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I have a 2001 Venture that needs a battery replacement. Will disconnecting the battery activate the Theftlock system in my stereo? My impression is that the VIN is stored in flash memory, so a constant power source is not needed. But I'd rather not have to find out the hard way that I was wrong!

If power indeed needs to be maintained, what is the easiest way to do this? I have a portable booster, and was thinking to hook it up to the power before removing the battery.

Thanks!

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Yes it will, if that feature has been activated on your radio. Check you owners manual as the code is sometimes put in there.

You can use the booster as you mentioned. I would recommend plugging it into the cigarette lighter, they make an adapter like the one show below to do the same thing.

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Not for your situation but for the benefit of others, do not use this method if you are working on the airbags, or the high voltage systems on hybrid-electric cars, even the 9-volt battery has enough power to keep the airbags and or high voltage system enabled

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I think you're referring to the old theft-prevention system; currently it does not work with codes, but with comparison to the vehicle's VIN via a data link to the BCM. – Dave Aug 15 '11 at 19:58
@dave Could be, I would have to look up that year to be sure. Keeping the system powered with the jump box will prevent it from going into theft lock if it's the older system, if it's the newer system it won't matter either way. – Larry♦ Aug 15 '11 at 20:52
I had an incident with a Tahoe battery replacement where the blend door servo attemted to home after the power loss and locked up.The 9v adapter would have been a good preventive measure. – mikes Mar 9 '12 at 3:02

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