• If you currently own, previously owned or want to own an Avalanche, we welcome you to become a member today. Membership is FREE, register now!

Door Ajar Bypass?

zr2s10

Full Member
Joined
Apr 9, 2013
Messages
119
Location
Chicora, PA
Does anyone know the best way to bypass the door switch on an 03 Avalanche? I have an enhanced inspection (for r-title) on Friday, and they said there can't be any warning lights or indicators on at all, or it'll fail. I also don't feel like paying $210 to replace a perfectly good latch, just because GM decided to build the sensor into it!
 
There is no easy way to bypass it.
 
Small electrical tape over icon. Redneck engineering
 
The alert is not a light, it's displayed in the VIC when you put the truck in gear. It also prevents the alarm from arming when you lock the doors. The parts guy recommended taking it apart and cleaning it, so I might try that tomorrow before I haul it to the inspection place, and hope for the best.

*edit: just noticed I had VIN, not VIC written above  :beating:
 
Try removing the DDM fuse and see if it comes on.

PS pray they do not notice the door is dead.
 
I think the check all the locks, so that may not be better, lol. If it's just a two wire, I figured it could be jumpered or disconnected to make it think that it's always closed, but I wasn't having any luck with that.
 
I think I would try to fix it myself, it should not be hard to figure out.

 
Well, still no luck. I messed with it for an hour yesterday before I gave up for the night (had already been at the garage for several hours).  I tried disconnecting it, jumpering, all the wires look good (pulled the trim panels), and even tried grounding the wire directly at the BCM, with no luck.  I'm assuming that the switch creates some sort of pulsed or specific voltage signal?  This weekend I'll swap it with one from my parts truck and hope for the best, but I hate messing with all the stupid plastic clips that the rods are attached with.  They seem to be brittle on everything I've worked on in the past!
 
I talked to two other places that couldn't get the truck in until next week, but they said they would pass that since it's not an indicator light like ABS or Brake or Check Engine.  I didn't get to talk to the guy directly at the place my truck is at now (receptionist didn't know, boss was busy, dropped truck off after hours), but hopefully he feels the same way! If not, I'll be working on it in his parking lot, lol.  My dad's old Tahoe does NOT like towing Avalanches!  :9:  Thought it was gonna scatter it's Vortec 350 all over the highway on the steep grades, lol.  Of course, maybe if he tuned it up more than never...
 
Just talked to a co-worker that's an electrical guru.  He said if the wiring is all good, and a jumper won't fix it, that it must be a hall effect sensor that detects when the door pin is close to it.  Looks like I'll be replacing the latch no matter what.  But that's probably a good thing to have once my son gets old enough to try to open car doors on his own!
 
Just an update, that while I haven't gotten this issue fixed, I did manage to get the truck inspected!  They said since it wasn't an ABS or Engine light that it was okay.  Also, even though it has popped up every time I've moved the truck, apparently it's somewhat intermittent.  While driving it yesterday, all of a sudden the doors locked, then two seconds later it alarmed and notified me again about the door.  So it thought it was closed for a second, then re-opened.  I'll get right on this once I fix my wheel bearing that went bad in two days, and fix my HVAC control that blows hot air on me, while calling for a/c, but blows cold air on the pass side, lol.
 
Another update on this issue:
I never bothered to mess with this, since the light override keeps the battery safe, and it usually works just fine.  Well, the other day, it kept going back and forth, constantly dinging and locking the door, for a minute or two, then did it again a few other times.  :E:
I figured I would rather just deal with it dinging only when I put it in gear, so I popped the door panel off, and pulled the clip for the door sensor, so it would just always read open.  Put it back together, drove it to work.  When I left, it dinged that the door was open, as expected.  Unexpected:  after a few miles...the doors locked.  When I got to work, parked, and the doors unlocked.  Alarm arms and beeps like it thinks the door is closed.  Also checked the dome lights, and they stayed off when I turned off the bypass.  I'm a bit confused...  Maybe the computer "learns" the open condition, and decides to ignore it?  Weird...
 
It is possible that the computer sees an issue with the sensor and disables it in the computer so it doesn't nuance alarm all the time. Most after market alarms worth their weight will disable a sensor that goes off so many times within a specific period of time.

You could also try removing the unit and lubricating the heck out of it. I found in my '03 the clips were pretty solid since they were never exposed to UV light. Mine had the lock solenoid sticking but after much lubrication I was able to break it free and it has been working great every since. I suspect the door open alarm is a pin switch within the mechanism and lubricating it MIGHT resolve the issue. it WILL require the removal of the unit to do however...

Also do NOT use WD40... It will gum up when dry and make the matter worse.. use an actual Lubricant.

Rodney
 
redheadedrod said:
It is possible that the computer sees an issue with the sensor and disables it in the computer so it doesn't nuance alarm all the time. Most after market alarms worth their weight will disable a sensor that goes off so many times within a specific period of time.

You could also try removing the unit and lubricating the heck out of it. I found in my '03 the clips were pretty solid since they were never exposed to UV light. Mine had the lock solenoid sticking but after much lubrication I was able to break it free and it has been working great every since. I suspect the door open alarm is a pin switch within the mechanism and lubricating it MIGHT resolve the issue. it WILL require the removal of the unit to do however...

Also do NOT use WD40... It will gum up when dry and make the matter worse.. use an actual Lubricant.

Rodney

I have actually replaced the unit with one from a parts truck I bought when I fixed the truck up for R-Title.  They almost didn't pass it because of this!  Changing it didn't help, it must be in the wiring, but I haven't put enough time into tracking down the break apparently...  My best guess is in the door jamb, that's a common problem with ground wires on older Grand Cherokees.  The ground wire is thicker, and breaks in the driver's door jamb, disabling ALL the windows and locks.  Luckily the Avalanche problem isn't as bad, lol
 
Back
Top