i have a 2019 chevy express van which i bought used. the radio never worked right - it always kept shifting to aux in, then randomly back to radio. i've finally taken it to my dealer who can put in a new one for $700 - that's $300 parts and the rest labor, approx.

i'm thinking of just having them do it, but that's a lot of money... i suppose i could hold off.... i plan to travel around in my van. i could always change my mind and have them do it.

another option is an after market, but i've never had one of those put in. i guess i'd worry that an aftermarket wouldn't fit right, or interface right ---- with the van. there's so much electronic computerized stuff on it.

any suggestions on the aftermarket idea? maybe i should just chuck out the whopping $700 for the radio and be done with it.

it's pretty disappointing though. that's a 2019.... thank you in advance

 

aftermarket will definitely be cheaper and packed with more features. But it won't last as long as an OEM.

 

You could get a used radio and put it in yourself. The dash comes out really easily.
You will just need to research the radio models and whether it needs to come with a password or not. I know some factory radios lock up if you don't record the password before pulling it out.

My parents got caught up with this kind of problem with their RAV4. The factory radio only lasted 2 years and the dealer wanted several thousand for a new replacement with no real guarantee that it would last. We went aftermarket but it never really integrated very well and would have cost as much as a factory radio to get it working properly. If you have a basic radio I wouldn't worry about aftermarket but some radios require half a dozen interface modules to get them working correctly.

 

thanks, guys.... i don't want to have someone else install a non-oemradio that will be kind of flakey... and i'm definitely not up to putting in a radio.

it's pretty upsetting that the factory radio has only lasted a couple years. but it looks like my choices are either stick with the barely functional radio presently in the van, or fork out the $700. since it's such a newish vehicle, probably better to fork out the cash........... just hate to do it. but aftermarket doesn't sound feasible; not with how complicated cars are, i guess. but i don't know much about installing radios...

well, open to other ideas, if any....

 

That's not covered under warranty? Or do you have more than 36k miles on it?

 

There are many reputable radio shops that do excellent work and are much cheaper than a dealer. It is pretty simple to do, but if you don't feel comfortable doing it yourself, i would take it to one of these shops. i have had warranty work done at dealers and they don't always do quality work.

 

if you get a factory replacement it will need to be vin matched to the vehicle. Only the dealer can do that.
if you go aftermarket...you will also need a chime module to provide signal and warning chimes that the factory radio produces thru the driver speaker.

 

Your vehicle uses a CAN or LAN system which is a network design where the different modules communicate with one another and if for any reason that communication is interrupted or prevented some unexpected things happen.. A lot of today's systems incorporate the radio as one of the modules.. Changing that build can open a can of worms and one way to do that is with an aftermarket radio.that is not designed to function in your vehicle.. To prevent problems, it would be wise to consult with a dealership tech that is aware of this and maybe he/she could prevent you from having problems up the road.

 

I bought a replacement radio from here: https://replacementradios.com/expres...-21_28_80.html

I purchased the BL7349-n model because my stock stereo didn't have a CD player and we liked the idea of having the 6 disk changer for basically the same cost as the single disk option. It was a direct replacement, the VIN-lock feature is disabled or wiped (or whatever they do, but all I did was plug it into the existing wire harness and it worked). The additional information on the website states that it's a lighter color, won't work with BOSE systems, and the chimes might be louder. It is not jet black, like OE, rather a dark graphite color, but it looks nice and blends in well. Back-lighting matches OE. I don't think there is a BOSE option on these vans, so that's a non-issue. I noticed my chimes (blinker, warning ding, etc.) are actually slightly quieter than with my OE stereo, but that's fine with me.

I'm surprised your issue isn't covered by the warranty, though.

 

thanks for replies! no, my vehicle has 48000 miles on it, so no warranty. i'm going to leave it the way it is, for the short term (probably long term too, lol, hopefully NOT). i'll look into aftermarket, but carefully. i really want something that will 'plug in'... if possible.

i spoke to my rep at the dealer. i wanted to make sure a) radio was broken (yup, the input apparently is broke, no way to fix, and the radio alternates between alt in and radio... frustrating). b) radio won't negatively affect van ( he said it won't) c) and i asked about aftermarket. he said as long as i don't go 'crazy' it should be fine.

so - i'll eventually look into aftermarket. the dealer, btw, wanted $700 to do the job.... that seems high.