door buzzer fix

[trx450always]

I know cam did a mod where he just cut the wires to stop the buzzer from beeping when the key is in the ignition. But is there any way to do this mod, so the car's dome lights, and headlights turn off when the door is open? I wouldlike to just cut the wire going to the buzzer instead. If anyone has any information please throw it out there.

[PiercedTiger]

Head lights already turn off when driver's door is opened if the engine is off. Dome lights, you can manually move the switch. Unless you REALLY want to mess with wiring. lol

As for the buzzer, if you turn off the engine and leave the key to "on" instead of "acc" to have the radio (or whatever) on then the chime stops after a few seconds. Like 30 or so I think. I can't rememeber. Lights will still stay on. But altering anything at that point might leave them off even when the engine is running. Unless you splice in a switch of some sort.


Edit: I think the dome lights auto shut off after 5 minutes or something if a door is open and the engine is off. I know mine shut off on me a few times while working on it. Had to close the doors, then open one again to reset.

Basically almost everything shuts off after at some point if the engine is off and a door is open so you don't really need to worry about killing your battery.

[RTFM]

From reading the text associated with the key reminder system in the wiring diagram sticky above, it sounds like the buzzer is integrated into the combination meter (speedo dash unit). Doesn't look like a good way to separate the two, except maybe where the switches appear to go into a junction box somewhere. The drivers door courtesy switch goes into terminal 1F(pin 7), which connects to pin 26 (DCTY) on the body ECU. Looks like terminal 1J (pin 12) leaves the junction box and goes to pin 12 on the combo meter.

Warning, the following idea is pure speculation, I have never done it, never looked at it except on paper. Do this at you own risk!!!!

It could be possible that by removing the jumper between 1F(7) and 1J(12), and shorting 1J(12) to ground, you could tell the speedo buzzer that the door is always shut. This is probably a board level jumper, so you'd have to scratch the trace open. Shown on page 32 of the relay locations sheet. ALternately, pulling 1J(12) out of the connector and grounding it may perform the same task.
Edit (you need to ground the wire going into 1J(12) should be green yellow, not the pin)
End Warning

[trx450always]

Leaving the key in the ON position for extended periods can ruin the electrical system. So thats out of the question.

[PiercedTiger]

Originally Posted by trx450always

Leaving the key in the ON position for extended periods can ruin the electrical system. So thats out of the question.

How exactly? (Besides the obvious problem of draining the battery while the engine is off.) That's the position it's in while driving, and I've driven 13 hours straight. Certainly longer than I'd run anything without the engine on and I haven't had any electrical problems. What do you mean by "extended periods"? How long do you plan on having the door(s) open? If you want to run certain things for long periods of time without the engine on maybe a dual battery setup should be in your plans. Maybe a deep cycle one with options for certain things to be always on so you don't rely on the key and the battery to start the truck isn't drained.

[RTFM]

Originally Posted by PiercedTiger

How exactly? (Besides the obvious problem of draining the battery while the engine is off.)

Back in the day when cars had a coil, points and condensors, it was said that leaving the points closed for long periods of time with juice flowing could ruin things. Could be like the sugar in the gas tank, urban legend currently. Modern ignition systems I don't know about.

I do know that both times I've had car batteries die on me, I was sitting in the car, key on for 1/2 hour to keep the cig lighter powered, then went to restart, and nada, after driving for an hour or more both times. Both times, the battery registered dead cells, not just a dead battery that could be recharged.

¢¢, none of which may be relevant to the current conversation

[PiercedTiger]

Originally Posted by RTFM

Back in the day when cars had a coil, points and condensors, it was said that leaving the points closed for long periods of time with juice flowing could ruin things. Could be like the sugar in the gas tank, urban legend currently. Modern ignition systems I don't know about.

I do know that both times I've had car batteries die on me, I was sitting in the car, key on for 1/2 hour to keep the cig lighter powered, then went to restart, and nada, after driving for an hour or more both times. Both times, the battery registered dead cells, not just a dead battery that could be recharged.

¢¢, none of which may be relevant to the current conversation

coils and points part makes sense. Everything these days is electronic so I don't think it would be affected by much. Otherwise there'd probably be a limit on how far/long you can drive. But maybe I'm missing something. I know computer parts in general are best left on. Constant power off and on causes wear and tear. Parts expand and contract and eventually crack.
hmmmmm.... Half hour seems kinda short unless the battery was old or had been fully disharged a few times. I ended up killing a relatively new battery in an old tercel when I left the fog lights on 3 separate times... Auto too so I HAD to get a jump each time... Lemme tell you, after the 3rd time I ripped the dash apart to find a wire for the relay that was only on with ACC. Learned that lesson the hard way.

What did you have running on the Cig plug? Seems like anything that could kill a battery that quick woulda blown a fuse somewhere. Other cars I've had used the same fuse for cig, stereo, clock, and even dome light. So needless to say it didn't take much on the cig plug's part to blow the fuse. That's one of the reasons I put an always-on cig plug in the small storage bin next to the AC plug in the bed. Separate fuse, and no need for keys in the ignition!

[trx450always]

I am going on the fact that my dad always said never to leave the car in the on position if the car wasnlt running. The coil and condenser were the main reasons. And although i'm only 17, it has happened to out sune buggy, the coil fried. Also, why would all modern cars have the acc. position if the on switch accomplishes the same thing, but withouth the buzzer. There must be a reason.

[RTFM]

Originally Posted by PiercedTiger

Half hour seems kinda short unless the battery was old or had been fully disharged a few times.

What did you have running on the Cig plug? Seems like anything that could kill a battery that quick woulda blown a fuse somewhere.

Both cars had factory batteries, about 2 years old. One was running a small tv / VCR combo, the other was running the CD player to feed the in car tape player (in the days before IPODS)

Neither car had even been jumpstarted before these incidents, charging system tested out good on both immediately after. The battery didn't "die", it kept running the accessories, etc, but wouldn't put out the juice to turn the starter or headlights, due to one dead cell. One guy said the sludge in the bottom of the cell builds up and shorts out the plates.

Probably just cheap factoyr batteries nearing the end of their life, accelerated by extended discharge. All cars I've bought since 1990 have had the batt's go out real close to two years after purchase. Longest replacement is now 4 years old and still going strong.

[PiercedTiger]

Well, the ON position turns on AC, fans, heaters, power windows, etc. Higher draw items you may not want on if you just want the radio and the clock. If your sitting for 3 hours waiting for you girlfriend to get ready or whatever, you probably want the radio on but don't want to drain the battery spinning electric motors for the fan. Or AC, or rear defroster if you have one, or windshield wipers.

Basically, lots of things come on at the ON position but not the ACC position.

No coils on these trucks. All electronic.

[PiercedTiger]

Originally Posted by RTFM

Both cars had factory batteries, about 2 years old. One was running a small tv / VCR combo, the other was running the CD player to feed the in car tape player (in the days before IPODS)

Neither car had even been jumpstarted before these incidents, charging system tested out good on both immediately after. The battery didn't "die", it kept running the accessories, etc, but wouldn't put out the juice to turn the starter or headlights, due to one dead cell. One guy said the sludge in the bottom of the cell builds up and shorts out the plates.

Probably just cheap factoyr batteries nearing the end of their life, accelerated by extended discharge. All cars I've bought since 1990 have had the batt's go out real close to two years after purchase. Longest replacement is now 4 years old and still going strong.

Or a bad battery. seems early for a dead cell. But then that's why Walmart has a 3 or 5 year warranty on most now. lol

I've had mine drain down too low to start, but still run lights and other things. That's what happened on my tercel. Lights worked, but just wouldn't turn over. Same thing happened to my Corolla when I left the underbody neons on for half an hour or so. And those are low draw! (3 amp fuse. smallest one in the car!)

Needless to say I have 2 batteries now with the stereo, amp and fog lights. Optima red top under hood, $30 walmart one in the trunk.

[JUNGLEMAN]

As far as I know there is no wire you can cut to disable just the buzzer,and it is mounted to the board on the back of the speedo cluster but it`s not that hard to get to
here`s a writeup w/pics
http://www.cardomain.com/ride/527520/6

I did it right off and I`ll do it on every vehicle I own and am around a lot for several reasons, I don`t want the thing beeping at me when the key is off but still in the ignition every time I open the door to get something. When we are in camp we`re the only ones around for miles so there`s no reason to pull the keys and it drives me crazy when someone gets something out of their truck and leaves the door open I`m forever having to get out of the hammock and remove keys from trucks.

I do like the fact that you can`t lock the door with the key in the ignition and the head/fog lights turn off when you stop and open the door and I wanted to keep the options including the most important listening to the stereo in acc w/out the key is in the ignition alarm chiming in out of time with the music.

Just rip it`s stupid head off
Actually, gently pull and twist back and forth with a pair of pliers until the two connecting pins break