2004 Malibu Tech Question

[flr576]

Anybody know how to take the front part of the dash board apart to be able to get to the back of the radio, I want to put an FM modulator in for Xm Radio. Thanks

[burly]

The black trim panel is held in by simple pressure tabs. If you start at the bottom and work your way up it comes off fairly easily. The trim piece surrounding the ignition will also come off when the black trim panel does. Simply place it back in the trim panel before replace the panel.

[e2helper]

Originally Posted by flr576

Anybody know how to take the front part of the dash board apart to be able to get to the back of the radio, I want to put an FM modulator in for Xm Radio. Thanks

Actually because of the way the major trim parts are layered you will need to also take off, or at least loosen the "knee bolster" on driver side and glovebox on passenger side before trying to pull off the center trim panel covering the radio and HVAC control head. There are probably a good 10 screws (all 7 mm) that need to come off. Lots of snap in clips too.

As other poster said start at the bottom of the center trim panel when taking it off (although I think he might have been describing the previous model). It snaps on. Remember to disconnect the wiring to the Hazard switch before moving the trim panel out of the way. The HVAC control head also needs to be unbolted to take out the radio. The radio has 2 connectors (besides the coax). The smaller connector has the aux input used by XM, OnStar and the DVD system.

[burly]

E2helper: Do you own a 2004 Malibu ?

The reason I ask is I have taken my dash panel inset around the HVAC and radio off many times and it requires no tools and involves no fasteners or removal of other trim pieces. Also, there are no DVD, XM or OnStar systems available for the 2003 and earlier models. I am assuming that since flr576 is adding an FM modulator for XM, that he does not have a system that accepts XM connections directly and is therefore probably driving a 2003 or earlier vehicle. If it is a 2004 Malibu, then I have no clue how to remove the trim.

[e2helper]

Well, I don't actually own a 2004 Malibu but I do know quite a bit about it .

I thought he was talking about a 2004 Malibu due to the subject line.

[burly]

Haha. boy did I miss that one. However that does bring up a point - if the factory radio is XM radio, why the modulator ? or is it dependant on the stereo option?

[burly]

Man, I feel dumb

[e2helper]

Originally Posted by burly

if the factory radio is XM radio, why the modulator ? or is it dependant on the stereo option?

Hey np, I am just trying to help (hence my name). Anyways you are correct. Truthfully I don't know how the FM modulator works in regards to what he would have needed to tap into....

More details on 2004 Malibu Audio system.......

There are 3 different levels of radio: Base CD player (single line display), Uplevel CD (dual line display) and 6-disc CD changer (also dual line display). The base CD doesn't have this aux input capability (you can't get OnStar, XM, etc with it). All radios have a Driver Information Center Function built into the display which is used for: Radio display (of course), Driver Info stuff (fuel economy, fuel range, etc), Warnings (Low Coolant, Door Ajar, Check Gas Cap, etc) and Vehicle Feature Personalization (English/Metric, Auto Door Unlock operation, Remote Start Enable, etc). It is going to make anyone who replaces radio with aftermarket lose a lot of functionality.

The DVD I mentioned is only an option on Malibu Maxx model. It is an integrated Rear Seat Entertainment system in the center console (DVD player is in console) and it has a flip up LCD screen.

XM and OnStar both introduce their own remote module in the vehicle that communicate with the radio over serial data and sends audio signals to it thru the aux inputs I mentioned (OnStar uses a mono input and XM/DVD use a Stereo input). The XM and OnStar also have their own antenna on roof of vehicle. OnStar antenna is a combined antenna performing both Cell Phone and GPS functions.

The radio isn't set up to use these inputs like you would a home stereo. Any device hooked up to the inputs needs to be communicating over serial data with the radio so that the radio knows it is there and can switch over to using its audio input instead of normal AM/FM or CD player (something called "audio arbitration").

So in reality I probably shouldn't have responded on how to access the back of the radio without understanding the function of this FM modulator thingy but I am new to this forum and just wanted to respond to something (LOL)

[burly]

The FM modulator is just an FM transmitter. It transmits its signal on the FM band (usually at one of a couple user selected frequencies) at a very low wattage. The user just tunes their radio into the specified frequency and viola, whatever signal the FM modulator is receiving (CD changer, XM, etc.) is played through the factory sound system. Its best to place the modulator close to the FM antennae, since it has a low output wattage and signal quality falls off quick with distance. Thats why I found it a bit odd that the someone would have to get to the back of the radio, as that is the main reason for an FM modulator - you don't have to connect physically to the headunit.

[ponchonutty]

Originally Posted by burly

The FM modulator is just an FM transmitter. It transmits its signal on the FM band (usually at one of a couple user selected frequencies) at a very low wattage. The user just tunes their radio into the specified frequency and viola, whatever signal the FM modulator is receiving (CD changer, XM, etc.) is played through the factory sound system. Its best to place the modulator close to the FM antennae, since it has a low output wattage and signal quality falls off quick with distance. Thats why I found it a bit odd that the someone would have to get to the back of the radio, as that is the main reason for an FM modulator - you don't have to connect physically to the headunit.

Yep, sort of. It DOES need to be connected to the radio via the antenna cable. On some of the XM units, you can actually hook it up where there are any OEM splices. Like on the '04 Caravans there is a plug right behind the glove box and on the new impalas, you can unhook the plug right at the antenna base.

All of this is a little redundant to a certain degree. The downside of using anything that incorporates an FM mod is sound quality. 1st is the sound from the new source is only as good as the radio it's being played through. Then, the whole process of using the tuner loses most, if not all of the clarity it has. I personally have listened to the difference between many things using FM mod and direct feed.

Personally, I have yet to play an OEM stereo that I liked. I feel that they are way overpriced versus what you could get aftermarket. Then the fact that car makers try to force you to HAVE to use their radios because they put databus items in unit makes me real mad! SOme cars you can not change the radio or you will loose things like lights, controls, and keyless entry!

[St0rmD]

Originally Posted by ponchonutty

Personally, I have yet to play an OEM stereo that I liked. I feel that they are way overpriced versus what you could get aftermarket. Then the fact that car makers try to force you to HAVE to use their radios because they put databus items in unit makes me real mad! SOme cars you can not change the radio or you will loose things like lights, controls, and keyless entry!

I'm more than a little annoyed by this "feature" of the 04 Malibu myself. The upgraded factory stereos are way too overpriced for what they offer, and I'm not very optimistic about the quality of the components they use. For instance, the CD player in my LS skips real easily, and there's one CD I have that skipped frequently despite the fact it was brand new (I literally took it out of the case for the first time after buying it, put it in the CD player, and skip skip skip).

I'm kinda figuring out my budget for the rest of the year, and something I'm considering is working on an aftermarket replacement for these new GM stereos, especially figuring out the interfaces so that people can add new things. My ambition is to make a fully-functional "carputer" that would offer all the features of the DIC, but on a color LCD touchscreen, with the following additional features:

digital audio storage/playback (support for arbitrary hard disk drive, wide variety of codec support, and possibily the ability to extract/encode CD-audio for later playback)
on-screen map with gps navigation
ODBII diagnostics


I'm sure there's other cool applications for this monster. I thought about video playback, but that might be kind of dangerous. Another thing I thought about was wireless connectivity. There's several approaches to this, each with different advantages/applications. For instance, with bluetooth, I could integrate rather heavily with my laptop, PDA and mobile phone, possibly even allowing an in-car speakerphone application, short-range file-transfer with my laptop, etc. Wi-Fi allows a bit more range, including internet access from home or near hotspots (war-driving anyone?) for map-updates, etc. the last approach would be to install an Aeronet card, allowing true wireless internet connectivity in most areas, which I'm sure could be useful for something, but might get sort of expensive

Of course, budget and (lack of) engineering ability might force serious re-evaluation of my requirements, depending on how hard it is to figure out how the OEM stereo interfaces with the car, and how I approach building the device. I'd probably be happy with just a big hard drive and a mp3/ogg/flac player if I could work it into the XM/DVD interface and reverse-engineer the basic playlist-controls to operate it from the head-unit...

[rgarciao]

A few months ago I took my car to a shop to install a Delphi FM modulator. Before you take the dashboard, you need to know that the antenna will need an adapter to hook to this modulator and the modulator will need another one to hook on the car radio. And yes, you will need to remove the full dashboard that is held by around 10 screws.

Regards,

Rafael: )

[Crazy Serb]

Originally Posted by rgarciao

And yes, you will need to remove the full dashboard that is held by around 10 screws.

Is that the case with a 2000 model as well? And where are the screws located? On the sides, close to the glove box/driver?