COSTAR-Tech Forum

2004 Cadillac SRX - Navigation - No Third Row Seating.

I received my bluestar this week and installed it. I no expert, just a hack. Here is my experience.

The Onstar unit is located in the right rear wheel well behind the subwoofer. In order to get to it I needed to dislodge and set aside the entire rear right side interior.

1. The first and maybe most difficult part was dislodging the circular plastic ring that surrounds the metal tie down located near the back of the second rows seats.
2. Fold down the second row seats.
3. Dislodge rear right side interior. I started from the back right top and worked my way forward. I was able to leave the seatbelt attached and the powered outlet connected and have the interior panel just resting off to the side.
4. Remove subwoofer. Unplug it, one bolt and two nuts (I think it was a 10mm socket and easier with extension) Should lift out completely.
5. Removed two nuts hold the onstar unit in place and tipped it forward freeing the hosing that contained the onstar, but not removing the onstar unit as it was required for the bluestar to function correctly.
6. Unplugged all of the connectors to the onstar unit, freeing it and the hosing. Set it aside.
7. Removed the black tape separate the two white plugs for the bluestar unit and retape so that they are separate runs. This will give you slack for connecting to the bluestar later.
8. I then opened the middle storage compartment and drilled a 1" hole in the lower back right side. I then feed the two white connectors and cable through this hole. I also used the drill to cut a rounded opening in the bottom of the interior panel so that the wires wouldn't get pinched.
9. Connected the bluestar and began testing. I had to install the 1028 software as the newer 1104 froze up on me several times requiring me to disconnect the white power connector to recycle the unit. This is primarily why I chose to locate the unit in the storage compartment, so that I would have easy access to it in the future.

When you are satisfied that everything is working:

10. Reinstall the onstar unit and tighten nuts.
11. Reinstalled the subwoofer and tighted nuts and bolt and reconnected the speaker.
12. Snapped the interior back in place.

This is one of the most difficult installs that I'm aware of. Thanks for detailing it.
Great idea to make it easily accesble, especially in this vehicle, this way its easy to update as features are added.
Thanks for the write-up!

I installed my Bluestar today (01/19/2013), and you're right. Installation in the SRX is a bear. I installed mine behind the panel in place of the OnStar, and ran a USB cable into the closed compartment just above and forward of the speaker box. I figured that way I would be able to program updates in the future without having to go through this again. I had an odd thing to happen during the install. After testing and before replacing all the panels, the entire electrical system of the car just stopped - totally dead - as if the battery were removed. I couldn't even remove the key from the ignition, and the battery read only 5V output. My mechanic didn't have a clue, but eventually hooked up a battery charger for about 20 minutes, tested the (almost new) battery, which proved healthy. Started the car and everything, the bluestar and everything else worked perfectly. I have to think it had something to do with the complexities of the Cadillac computer.