Man, there’s some good info on this forum! I’ve been reading and researching for a while now in preparation for buying my first ‘vette. I’ve found the car… a ’99 C5 coupe. Now I’ve got a couple of those “newbie” questions.

1) Column lock problem
Wow, lot’s of stuff written about this. My bottom line question is this… The car has the A4 trans and has had the GM recall done. Does that take care of the problem? I know there’s the bypass kit available, and I'm sure there will be those that say go ahead and install it, too. But if the recall does the trick, I’d rather spend those few bucks on something else. I've read a lot about this, but have never quite gotten a good feel for whether or not the recall does the job.

2) Radio
The car has the Bose amp/speaker package and the 12-disc CD changer in the back. But the head unit is just the base AM/FM unit with no single CD player up front. Looks like it would be pretty easy to pick up one of the GM head units with single CD that was optional on the car (I don’t want to go to an aftermarket unit… I want to stick with GM OEM unit). My question is… will the single CD head unit work OK with the remote 12-disc changer?

How big a deal would it be to have an audio shop do the swap? I’m always a little nervous about taking apart dash panels and interior stuff. Sometimes they never seem to fit back exactly right or end with squeaks and rattles.

Thanks!

 

Don't know about the audio, but if the recall on the column lock was done right, you should have no more problems with the automatic.

 

YES

Yes The swap is a piece of cake for a profesional, and not even very challenging for a DIY'er

 

that about covers the questions. Good luck with the purchase and welcome to the forum.

A4 with a recall should mean no more column lock issues for you.
The head unit swap should be a piece of cake and be plug and play.

Paul

 

neither issue should be a problem . The lock issue is not so much of a problem for A4s , my 97 has had the fix and no problems so far .
The radio swap is a piece of cake , even for a Newbie . But a competent audio shop should be able to swap the radio in 15 minutes.

good luck on your purchase , you are in for one hell of a ride

 

1. Yes.

2. Yes.

 

Hey, thanks so much for the info. I really appreciate it!

 

Once you get past the radio, there are hearders, catbacks, heads, cams, intakes, etc. Hold on you are in for a treat!!!!!

 

Hearders?