Onstar hack 2001 Yukon XL

reggiek945 · 12-15-2004, 10:29 PM

I just wanted you guys to know that I have just tried this and it works great. I'm not even a good at soldering and it came out better than I thought. I recommend this to anyone who has onstar and want to use the gps.

http://openminds.net/onstar/

pimpJ · 12-15-2004, 10:33 PM

wow, looks interesting

WakeBdr · 12-15-2004, 10:33 PM

Just make sure you have the correct Onstar hardware. I have a 2003 Tahoe that has a different board in it. The 2003+ models have different hardware and cannot be hacked using this mod.

reggiek945 · 12-15-2004, 10:43 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by WakeBdr

Just make sure you have the correct Onstar hardware. I have a 2003 Tahoe that has a different board in it. The 2003+ models have different hardware and cannot be hacked using this mod.

Thanks for the heads up WakeBdr.

Question · 12-15-2004, 10:55 PM

Wow, awesome find reggie.

blaster · 12-18-2004, 04:58 PM

OMG, why people pay for "OnStar" and then for subscription?

Leddy · 12-18-2004, 05:32 PM

This has been around for a while and it's great.
I used http://members.cox.net/onstar which I believe was the "founder" of this mod.

I friend my converter somehow and still need to order another

cash_Money · 12-19-2004, 08:53 AM

Correct me if I'm wrong but there is a seperate GPS network for military uses. Does anyone remember several years ago when they made WAAS freely availble to the public?

Isn't the EU and China building their own GPS network?

grepzen · 12-19-2004, 09:12 AM

No, same network for mil and pub use. The mil has access to more signals that provide greater accuracy.

Peoples · 12-21-2004, 08:05 AM

How would you go about figuring out that you just need to solder these 4 pins to your serial port?....thats crazy? Do these guys work for onstar?

TaylorMade · 12-21-2004, 11:13 AM

Just got a 2K1 Denali and had to pull the carputer out of the jeep, but wasn't able to remove the GPS mouse from the roof... put it on too well, damn adhesive. I'll DEFINITELY be giving this thing a whirl.

Dudes99 · 12-22-2004, 09:51 AM

Quote: Originally Posted by grepzen

No, same network for mil and pub use. The mil has access to more signals that provide greater accuracy.

LAT/LONG + HEIGHT!!! Sweet for using as aimpoints for PGM's.

SnyperBob · 03-12-2005, 06:25 AM

Nice information guys. Thanks for the links, I will be sure to look further into this

Saab9-5 · 03-12-2005, 06:16 PM

Quote: Originally Posted by WakeBdr

Just make sure you have the correct Onstar hardware. I have a 2003 Tahoe that has a different board in it. The 2003+ models have different hardware and cannot be hacked using this mod.

OnStar started its switchover in 2002 so some cars have the correct modules and some don't. The easiest way to tell is if there are two boxes - one is the computer, the other is the cellphone used by OnStar. The newer modules are a single box with the GPS and cellphone integrated into the circuit board.

Quote: Originally Posted by Peoples

How would you go about figuring out that you just need to solder these 4 pins to your serial port?....thats crazy? Do these guys work for onstar?

No, some people just enjoy hacking stuff apart to figure out how it works. Reverse engineering can be fun sometimes.

The GPS module used inside the older OnStar boxes is actually a Motorola GT Plus OnCore GPS receiver. Details are here - http://www.motorola.com/ies/GPS/products_legacy.html. I pulled the OnCore module out of an old OnStar unit I got from the junkyard and used a modified version of the first circuit on this site - http://neutrino.phys.washington.edu/~berns/K2K/TACGPS/ - to build an RS232 serial interface for the board. Its been working great ever since. I can post the modified schematic if anyone is interested.

TaylorMade · 03-12-2005, 06:49 PM

I haven't been able to start this little venture yet, but it IS intriguing me more and more every day. I do have a question, though. In the 2001 Yukon, is the GPS antenna above the rear view mirror? And if so, how is the reception??? I know I had fits with my GPS antenna being inside my last car, so I moved it to the roof where it worked great. Next stop is finding the box to hack away!