Ok so I have a 01 Suburban 8.1l and when I bought it the previous owner took out his after market radio and subs and put the factory head unit in.. it's the Delco theft lock unit. And it does not produce sound what do I need to do to fix his issue. Me and my pops are completely stumped

P.S it has the OnStar built into the dash

 

These factory stereos are complex. You can find info all over the internet about it. The stereo is interconnected to the on-star and has a built in amp. If any of these are not taken into account the stereo will not work. There are adapters and of course, you can completely go with a new system.

 

So would it be best to just put in aftermarket

 

Myself, having more money than time, I'd just go aftermarket and let the installer figure everything out. I had an aftermarket head unit installed in my '01, and it worked great.

 

When people go aftermarket they frequently bypass the stock system entirely and use their own amplifier. The options are pretty endless if your going with an aftermarket system. The stock speakers are probably shot. If they are still good or have been replaced then a lot of the work is already done. However, replacing the speakers is easy. I kept the stock Delco stereo and replaced my speakers and sub-woofer. I didn't want to fool with the On-Star and factory amp issues. If I had decided to replace the stereo I would have had to pull new wires to bypass the stock amp that Chevy uses and the On-Star. Nevertheless, it's not a complicated thing to do. My guess is that the previous owner had to rig something to make the aftermarket system he used to work. So, the stock head may be pretty hard to get working. Stereos are cheap these days. I'd go with a new aftermarket and save the aggravation.

 

Thank you so much for the info guys