My SS is my daily, so I could find RKE (remote keyless entry) handy, but I did not want any aftermarket system. They are all pure junk, the fobs are generally ugly, and they are usually coupled with an alarm/theft system which is particularly bad news. Instead I added a factory GM system. This system is reliable and simple. It only adds probably 2 lbs of weight to the vehicle so there are no worries there either. I love it, so I thought I would share how to add this with the forum. This will work on any vehicle with power door locks. If it has power trunk release, that will work keyless as well.

I apologize in advance for the terrible pictures. My only digital camera is my 2mp cell phone. They're bad but I think get the point across.

I robbed this system from the salvage yard. You will have to as well. I recommend finding a 97-99 Monte Carlo to rob the system from. I paid $15 for a system I robbed from a 98 Z34. These use the old style GM RKE system that is standalone: it does not use the vehicles network bus to operate. However these particular years received the later model teardrop shaped fob that has better range than the old square shaped ones. You likely won't get the fob from the salvage yard. There are tons of cheap factory fobs on ebay along with some cheap aftermarket replacement ones. I went ahead and bought a new fob from the dealer for $45.

Picture of the fob:


What you will need from the salvage yard.

The RKE module there is located on the rear package shelf, right side. Get the module. Leave the attached connector on the module and cut off the harness leaving yourself 12-18 inches or so. However: there is one wire that runs into the trunk behind the right side trunk wall carpeting. It's a small single spade terminal connector not connected to anything. Do not cut this out of the harness. This is the program wire for a new fob. You ground that terminal to put the module in programming mode. Pull this out and up to your module, then you can make the cut to the rest of the wires in the harness. If you do accidentally cut the program wire, you're not SOL, you can always strip off a little insulation and still ground the wire, but it will be easier now and in the future to program a fob if the conncetor is still on it.

Here's a picture of the system. Note the harness is still attached to the RKE module and particularly note program wire that was not cut:


Picture of the programming wire connector you will be hunting for:


Wiring in the system:

I mounted the module on the bottom of the rear package shelf, similar to where GM put them. It probably goes without saying to route wires nicely and tuck them out of site for clean installation. You can easily add this to the car invisibly without much effort. (The blue & black wires you see dangling aren't part of the RKE system. Those are the factory wires for the Aerocoupe CHMSL.)



Here's some wiring diagrams to reference as you do this. First is of my power door lock system. I think all g-bodies were very similar if not identical. Yours maybe be slightly different depending though. You don't necessarily need to be able to read these wiring diagrams. I've described what to do in detail below, but visuals are always nice.

Second is from a G-body Malibu. It appears the wiring is all the essentially the same mine, and the picture is much better than the one I could procure.

Third is a diagram of the 97-99 Monte Carlo RKE system.







Before I get into a more deteailed description of wiring this in, here is a reference list of every wire (except the already described program wire) in the RKE harness and where it will go.

Light Green Wire: Will be hooked 12 volt supply
Black Wire, White tracer: Ignore this wire. The factory system uses this to operate the power trunk from the interior button. Ours will still work regardless.
Pink wire: Ignore this wire. This is an ignition wire I think the factory uses to disable RKE while the ignition is on and shut off the dome lamp. We don't need it.
Orange Wire Will be hooked to 12 volt supply
Dark Blue wire: Ignore. All this wire does is turn on the dome lamp for a period of time when you press the unlock button. The dome lamp is going to turn on when you open the door, so I don't see the point. If someone wants to go all out, I think it would be neat to wire this to a relay that turns on the headlamps or park lamps or whatever you wanted so the car would have an illuminated entry like new cars do. I just left it alone. Maybe someday.
Grey Wire: This will be wired to the trunk release actuator(if applicable).
Black Wire: This will be hooked to ground.
Tan Wire: This will be hooked to the left door lock actuator wire near door lock relay
White Wire This will be hooked to the unlock wire at the door lock relay
Light blue wire: This will be hooked to the lock wire a the door lock relay.

First off after mounting up the module is the 2 12 volt wires. They are the orange and light green wires. You can hook them up to any constant 12 volt source you like. I spliced them together and ran my wire a short distance to the far left front corner of the trunk and teed them into the power wire running through for the trunk lamp. I think the wire was inside some plastic conduit.

Next is the ground. It's the bkack wire in the harness. Just ground it anywhere on the body structure there in the trunk. I have a stud attached the body where I grounded my audio amplifier and grounded the module here as well. Anywhere on the body should work though. You can test with a test light. Hook it up to your power and if you have a good enough ground to light the test light you should have enough to operate the module and door locks.

Next would be the trunk release. It's the grey wire in the harness. I ran this over to the far left corner of the trunk with the 12v power wire and teed it into the trunk release power wire running by in this area. I forget the wire color at this time. I will update later. I think it was inside some plastic condiut.

At this time, (for anyone with power trunk) I would test that your module is working. Take that program wire and ground it. Once you touch it to ground, your power trunk actuator should operate one time. If it does, great. Your module is working and you have wired it correctly so far.



The last 3 wires are for the door locks and will all be run up to the same location. This is the Tan Wire, the White wire, and the Light Blue wire. Remove your back seat cushion and the passenger side door sill plate (the thing that says "body by fisher" on it). Run the three wires underneath the insulation behind the seat back, over to the right side quarter trim and down into the black plastic run channel underneath the door sill plate. Lay them along in that channel up to the right front kick panel there by the ECM. Remove the ECM kickpanel. Behind the ECM and a piece of jute insulation you will find a large metal relay with a couple connectors on it. This is the door lock relay where we will be splicing our three wires into.

Disconnect the 2 wire connector from the relay. The white wire on the RKE harness will need to be spliced to the unlock wire on this connector. For me it was the black wire. The light blue wire in the RKE harness splices into the other wire, which for me is also light blue.

Now the third wire, tan in the RKE harness. A little bit above the door lock relay there is a large hole in the body covered by a black plastic shield held on by a single pushpin. Remove this shield and there are a couple connectors behind there. One is a connector with about 6 terminals all in single row. The end of the connector, labeled pin "A" will be occupied by tan wires. One side of the connector will have one tan wire coming out of it, the other side will have two tan wires coming out of it. We need to attach the tan wire coming from the RKE harness to the left door lock actuator wire on the vehicle. However, this cannot simply be spliced in like all other connections we've made so far. Here's what to do: On the side of the connector with two tan wires in the same terminal, cut the wire that runs over to the left door lock actuator. The other wire you do not want to cut runs a short distance down to the door lock relay. I able quickly locate which was which by pulling on the tan wire coming there at the door lock relay and seeing which of the 2 wires was being tugged up at the connector, and then proceded to cut the other wire. Hook the tan wire from the RKE harness to the door lock actuator side of the tan wire you just cut. I would cap/insulate the connector side of the other end you cut so it never short in the future. Make sure all your door locks are still operating correctly with the switches, and you can now reinstall anything that has been removed for wiring.

Here is a terrible picture to (hopefully) clarify. Note the 2 tan wires coming out of one side of pin "A" and that one has been cut and butt connected into the RKE harness.


Progamming your fob

Take the programming wire discussed earlier and ground it. Once it is grounded the trunk release (if used) and the door locks will all cycle. This means the RKE module has entered programming mode. With the wire still grounded, press and hold both the lock and unlock buttons on the key fob. Once the module learns the fob, the locks will all cycle again. The instructions state to hold the buttons for 10 seconds. For me the locks cycled basically instantaneously though. It's the cycling your looking for, not a certain peroid of time. All fobs you are programming (I just have one), will need to be programmed at the same time. The locks will cycle for each fob you program. Once your fob(s) are programmed, disconnect the program wire from ground and you are finished. You should have RKE.

I'm glad to answer any questions or help out as someone is going through installation. Hopefully this write-up gets used. If so let me know, so I know the last couple hours and beers haven't been for not.

-Jesse

Great write up, I have a 97 Monte that I was thinking of adding RKE to, I guess I might just tackle it. This will also be a great addition to my 72 Monte and my 86 SS project!

Nice.....I have his article in my files now. Looks like another feature I'll be pirating for my 80 Monte project! Thanks for the write-up!

Great write up. Easy to follow. I have been wanting keyless entry for awhile. Definitely on my list of things to do this year.

Well, I'm glad to see this mod will hopefully go down on other G-bodies. I thought maybe it would be met with, "It doesn't make the car any faster, so what do I care?" attitude, lol.

My next similar mod I'm going to try and tackle is adding Passkey 2 anti-theft to the car. The car has had three theft attempts (that I know of) since I've owned it. One was unsuccessful and the other two were caught trying to break into my garage, but I'm worried my luck is going to run out at some point. It would provide a lot of peace of mind knowing the car isn't going anywhere without its key or a flatbed. Lots of those PK2 systems from the early 90's use a standalone module and all those GM Saginaw columns are the same, so I would think you could add the PK2 lock cylinder and wire in the module just fine.

Great write up, I will be looking for these parts just for the coolness factor. Thanks

I agree, thanks for the write up and I agree, something else to look for when going parts shopping.
Was there a GM part number on the module as I tried looking up the module online on a few websites but it looks like it's not available from GM anymore, I just want to get the correct one.

As for adding a passkey 2 to the system, I'm more of a visual guy, so all of my gm cars have the "column lock" that goes around the outside of the steering column covering the ignition switch, tilt and the directional switch. I figure if someone sees that they might bypass breaking into the car first.

The passkey system would work after the break in, and I would just put in a kill switch somewhere.

Just my thoughts and a big thanks.

Bill

If you are talking about the original cover around the steering column covering the parts you described, it wasn't a deterent in July 2011 from someone breaking into and stealing my 1986 MCSS with just under 30,000 miles on it with a few minor upgrades (I installed the cruise system, new tires, brakes, shocks, exhaust system with black chrome tips). I wish I would have had a kill switch, lojack, and a theft system with alarm on car and remote to keep with me.

I guess my point is if someone has plans on stealing your car, they are going to. The only thing we can do to try to prevent it is by installing anti-theft options hoping they give up or get caught. Unfortunately I had trust in our fellow citizens ethics and did not install any anti-theft system in that one. This won't happen with my other ones.

The part number on my module is 16255271, but I would pay no attention to that. There could be various modules from different supplies, or different numbers for the same module. And no, GM doesn't make replacement modules anymore. GM is by far the worst automaker when it comes to discontinuing parts for their vehicles.

I agree Blue, nothing mechanical is going to do much good. My personal experience from the theft attempts/recoveries I've had to repair at work. It's never like the movies where the vehicle has been hot-wired, lock-picked, or the thief had some fancy electronic gizmo to defeat the theft system. The tools of the trade are a hammer and chisel. Theives just quickly obliterate the column/dash to whatever point is necessary to get the igntion switch to turn. Vehicles with factory immobilizers are either stolen by car-jacking, wrecker, or the key was stolen from the owner.

The one vehicle that came in with the anti-theft defeated was one of those viper-powered Dodge Rams. The thief had procured the engine controller and immobilizer module with its programmed key from another Viper Ram and installed them on this truck. He then proceeded to destroy the column to get the switch to turn like standard procedure and put stolen liscence plates from another state on the vehicle so he could roll. Something must have spooked him in the process though, becuase the vehicle wasn't stolen and he bailed, which is the point. Although yes, where there's a will there's a way, if you did get some professional operation thief that has the knowledge and whatever tools/parts are necessary to defeat the immobilizer, he's going to need some time. He won't be "gone in 60 seconds." Viper Ram perp obviously ran out of his. The old passkey 2 can be defeated pretty damn easily; I know I could make my own tool to defeat the system in an afternoon, but you will still be safe from 99% of thugs out there. If the car gets stolen, it probably got a ride on a wrecker.

This is a great DYI I can't wait to do this.

Thank You very much.

Iman,

Thanks for the number and I agree that GM stinks with different numbers and suppliers and how long they keep replacement parts.

I'm not referring to the cover that is part of the steering column. I was referring to something like the "column lock" in this thread:

http://gbodyforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=3&t=23701#.UeF3y2cYFpU

That lock goes around the column and helps prevents people from breaking the column to bypass the ignition lock.

I do agree that most stuff is not going to defeat the theft of an automobile, unless you did something like a neighbor did to prevent the theft of his Trans Am, he installed two 2 feet cubes of concrete with heavy chains in them. He would wrap the chain around the rear axel and around the front suspension and then lock everything down. Not sure how effective it was as I don't know if anyone tried to steal it or not. I know it didn't protect him if he went out and I don't know what he did then.

Bill

I just did this upgrade to my 86 last week. Pulled a module and 18 inches of the harness from a 97 monte carlo (paid $7.50 and the fob was free) and followed the steps above. I mounted the module up under the dash above the glove box and didn't have to run wires to the trunk. I got 12 volt and ground from the glove box light harness, The gray wire went to the trunk release button wire in glove box that goes back to the solenoid in trunk, the white and light blue down to the lock relay and the tan to the connector as explained. Used zip ties and mounted the module up high and tight so glove box door has room to open and close. Works great thanks for the write up.

Great writeup!

Definitely great write up. Good candidate for a Sticky... mods???

you are a god.

Good tip, I might be attempting this soon for one of the cars. Nice feature I've gotten accustomed to with a "newer" car as a daily.

Also using the VATS system with our columns can be achieved, it's been done but I don't remember the details. Something about using part of a column from a Cadillac or other newer b-body (LT1 years?). Nice potential cheap anti-theft option.

As I always say when someone says if they really want your car they will get it...if you really don't want someone to get your car, they won't. Just depends how extreme either person is willing to go, goes both ways.

Where exactly is it located on the donor car? I looked at three 97-99 Montes and couldn't find it on, under or near the package tray or trunk area. I assumed every car has this from that era. I peeled up the package tray on one and the trunk carpet in another.

The one I got from the 97 monte carlo was on the top of package tray. you have to remove it from inside of car under the back tray board. I don't think every car had this,or they might have been put in different locations not sure.

Thanks, glad to know I'm probably not blind or going crazy as I couldn't locate it on the cars I looked at. I'll keep searching, looking forward to this mod.

Mounting the module behind the dash is definitely an easier way to do it. You don't have to run the wiring under the rocker cover that way. Reception, and subsequent range, is better if the module is mounted up higher and also not so buried. That's why GM mounts them on the shelf in the first place. These systems don't have the greatest range to begin with, so that's the reason I recommend the 97-99 Monte Carlo module and mounting it on the shelf as the best way to get range. If anyone wants to mount them in the dash though, it will function just the same. I didn't mention it because I wasn't sure if anyone would be ok with having to be basically at the car before being able to unlock it.

Anybody know of another gmail rke module that is stand alone

GM?

I'd also like to know, this is on my to do list, hopefully by spring. Each Monte I searched came up empty, over a dozen so far.

That monte was a "W" body GM

which that platform was used for the Malibu, GP, intrigue, regal, century, lumina

i would think that the 90-95 full size B.O.P.'s would have the RKE option, and should be a stand alone module..OBDI and pre-BCM for most.

other models that may have used a stand-alone system, would be late third Gen F-bodies. and i think the pre-96 4th gen F-bodies have a stand alone module, it's different then the one mentioned, it has two connectors and a different wiring diagram, but functions with comm to an ECM or BCM. (i think)

if i get time at work on tuesday, i could go through mitchel and see what all i can find.

Paul, Steve Ragusa did the RKE on his Monte several years ago,I believe he used 3rd or 4th Gen F parts. Email him about his donor.
Bob

Planning to finally find a car with this this weekend when I go yarding. Determined to get this done this spring . Maybe I should of been removing the package tray from the 5th gen Montes, usually I've been looking in the trunk up at that area for wiring but re-reading the thread it appears to be removed from the interior of the car. Surely one of the 5th gens I've seen has this. I grabbed a fob last time I was out from a 2000 Century in good shape and programmed it as a 2nd spare (3 total) for my Regal, can always use that for the Monte one unless I find another.