BOMBed the door chime

[mikel]

Does anybody else get annoyed with the constant ding, ding of the door chime on our trucks? I did until last night. I was trying to wash and vac. the truck and silly me I wanted to listen to the radio at the same time. On the '99 that I used to have if the key was in the ACC position the door chime would not make noise if the door was open, but on the new truck the door chime goes non-stop. Whatever moron at DC changed that should be forced to spend the rest of his/her life in a room listening to one of those dang things ding constantly. Anyhow I decided to "fix" the problem so that I could wash the truck in peace.



I was going to remove the dinger under the dash, but once I looked at it I thought that it looked pretty big and had quite a few wires going into it to just be a chime, so against my desire to choke the thing I left it alone and looked for an alternative method to end it's whining.



I took the steering column apart (there are only three screws) and started looking at how the switch is mounted and wired. On the right hand side of the column just behind the switch is a two wire connection that if unplugged prevents the dinger from knowing that the key is in the ignition. Ahhh, silence at last!!



This is less than a 5 minute job and it even worked on my wife's Durango too!! Now the chime still works if I leave the headlights on (a good thing) but does not drive me up the wall if I'm cleaning the truck.



Thought I'd share,



Mike

 

[nps]

Good suggestion Mike. Is the connection obvious or can you provide more description of the offending plug.



Think I'll do this myself. Usually don't hear the ding until the door closes anyway. And if I do lock my keys in - that's why I ordered the rear slider.

 

[BigFun]

This is just one of the many reasons I love this place. Thanks Mike! Going to take of it right now!

 

[mikel]

Originally posted by nps

Good suggestion Mike. Is the connection obvious or can you provide more description of the offending plug.

This plug is right at the firewall side of the ignition switch. It's the only plug that is in that area and only has two wires going to it. It looks like it could handle 4 wires, though.



I think that once you get the steering column cover off the plug will be pretty obvious.



BOMB on,

Mike

 

[JR2]

Well here is another solution. When the dingger starts reach over with your hand and push in and let out the button in the door jam that triggers it. The dinger should stop till the next time it is cycled. That works on my 2001 as well as my Dad's 98. 5 so I am guessing that it works on most trucks.

 

[JAK]

When the dingger starts reach over with your hand and push in and let out the button in the door jam that triggers it. The dinger should stop till the next time it is cycled.

This didn't work for my Y2K. I just used a pair of snippers and got the little light blue wire that's in the bundle coming down the steering column. I didn't have to take the steering column apart (tried but it didn't really wanna go so I didn't force it) but the knee bolster needs to be removed. (I already had it off for hooking up the turbo temp monitor and fog lights) It's the only light blue wire I could find there and its only about 18 ga.

 

[mikel]

Originally posted by JR2

When the dingger starts reach over with your hand and push in and let out the button in the door jam that triggers it. The dinger should stop till the next time it is cycled. That works on my 2001 as well as my Dad's 98. 5 so I am guessing that it works on most trucks.

I read this somewhere on here before and gave it a try, but it didn't work for me I'd have much rather just done this...



I didn't have to take anything off the truck other than the three screws to gain access to the connector on my truck, maybe the knee bolster (sp?) is different on some?



Mike

 

[illflem]

Just pulling the plug will work on newer trucks but on the years with halo lights (light around the key area) you will also lose this light.

 

[DarrellB]

I know some of you have very poor dealers but if you ask they will disconect the dinger for free. I had my 99 for about a week and went back to the dealer for my floormatts(DC forgot them at the factory) and when I walked into the parts department the salesman that sold me the truck was standing there and asked me if I liked it. I told him I loved it except for the damb door chime. He said no problem if you got a few minutes I'll take care of it. They took care of it and I still have the little light by the ignition switch.



Don't try this if you have one of those 5 star dealers.



Oh Ya they can turn off the horn for the factory alarm too.



Big D

 

[Sregorb]

DarrellB-

Wow, any idea which wire and where the dealership snipped?



Brian

 

[DarrellB]

It was all done with a computer. They pulled it into the garage and in about 20 minutes had it done.



Big D

 

[AggieJustin]

Steering column cover

OK, this probably is something simple I missed, but how do you get the two pieces of the steering column cover apart after you've removed the screws?



I took out the three screws and can get it seperated at the front (closest to the steering wheel), but it seems to have some kind of catch at the rear (closest to the instrument panel). I've looked for clips and used mild force, but it wouldn't come apart. It looks like there is some type of interlocking tab setup by the tilt wheel lever holding things together.



I cracked enough other plastic parts this weekend working on another project, so I didn't want to destroy this cover as well.



TIA



Justin

 

[Oasis-3]

It Works

Thanks Mike I just started reading this post and ran out had to get a torx T-20 and apart it came the plastic has little locking tabs at the back but no trouble at all. No more ding ding for me.

Cliff

 

[1 ALC]

Thanks for this thread.



I know what my next mod will be!

 

[1 ALC]

Got it.



Just disconnected mine. I've been wanting to do that for 2 years!





And Thanks Bob W. for getting me back to this thread!

 

[JHerrlich]

I got really irriated and did the same thing myself. The only problem with this fix is that you can lock the doors with the key in the ignition, which means that you can lock the doors with the key fob when you leave the truck running, but also means that you can accidentaly hit the key fob with your knee and lock the doors as you're getting out of the truck and lock yourself out with it still running. It's not to fun. I'm just a little more cautious about the doors lock condition when I get out now.

 

[MOWPAR]

Just did mine, now I can hear the radio while I'm messing with the truck... ...



Jim

 

[CumminsPower98]

Lock with key in?

My '98 will lock with the key in the ignition. I did it once but I was lucky because just a few days before I had a spare key made to hide on the truck. So is this feature (no lock with key in) new to the 01 trucks? I will be killing my chime soon, not sure what method yet.

 

[CumminsPower98]

Cut the wire!

Well I cut the light blue wire on the steering column and no more door chime. I got to thinking that maybe the reason I was able to lock my keys in the truck before I cut the wire was maybe I had pulled the key out just a tad like I got used to doing so I didn't have to hear the chime. Anyway no more chime for me.

 

[Double 6]

Mikel,

Good post, you have saved many of us from going dingy!!!