I replaced the radio in my Alero this past weekend with an OEM unit that I bought on eBay. The original unit's CD player stopped working. It got to the point where it wouldn't even accept a disc. I found a service bulletin that instructed to disconnect power for 30 seconds. That fixed the problem of it not accepting a disc, but it still would not read it. You would have thought that the dealer service department would have followed the bulletin when I brought it in for diagnosis, but they didn't. That's another story for another day.

Anyway, I swapped them out, reconnected the battery, turned the ignition key and SOUND...for a split second. Then the radio went into "locked" mode and I had to have the dealer unlock it. This is done with a scan tool through the ALDL. The good news is that they didn't charge me for it and now I can play CDs. Mark one in the plus column for the dealer service department. I'm usually quick to complain, so I'll be fair and give credit when it's due.

That was pretty cool of them. Glad to hear that you can hear music again.

Don't look now, but the dealer's service dept is already planning on a way to frustrate you the next time the car comes in. I swear, when those guys are drinking that free coffee in the waiting room in the early morning (before the big doors open), they talk about what car they can screw up that day, and which ones they will fix to get the customer to come in one more time.

I haven't changed my big-picture opinion. I'm still planning to do whatever work I can myself. The service industry pretty much sucks across the board, dealerships included. You don't get what you pay for anymore. But, like I said, they did me a favor this time and I wanted to acknowledge it. They could've charged me the $30-50 that seems to be typical.

http://development.diaryland.com/20020903a.html

Just wanted to add a small note to this. I recently disconnected my battery and locked up my radio in doing so. Prob. was, I couldn't remember what MY sec code was and after several wrong attempts the radio went INOP and refused to accept any more codes. My Pontiac dealer told me to leave the ignition ON for 1 hour (not a minute less) and then push the 2 and 3 preset buttons which gave me a 3 digit code. Then I pressed the AM/FM button and it gave me a second 3 digit code. I called the Pontiac dealership w/ these codes. The made a phone call to get the unlock code, called me back and gave me a code to enter using the MIN and HR buttons and 'oila! radio works again!!!

hahahaha, this is hilarious because mine was locked out once, and I had to take it to the dealer to get it reset. I love the fact that it takes an act of God to get a FACTORY radio unlocked. Who's going to steal it???????? That is precisely why I just had a CD changer installed and connected to my factory radio. NO ONE WANTS TO TAKE IT!