Guest Kingsley Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 I have a customer with a '90 convertible with only 6,400 miles on it - yes, that number is correct. His Reatta did not come with a CD player and, for the sake of completeness, would like to have one. He needs a very good one in terms of appearance so as not to compromise the overall appearance of the car and any mechanical problems should be fixable.Anyone have anything to offer?Thanks. This gentleman is a fomer GM employee and knows his cars. I am trying to see if he has anything Reatta-wise that he can contribute for everyone's benefit. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 If a Reatta did not come from the factory with a CD player then the wiring is not in place to just simply bolt one in. Two connectors on the back of the radio need to be added/changed and someone with some wiring experience needs to splice in about 15 wires.One of our "friends" on this site had a harness for sale a while back saying it was the harness to add a CD player but I have experience with at least 200 '90-91 Reattas and '90-93 Rivieras and have never seen a separate harness.Working CD players are very hard to find and equally hard to find is the black escutcheon plate that goes in front of the player. I have a black CD escutcheon available but only will sell it with a CD player.A few years ago I made up a schematic for adding a CD player and have the schematic and connectors available. I also have a good working CD player but I have to look through my recent emails as it might be sold.Normally I also have updated CD players but am currently out of the parts to update one. Will have some available in the future. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kingsley Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 (edited) Jim - email coming your way, thanks. Edited September 16, 2011 by Kingsley typo (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wws944 Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 Jim, I am surprised at your answer on the wiring harness. There are two wiring harnesses that were used between the center console and the back of the stereo - one only has 12v+lighting, and the other also has the CD connectors. Depending on how the car was ordered, one or the other was used. (Note that speaker connections use a different wiring harness.)It is a pain to extract the harness from a CD-equipped donor car, as they wedged it between the cowl and dash supports in a way that you have to take a bunch of the instrument panel apart, and do a lot of prying, to extract it intact. I have a spare that I extracted from a Riv, so speak from experience. (It is not for sale, as I intend to use it for a aux input project.)Fortunately, once you have the correct CD-specific harness, there is an alternative route for the harness to follow. So once you have the correct harness, retrofitting the CD player is fairly easy.Besides the player itself, the retrofit also needs the Reatta/Riviera-specific 'sled' that the player fits into, the front panel bezel, and the correct CD-specific harness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wws944 Posted September 16, 2011 Share Posted September 16, 2011 Photo of the CD player in its sled, a Riv fake wood bezel, and the wiring harness with CD player connections. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
reattadudes Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 wws944 is indeed 100% correct.I've sold over 30 CD changeover packages over the years, and have never had an issue with installation. there is a blue plug attached to the floor, in the console area, right below the Central Power Supply. with the new harness, it will on one end have the two plugs for the CD player, a blue plug to fit into the one on the car, and the other end has the plugs for the radio. no cutting, splicing, rewiring, or the need for an electrical engineering degree necessary.it must be noted that the Riviera or Reatta donor car has to be a 1990 model, as 1991 Reattas and 1991-1993 Rivieras have totally different wiring than the 1990 models.as wws944 pointed out, the harness is pinched between two parts of the dashboard assembly. we have found it's easier to pull the whole dashboard from the donor car to extract the harness undamaged. thankfully, there is a hole to thread the wiring thru when it's installed in the "new" car.GM offered many versions of the same CD player for different applications, with plugs coming out of either side, the back, the top, or the bottom. the faces all look identical, but the plugs MUST be on the bottom to work properly in a Reatta.it is nearly always a total waste of time to buy a Delco CD player on eBay for several reasons:1) 95% will not be operational. these were "generation #1" CD players, and they have a myriad of (easily repairable) problems. the most common problem is inserting the CD, and the "error' message will display, and spit out the CD. if you do buy one on the internet, plan on it not working, and that it will need refurbishment.2) most for sale don't include the bezel, bracket, and the all-important harness. without these other parts, the player will be useless. if you look at most of the photos on eBay, they will have a "length of wire". this is because they could not figure out how to remove the rest of the wiring harness. again, without the complete harness, it's useless.we have several CD players available, but sold the last changeover package with the correct harness (for now) last week.Mike Rukavinabuickreattaparts.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wws944 Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 (edited) Mike, I have not noticed any difference in the harness on 91-93 Rivs. The only part that hooks to "the rest of the car" is the blue connector - for 12v and lighting, and it is the same for all 90-93. (Perhaps a Riv with a Bose set up is different. But I have not encountered one yet.)Agree with Mike in that I have bought several of them - one on eBay and a few from the Pick N Pull. None of them worked. So I sent the one with the best cosmetics, and correct part # for my '90, to M&R for repair. One week and $175 later, I had a working CD player.I also have one that I pulled from a Trofeo. It is basically the exact same unit, except that it has a short pigtail connector coming out the back, and the mounting studs are on the side - rather than the top. Does not have the 'sled'. Electronically, there is no difference. It plugs right into the Reattas harness. Unfortunately, this one was bad too. I also pulled the harness. It is a lot easier to extract, and is almost identical to the one in the Reatta - but is about a foot shorter. Edited September 17, 2011 by wws944 (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCReatta Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 I am yet another to vouch for the CD player wiring harness. There IS a separate harness for it. I pulled one out of a '90 Reatta two weeks ago, and plugged it into another '90 and was able to make the CD player turn on, and accept a disc. It does work.There is a blue connector back behind the place for the cubby-hole/CD player. That is where you plug in either the standard harness or the CD player harness. I have a CD player that is yet to be refurbished by M&R. I was planning on sending it out next week. It is complete with the mounting bracket, black bezel, and wring harness. Let me know if you're interested. Once refurbished, it will be ready to install and enjoy in your Reatta. I will sell the unit before I have it refurbished though too. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Kingsley Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 PM on it's way to you now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCReatta Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 I also have one that I pulled from a Trofeo. It is basically the exact same unit, except that it has a short pigtail connector coming out the back, and the mounting studs are on the side - rather than the top. Does not have the 'sled'. Electronically, there is no difference. It plugs right into the Reattas harness. Unfortunately, this one was bad too. I also pulled the harness. It is a lot easier to extract, and is almost identical to the one in the Reatta - but is about a foot shorter.Walter, Have you tried the Trofeo harness to see if the length will work in a Reatta? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wws944 Posted September 17, 2011 Share Posted September 17, 2011 (edited) Have you tried the Trofeo harness to see if the length will work in a Reatta?No, I have not. The harness itself is maybe 14 inches shorter than the Reatta harness. This is compensated to some extent by the pigtail coming out of the Trofeos CD player - which is about 6 inches long. So the two together might leave you a bit short. OTOH, the alternative path downwards from the stereo is a bit shorter than the factory path, so might compensate a bit.I did try plugging the Trofeo player into the Reatta harness - just to see if it bucked the 100% non-working trend. Alas, it failed just like the rest of themIf you had a Trofeo version of the CD player and wanted to fit it in the Reatta sled, it shouldn't be too hard. You would have to remove the mounting studs from sides. (Trivial.) The cover plate on the top needs to be replaced with one from a Reatta that has mounting studs on top. Or the old top suitably modified for top mount - reusing the two studs you removed from the sides. There is also a white plastic piece that sticks out the back that needs to be unscrewed in order to expose the rear stud. And finally, you might have to trim the sled a bit for clearance for the pigtail. Not really a big deal.Mike R mentioned that some other cars in the GM fold came with the same CD player. Besides the Reatta/Riv/Toronado/Trofeo, anyone know which ones? Edited September 17, 2011 by wws944 (see edit history) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wws944 Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 ... Mike R mentioned that some other cars in the GM fold came with the same CD player. Besides the Reatta/Riv/Toronado/Trofeo, anyone know which ones?Looks like '90-'94 Sunbird is one. Has gray buttons on it, instead of black. Maybe red lighting too? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest my82roc Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 I just found a 90 reatta at a junkyard that came with a factory slave cd player.Unfortunetly the cd player was already gone but they left the black trim bezel intact :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest steveskyhawk Posted September 18, 2011 Share Posted September 18, 2011 It surprises me that they left the dark grey bezel behind. That is a unique part. Make sure you go back and get the CD wire harness if it is still there. I'm amazed that that there are junk parts guys that are unaware of this valuable harness. I am currently looking for one for a personal car. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest HessLakeGuy Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 It is amazing what you can learn in a few minutes just by reading these posts............. Tom Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
NCReatta Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 Looks like '90-'94 Sunbird is one. Has gray buttons on it, instead of black. Maybe red lighting too?Probably.. I wouldnt buy one..Anyone know if a last-gen Riviera slave cd player will work? maybe the harness too? I might tear one apart next time I see one at the u pick. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jim Posted September 19, 2011 Share Posted September 19, 2011 Probably.. I wouldnt buy one..Anyone know if a last-gen Riviera slave cd player will work? maybe the harness too? I might tear one apart next time I see one at the u pick.The later ones even though they look the same from the front will not work. I have bought about 5 of them in junk yards and everyone when I plugged it in to my test harness caused the radio to go wacky. The last time I tried was about a year ago and I think smoke even came from the CD player. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest my82roc Posted October 3, 2011 Share Posted October 3, 2011 It surprises me that they left the dark grey bezel behind. That is a unique part. Make sure you go back and get the CD wire harness if it is still there. I'm amazed that that there are junk parts guys that are unaware of this valuable harness. I am currently looking for one for a personal car.Ill be going back there next week.If the harness is there Ill make sure to grab it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Create an account or sign in to comment
You need to be a member in order to leave a comment
Create an account
Sign up for a new account in our community. It's easy!
Register a new accountSign in
Already have an account? Sign in here.
Sign In Now