Remote Door Locks Do Not Work (stolen/recovered vehicle)

avy03 · March 12, 2019

Hi and thanks in advance for taking the time to review this post.

Vehicle: 03 Avalanche 8.1L

Issue: truck was stolen/recovered and now remote door locks/panic button (RDL) do not work

Overview:

* p. locks themselves work (RDL do not)

* upon inspection, the aftermarket security brain was taken (lol) as were both roof antenna’s (gps, onstar, sat radio)

* confirmed all wires to/from brain are spliced (not cut) into avy system, so all circuits are in tact

* key fob batteries are good

* tried reprogramming key fobs – no go

* disconnected battery for several hrs, tried to program key fobs again – no go

* all fuses and relays seem to work

So from the reading I have done it seems the roof antenna’s have nothing to do with the remote locks, correct? So, if this is true and no wires are cut or rerouted from the install of security brain and the key fobs work, why can I not reprogram the key fobs?

Oh, and if not, which antenna needs to be replaced?

Any suggestions to get RDL working again are appreciated?

p.s. apologies if this under the wrong subject

carnau · March 13, 2019

3 hours ago, avy03 said:

Hi and thanks in advance for taking the time to review this post.

Vehicle: 03 Avalanche 8.1L

Issue: truck was stolen/recovered and now remote door locks/panic button (RDL) do not work

Overview:

* p. locks themselves work (RDL do not)

* upon inspection, the aftermarket security brain was taken (lol) as were both roof antenna’s (gps, onstar, sat radio)

* confirmed all wires to/from brain are spliced (not cut) into avy system, so all circuits are in tact

* key fob batteries are good

* tried reprogramming key fobs – no go

* disconnected battery for several hrs, tried to program key fobs again – no go

* all fuses and relays seem to work

So from the reading I have done it seems the roof antenna’s have nothing to do with the remote locks, correct? So, if this is true and no wires are cut or rerouted from the install of security brain and the key fobs work, why can I not reprogram the key fobs?

Oh, and if not, which antenna needs to be replaced?

Any suggestions to get RDL working again are appreciated?

p.s. apologies if this under the wrong subject

Ok. Let me see if I can help you with this. The Keyless entry system actually only has 2 components on your vehicle. The Passenger door module (the antenna is internal) and the Transmitter. The Passenger door module communicates to the BCM that the transmitter button has been pressed and waaaalaaa the doors lock or unlock.

Does the passenger front door window switches and lock/unlock button work?

avy03 · March 13, 2019

Quote

Ok. Let me see if I can help you with this. The Keyless entry system actually only has 2 components on your vehicle. The Passenger door module (the antenna is internal) and the Transmitter. The Passenger door module communicates to the BCM that the transmitter button has been pressed and waaaalaaa the doors lock or unlock.

Does the passenger front door window switches and lock/unlock button work?

Appreciate the reply, that clears up a lot of misinformation being posted out there.

Yes, both the window & lock switches for the front passenger door work.

carnau · March 13, 2019

22 hours ago, avy03 said:

Appreciate the reply, that clears up a lot of misinformation being posted out there.

Yes, both the window & lock switches for the front passenger door work.

Ok, good. How are you trying to program the remotes?

Give this way a try. It may take several minutes of holding down the lock and unlock for it to learn. Don't stop after 10 seconds. I have had them take up to 2 minutes before.

avy03 · March 14, 2019

Yup done that many times. Even tried hold remote buttons down til the auto programming sequence reset at a about 3 min and 55 sec.

carnau · March 14, 2019

6 hours ago, avy03 said:

Yup done that many times. Even tried hold remote buttons down til the auto programming sequence reset at a about 3 min and 55 sec.

How may remotes do you have? If this isn't working you have 1 of 2 problems.

1.) The transmitter is faulty.

2.) The PDM is faulty.

Everything is self contained and if the module is working (door locks lock all the doors from the passanger door), then the communication wires are good to the body control module.

First thing I would do is try a new transmitter. Just because the transmitter tests good sending out a signal doesn't mean it is the right signal.

If that doesn't fix it, I would replace the Passenger door module.

Transmitter - https://amzn.to/2CiF9C4

19115820 Module - https://amzn.to/2u8P34T

avy03 · March 15, 2019

really appreciate your assistance.

2 transmitters and both worked prior to it being stolen, then upon recovery neither never worked.

do you happen to know which wire is the signal wire from the pdm to bcm and what the voltage would be if it was sending a signal?

carnau · March 20, 2019

On 3/14/2019 at 9:58 PM, avy03 said:

really appreciate your assistance.

2 transmitters and both worked prior to it being stolen, then upon recovery neither never worked.

do you happen to know which wire is the signal wire from the pdm to bcm and what the voltage would be if it was sending a signal?

I will check on that.

avy03 · March 20, 2019

33 minutes ago, carnau said:

I will check on that.

Much Apprecaited

carnau · March 21, 2019

The wire that goes from the PDM to the BCM is the tan wire terminal 22 on connector 2 of the PDM and light green terminal B12 on connector 2 of the BCM. Data wires don't carry voltage the way you are thinking. They have fluctuation voltage (normally between 2 to 7 volts on a meter) but no amperage so they will not light up a test light or anything along those lines.

The way to test and see if that wire is good without even touching anything is to lock the doors from the passenger door switch. If the drivers door or any other door for that matter locks. The wire is good. Here is the schematic for it though.

I know you think this has something to do with the vehicle being stolen. But it could just be coincidence. I am thinking either the remote is bad, or the PDM. If you have a friend with a 2000 - 2007 truck ask to borrow his remote. Try programming it to your vehicle. This will not cause it to loose the program to his truck. I have a 2001 sierra, 2004 silverado and two 2004 tahoes at my farm and I have one remote that will lock all the doors on all the vehicles. lol That way when I am getting ready to leave at night I can lust hit the one lock button and know all the vehicles are locked.

1999GMCSierraGranny · March 21, 2019

Can you give me advice on a window that dropped into the door while I was rolling it down? Later it rolled up a couple of inches then stuck. I can hear the window motor but it only moved up slightly then stopped. If the "motor" goes out is this what happens. Thanks

carnau · March 21, 2019

1 minute ago, 1999GMCSierraGranny said:

Can you give me advice on a window that dropped into the door while I was rolling it down? Later it rolled up a couple of inches then stuck. I can hear the window motor but it only moved up slightly then stopped. If the "motor" goes out is this what happens. Thanks

You have a bad window regulator. The rivet on the upper roller snapped.

Drivers side - https://amzn.to/2U2LETw

Passanger side - https://amzn.to/2umeWyg

avy03 · March 22, 2019

as always, i appreciate the assistance. hopefully this weekend i can do some more testing. i will grab my meter and start taking readings.

btw, 1 remote to lock 4 vehicles, thats ingenious.

coincidentally, i was able to find a brand new copy of the alarm that was originally installed in the truck. so will also try this to see if it makes a difference.

dtnel78 · March 22, 2019

Just a Fyi if you want to check for low voltage on the wires he was referring to you can use either a LED test light or a different type that I can't think of the name right now. DON'T APPLY POWER TO IT.

Vehicles these days are what they call ground side switched meaning the ground actually controls things.

Want to learn a lot about this stuff and much much more then check out

Scannerdanner.com

You can register and post on their forums as well and as long as you post following the recommended posting guidelines you will normally get help. There are plenty of very experienced text some even owning their own businesses and it is a great community.

Paul Danner or AKA scannerdanner has a online class you can take just as he teaches it to his technical school students did he has recorded and it's around 11 or $12 a month that you can set up on a subscription through PayPal. You can get a free two-week trial as well.

If you don't want to do that you can go to AESwave.com and buy his book there for $99 which is a hell of a deal considering everything he teaches you in the book then it's great reference material for when you're out there in the field, driveway, front yard working on your vehicle. Online is a heck of a course to do as well. I rewatch videos all the time.

I use the book almost daily but it seems I don't use it as often as I used to now that I've been learning more and more over the last few years. I also do mobile diagnostics as well. Yes it's a hobby but I get paid at times.

He even has some free videos that you post a YouTube from time to time but after they had a bad thing with YouTube and they're monetizing he created his own website and moved all of his videos over there. A lot of his followers went with him.

He generally teaches a few months at a time and then he does videos rotating with another teacher at the technical school in Pennsylvania. His son has been helping him do videos lately. I think he's earning a little extra money but I'm pretty sure dad takes care of him but he has to work for it.

Oh by the way the other type of test light I was talking about is a LOGIC PROBE.

If you go putting voltage to your vehicle for any of the control modules or the ECM you will ruin them if you don't know what you're doing. One thing I use and a add-on they have as an extra Safeguard is the Power Probe 4 and it has what they call a 5 volt reference adapter (purchased separately) as these vehicles these days run on a 5 volt reference system meaning the commands that come from the ECM, body control module another control modules are normally 5 volts Max.

There was a lot of very good Diagnostic and test procedures that you will learn just by watching his videos. I was skeptical on signing up for the online subscription but once I did it I was sold and you also get to see videos that others have to wait and see because you are what they call a premium content subscriber.

In reference to the Power Probe mentioned above Power Probe version number 3 and above are able to utilize the 5 volt reference adapter meaning that if you use it for testing wires and are worried that you will put too much voltage out the 5 volt reference adapter purchased separately for less than $15 on Amazon can limit your output voltage to 5 volts.

If you want to do work on your vehicles, if you want to get into electrical troubleshooting on your vehicle, if you want to eventually do your own work on your vehicle then this I highly recommend.

You will save so much money especially in diagnostic fees by doing your own work.

I have a 2004 Chevy Tahoe with 123400 miles and I haven't had any work done at the dealer since it had 60 thousand miles on it other than lifetime oil changes that I have which the $1,500 I paid for it back in January of 2005 has earned it's payback and then some. The oil change plan I bought was a every 3 months or 3000 miles. They tried to get me to come in every 5000 by putting the sticker at 5000 miles but I still come in at 3000 miles or three months whichever comes first because that's what I paid for in the same goes for my wife's car. If I ever change the engine they only check the VIN number in the dash so I'm still good then.

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