amp that goes. It's not that bad to change out, I got it down to about 6 minutes. No programming involved. Hope that helps.

You said you were having clipping issues? The subs were making noise and you had to turn down the gain? You might have a bad sub. Check each sub for free movement up and down, take them out of the box if your not sure. Also put an ohm meter on the leads and check resistance somewhere where it's quiet. Should be whatever the coil rated for (usually 2 or 4 ohms). A partially burnt voice coil can lower the resistance on the sub, which can overload the amp and make it shut down. If the subs are fine then your amp is probably on the way out. On the note of ported box, here's the skinny...IMO. There's probably not enough space under the seat for two subs ported, and one ported sub isn't going to be as loud as two sealed, and it's pretty tough to build a box that under the seat that you can build the proper size and measure volume. It can be done, but it'll take alot longer($$$) then building a sealed box. It could be really easy to screw up and make it sound like poo. I don't do them, i tell the costumer it's sealed or nothing. I don't have any personal experience with the probox, so I can't comment. I build down firing boxes for our trucks most of the time and they can really hammer with the right gear. You can fit a lot bigger sub downfiring then up and without raising the seat. Hope that helps.

Check the fuseable link for the alt beside the engine, you know the one, with the red cover on it with the battery symbol. Also check all fuses. Check the alt, should be at least 13 to 14.4 volts when running. If not, it's not charging.

Ya... good advice from those guys. Now where's that sealed/ported switch...? Sorry, I don't mean to be a d_ck, maybe they're right. Basic setting of an amp is easy, since they sold you that box, ask them if they'll tune your amp to 'sealed' for you for free. The absolute best thing that you can do is find someone with good knowledge, who is willing to have a look and give you honest advice. Hope that helps.

Pull the battery out of the remote, that should let you know it's the remote. If it still starts by itself, unplug the starter antenna on the windshield.

If they sectioned the frame,my guess would be burn or pinched harness, it happens.

Go back to the shop, make them fix the paint and electrical problems, don't let it go too long. Doing shoddy work is stealing from customers. Don't let them get away with it.

It could be the interface, pull the head unit, unplug it, leave the interface plugged in, let the truck go to sleep, and check you draw. Then unplug the interface, check again. You said it was .2 amps, do you have a better way to measure? You should be measuring milli amps, not amps. 10-80 milli amps is the deference between a truck starting and not starting. Borrow a meter if you can, one with auto ranging is easy to use. The bcm goes to sleep faster if you latch the drivers door and leave it open.

I do alot of currnet draw repairs on these trucks, 4.5 amps is crazy, thats more then the draw from lights on! Are you letting the bcm go to sleep? Takes a while. Have seen a couple of head unit adapters drawing power, probably 50-100ma. check your hvac fuse under the hood.

There really is only the two brands, Viper and Compu. Both are good, I've range tested them(viper sst vs. compu 433) both of them where pretty equal in my tests anyway( Up to a mile or so).Compu has a longer range ss piece at 900mhz which is cool. Haven't range tested it myself. I done losts of both, the compu pro has more features than the viper, and myself i like it better, but thats imo. But don't take me word for it. You really want to find out whats best? Go to the install shops(good ones...not box stores), ask what installers run in their vehicles and what they install on the side, cause we always run the best stuff...unless it's free. Everyone in my shop runs compu, and we don't even sell them at our store. The interface module can make a difference on the way the starter/alarm performs too, but that's a different subject.

I put in a compu pro when they first came out, works awsome, and have been installing them for years(1999?) They just released their iphone/tracking piece to... really cool.

Ya dacron is poly fill, pillow stuffing. Get it at wallymart or wherever. Ported boxes have to be tuned to certain frequency, they need exact volume and port size, if not it can sound like farting in a jar. If it doesn't sound right, change box, subs, or both.

Only to a certain point, sealed is pretty forgiving but sometimes a too small of a box will really sound like poo. Stuff the box with dacron, load the subs and give them a listen. You can always keep the subs and get a custom box built if you don't like the sound. I've never seen a pre-fab box that has as much volume as a properly built custom box. And two 12's in a downfiring box should hammer pretty hard.

Sealed or ported it's the box volume that makes a sub sound proper. There isn't alot of room under the back seat, so most boxes are on the small side. The poly is used to increase the box volume(say 10-15%) and 'cheat' the box. Bigger is almost always better...smaller is bad. So depending on the box volume and driver requirements, you might need it...might not, but usually doesn't hurt. Hope that helps.

Ya 6 1/2 in the front. If you want more on the high end, then I recommend to upgrade your fronts (like more power, etc.). The rear speakers are just for fill and besides your ears aren't made to hear sounds from behind you(I don't even run rears in mine).

I don't know... gonna be tight, I do 5 1/4's all the time so with a little more cutting they should fit. The grill is only 4x6" so you might do more harm then good. You looking for more mid bass? I wouldn't waste your money on separates... A good coax would be fine.

What about x series avic's? Some guys are picking the x920bt up for about $700.

I have high and low hid's and because of the warm up time I don't use the highs that much but they come in handy... like on a back road late at night, where there's lots of deer(just hit one last year). But I tell ya.. It's just like driving in the day time. If you only look straight ahead at the road in front of you... you won't know the difference.

Just about grabbed some old style(96, 97, 98) 16" aluminum rims, you know the ones, with the plastic disk looking center caps. It was a buddy at a tire store selling them and he said we should make sure they fit... I'm like, pssh they'll fit... well they didn't. It's good that I didn't buy them. They hit the brakes in the rear I think. Can't afford winter 20's, so I got to find some 17's I guess.

Good to hear it all went well Ya, you have to file that metra trim ring down in the corners, but the ai kit has a bar in the center that you have to cut out and file down... way harder. I wonder why I can't get those outputs on the gmos-04 to work... maybe the trucks I get here(They're all built in oshawa) don't work with this bypass? It took me awhile to find the right overhead console too, a truck with home-link and no-sunroof isn't that common, but it'll turn up. You have to do a little re-wiring on that console, but it's not hard, there is an extra plug for the home-link, but it's only three wires, power, ground, and illumination. There's power and ground at the domelights, so you just need illumination run up to the roof. I don't know what is wrong with mine, but there is a grounding issue, the home-link only works after i push the maplight button on and off... then it works...weird. I don't mind though, a kind of hidden security for my garage door. That sucks about your truck not fitting in your garage... time to do some trimming.

The interface used doesn't really matter if it's on-star or not, as long as it's for bose. I use the metra gmos-04 at work, they're ok. Metra says they have outputs for vss, e-brake, etc for nav decks, but i've tried the outputs on a dozen trucks.... never works, just hook the wires up in the truck it's real easy. Don't use the AI kit(gm-k422) it sucks, you actually have to file part of it down to make it work. Use the metra kit(95-2003 i think). Your swi-ps will work great. I would use the bose amp, but that's my opinion. Bose doesn't sound too bad, just the sub sucks. I added home-link to my 03, just bought the console off ebay... had to run a illumination wire up top for the lights in the home-link.... easy. Make sure you get a non-sunroof console. I think I paid about $30. I've installed a crap load of avics in these trucks, takes about 25 minutes. If your doing your own install... You need to do a little trimming behind the radio, but it's not to bad, it's just plastic. There is a whole bunch of lt green wires at the junction below the column for the swips wire, make sure you test for the right one. It's high and to the left IIRC. Behing the pocket or pass air bag switch on a 03 is a great place to stick the swips, it's nice to be able to pop that out if you want to change programing on the swips, because you won't want to take the deck out again, you'll see. The gps antenna works great on the metal bar under the dash behind the radio. The vss at the cluster is the green/white next to the white wire(pin a4 i think), hook it up, it makes the nav much more accurate. The back up wire is lt green at the bcm under the column, i don't remember which plug.

Well that's cool... makes for an easy swap. I just sold a 6 disc I had from an install that was left over...sold it for $50, but I never heard back from the guy how much they soaked him at the dealer for programing. Up here in Canada I haven't been able to program radios for a few years, GM won't let us access the online tools. They did back when we used to do GM warranty, but they dropped that program.

I've never seen a bose single cd player, only 6 disk. If your going to a 6 disk bose from a non-bose deck, replace everything to add the amp. That's if you have a center console. Not worth it.

Thanks for the support guys. Well, I went to the dealer and argued with the service manager for quite a while, he wouldn't refund my money unless I would should him of a receipt for getting the repair done. Since I can't afford to have it fixed I guess I'm SOL. Maybe I should go back tomorrow since I'm not working and explain to him that I'm un-employed and I will go there everyday till he refunds my money. Na, that seems alittle overkill for $70. I went to see a buddy at an exhaust shop and he'll do some hi-flo cats for about $500. Or just changing to the large body magnaflow($300). What do you guys think? I'd like to have a tune done anyway, so I can get rid of the rear O2 sensors. I have to do something about the exhaust because I had some drone with the old-style flo-pro muffler, but with the cats gutted now it's really annoying. I like a good sound like it has now, but I don't want any drone. What about leave the cats, getting a tune and maybe a gmpp cat back($500ish)? Anyone run something like that? What about a corsa sport without cats? What do you think that would sound like? That's what I'd think I'd run if I can afford it. Any suggestions?