[Dougmeister]

Hello folks, apologies for reposting this thread; originally posted in the other makes and models forum until someone helpfully pointed out that the Ampera forum is here.

Anyways, help/advice still needed, so:

Just sold my Nissan Leaf after 60,000 electric miles, and am just about to buy an Ampera to negate the mild anxiety which accompanied many of these miles!

So, the Ampera I'm looking at is said to have an "intermittent radio fault", whereby the display (presumably the one which shows what station you're on and your satnav etc) will go blank for any amount of time - sometimes weeks - and come back on for as long as it feels like then off again. I'm told that you can still hear the radio etc, just not see or interact with the display.

The seller (an EV specialist) has obtained a radio from a "donor" vehicle and fitted it, but it has not been coded to the car I'm about to buy. I ambeing offered a discount on the purchase price if I undertake to solve the issue with them myself,however, from phoning around the few Vauxhalldealerships who will work on an Ampera, they're basically saying that unless the radio was "disassociated" from the donor car prior to removal, then there's no way to do so after the fact, even if in possession of the VIN and VRM of the donor (which I would have). Furthermore, they're saying that even if it had been disassociated, they would not code it to my car. An anti-theft policy they say...

Does anybody out there know any different? I know it's not the end of the world, but my being precious about the radio not working might mean me losing out on an otherwise great car and going back to the drawing board.

Thanks in advance for any help.

 

[black_amp]

Your should have a 3.5mm input to use to connect into the car a radio or digital device

 

[donald]

Just ask an Ampera dealer how much for a whole brand new replacement radio, and deduct that from the price you believe is the right price for the car (with it working).

If you do anything other than that, then either sit in silence, or get a wad of notes out and just burn them, save yourself the trouble of all the intermediate steps.

 

[h8ten]

It may not be the radio but just the display unit, separate to the radio, and I would have thought that this was not coded to the car. The replacement radio might be fitted, screen will work normally for some time then the issue reoccur if it is the screen rather than the radio. The screen also displays the heater settings and other stuff so I would say that it is not quite a 'necessity' but a good bit more than a 'nice to have'.

 

[Jeffrey Cooper]

I have to say, that vauxhall dealer comment sounds like a load of *** to me; I know that it would take some fettling with the TIS2WEB software, but surely there can't exist a situation where the only replacement option is brand new can there ?

 

[Russ]

I would tend to agree with @h8ten that it would most likely be the display at fault which may not be coded as it won't be on the CAN network.
The ideal fix should have been to use the original electronics and swap the display.
Then again it may be bollox but the "EV Specialist" could fit the old radio etc and just try swapping the screen.

 

[Dougmeister]

So I didn’t realise I had a few replies, but, anyway, I went ahead and bought the Ampera after the seller took it to Vauxhall and had the radio fault corrected there. I have an invoice saying that they’ve coded it to the vehicle, but noted that the unit was supplied by the customer. Seems to be working great so far, and am loving the car, so fingers crossed it stays that way.

 

[Dougmeister]

Just ask an Ampera dealer how much for a whole brand new replacement radio, and deduct that from the price you believe is the right price for the car (with it working).

If you do anything other than that, then either sit in silence, or get a wad of notes out and just burn them, save yourself the trouble of all the intermediate steps.

The seller reckoned that he’d already done this, and Vauxhall had quoted £1200 for a new radio. To be fair, had that been taken off what I ended up paying for the car anyway, I would’ve felt like I was robbing the seller!