can bus - effects of non-twisted lines
Just came back to answer this:
* twisting seemed to reduce the number of errors the system was reporting.  But it didn't solve the disconnecting issue.
* found that the connector didn't quite plug into the AV unit tight enough, and that one of the can bus wires had a little too much play in the connector.  The connector is probably just a bit different than the OEM allowing for some "wiggle".

Either way, thanks for the discussion and it certainly helped/made a difference.