Radio controls in Steering wheel

[jayco59]

More work needed

I intend to do more work with this issue, I've been a bit side tracked with work and other things. My steering wheel is still all torn apart so I am still planning on working on it.
I agree that it's a nice convenience. My wife has radio controls in her Buick and I really miss it in my G6. I need to get the actual switch from a dealer or junkyard and I'll also need a wiring diagram to check more into what wires are actually in place.
I'll keep you notified.

[LoJac963]

awesome, thanks man.

[v6h.o.]

SIR coil = Supplemental Inflatable Restraint coil, The little wiring connection between the column wiring harness for the SIR (airbag) through the column to allow for you to turn the steering wheel without having wires twist up.

The difference between steering controls and non equipped steering controls is quite a bit. Its more than just adding the switches. Requires the proper column and wheel. And in some cases even more such as the wiring is not even there to begin with.

[LoJac963]

Update on getting radio controls in our non-equipped cars??

[jayco59]

Still looking

I'm still hunting for a wiring diagram and I need to get off my azz and buy the switch. It'll be a while before I get it all in place.

If anyone knows a good source for wire diagrams and repair manuals for an 06 G6 that would be helpful.

[LoJac963]

Wasn't the switch under $100 or close to it??

[jayco59]

If I remember right it is less then $100.00, but there may be a lot more involved, up to and including a complete removal of the steering wheel and this SIR coil. We're talking airbag issues and steering wheel linkage. The job may be too much for an amateur mechanic like myself.
I was hoping there was either a wire harness in place waiting for me to plug in the switch of an available plug to insert an umbilical from the switch.

[LoJac963]

I was really hoping the wiring harness would be just sitting there also, what a dissapointemnt! Let us know if you find anything else out or do you plan on just scrapping the idea?

[jayco59]

One Step Forward Two Steps Back

Well I got some good and bad news today. I went to my dealer (both Parts and Service work 1/2 days on Saturday! ) with the right silver piece (Bezel) from my steering wheel in an attempt to figure out what I need to order. After several explainations of what I was trying to do and a lot of negativity I finally got the parts guy to work with me. We discovered that there are two seperate parts for the switch, the actual switch itself and the outer silver bezel that holds the switch (similar to the piece I removed and was showing him). The only problem is the silver bezel is not yet available as a spare part, but the switch is. Secondly, the diagram that we were looking at (there are several configurations of steering wheels (3-spoke, 4-spoke, leather, radio controls,...)) showed a wire harness that looked like it went to the left (cruse control) and the right (radio controls) and I asked him for that part as I could not find a wire in my current car to hook up to. Well he was able to determine by VIN number that my car already had the harness that we were looking at in the diagram that went both ways. The only problem is, as I have verified, my current wiring does not "go both ways"!

I need to catch my breath!

At this point I needed to get a better look at my steering wheel inner guts, so I went to the service department and asked them about removing the airbag module from the steering column so I could see the wiring clearly. He gave me the the procedure for removing the airbag module (piece of cake) and against all hope I still could not find the wire that was supposedly there! Well at least now I can get the front of the steering wheel off and easily get at the wiring. If anyone wants to know how to do that I explain it in a seperate note.
With all this excitement I ended up ordering the switch without the (currently unavailable) bezel just to see what it comes with. If I like what I see I may order the wire harness that is supposed to hook up both the cruise and radio controls even though it's the same PN as the current harness I have in the car. Maybe there's a mistake in the diagram.

I was hoping this would be easier then this!

[Smoove]

they give you prices?

[jayco59]

Price

Yes they did...
All price are approximate

Switch - $35.00
Bezel (currently unavailable) - $50.00
Wire Harness - $25.00
Depending on what I see with the switch I might just rework my existing bezel to accommodate the switch.

[ShadowLab]

That's great news. I'm glad you got someone that was willing to work with you on this. The bezel you can probably fabricate yourself from your existing piece or try and find a junker with the steering controls, bezel, and wiring harness.

I'm also really glad to hear that they gave you a step-by-step about removing the air bag and that it was a piece of cake to remove. I wonder if this will remove any liability on their part should an accident ever occur and the air bag fails to deploy.

Keep us posted on how everything turns out and if you have a digital camera you might want to take some incremental shots of your install process, because you know a ton of people are going to want to make this mod when you are done.

Kevin.

[LoJac963]

JAYCO-Definitely take some pics of the disassembly of your steering wheel and put them in the How-To section-you can always update your How-To as you get further into it. I want the radio controls so badly in my car so I'm with ya.

[jayco59]

Got the Switch

Ok, I'm another step closer. I picked up the switch at the dealer today and spoke to a different parts clerk who was much more accommodating. But the same issue persists, which is, the part # of the Wire harness that indicates it's for connecting up the Radio Control Switch is the same as in my car (according to the parts guy). The part number that's supposed to be the correct one is 15815062. When I had my steering wheel apart the number I got off the existing harness was 16899361. The only problem is that the 168... number does not come up as a valid part in the GM system. The new parts guy is going to contact GM with this issue and try to make any sense out of it. I was going to just order the 15815062 harness but I'm now waiting until Monday after I talk to the parts guy who's calling GM.

Anyway here are some pictures on the switch. There a bit out of focus (I don't have a macro mode on my camera) but you get the idea.

Photo 1 - Front shot of the switch:



Photo 2 - Backside of the switch showing the connector (which is very similar to what you'd find on a CD player's audio connector that's used inside computers):


Photo 3 - Close-up of connector (4 pins):

[Teelo]

keep up the good work man