Disabling Onstar Network connection
 

Special thanks to MarioJmoe, or rather his brother for finding it.

Below you'll find a breakdown on how to remove the onstar unit and remove the radio board so that you retain the automotive microphone.

First thing is....you need patience and you need to be flexible since two of the screws are way the hell in the back and you basically have to be upside down with your head in the footwell.

Tools needed:
I believe a 9mm socket with extension. Maybe 8mm. Forgot to take a picture.
Small torx bit driver. Again i forgot to take a picture.
Some electrical tape (optional)

Step 1: remove onstar fuse. Safety first.

http://i.imgur.com/hcleySQ.jpg


Step 2: Unplug connectors at rear of passenger under-dash panel. We dont want to accidentally yank them.

Step 3: Begin unscrewing the 4 screws that hold up the bottom dash panel. 2 are up front that you should be able to find easily. 2 are in the rear and are a pain in the nutsack to unscrew. Take your time. Dont drop the screws behind the carpet. I have a picture of 1, the other is basically straight across on the outer edge of the opposite side. (picture is of the side closer to the driver). Screw is in bottom left of image.

http://i.imgur.com/uEiADgh.jpg


Step 4: Once all 4 screws are out. Push the panel toward the front of the car and pull down good and hard on the front tabs where the front two screws were screwed in. You should clear the passenger airbag module and the whole panel will kind of angle down to the floor.

Step 5: There is 1 screw holding the onstar module (silver module to the left of the panel) at the top of the unit. Same screw as the body panel. Remove this and then pull module forward toward the engine to clear the tabs at the front of the panel. Picture below is of the connectors. The purple and blue connectors are the antennas.

I do not recommend just removing the antennas. transmitting radios that are powered on without an antenna can be permanently damaged. Doing it the right way will make this entire process reversible if needed.

http://i.imgur.com/sUQ9x4L.jpg


Step 6: Once you remove the module, there are 4 torx screws holding the plastic portion to the metal. Remove these and lift off the plastic portion.

http://i.imgur.com/5oNgK13.jpg

Step 7: The main board simply lifts off the radio daughter board. Put this somewhere for now.

http://i.imgur.com/9C1jxPO.jpg

Step 8: The daughter board has the same torx screws. Remove these and put the radio board in a static bag somewhere so the process can be reversed if needed.

http://i.imgur.com/uR2ELpv.jpg


Step 9: Put main board back on and the black cover back. Screw the 4 torx screws back in and reinstall everything in the reverse order things were just done.

Optional: tape down the antenna cables so they dont move around and possibly vibrate against anything.

Step 10: After all connectors are plugged in. Reinstall the fuse and check your mirror after turning the car on. It should take about 30 seconds or so if onstar was previously connected ok before it realizes there is no connection. Mirror should look like below.

http://i.imgur.com/BzGJAVF.jpg

Bonus Step: You can tape or paint over the onstar buttons because they're annoying as hell.

http://i.imgur.com/o7QQSnJ.jpg


Update: Just to be complete. The compass direction displayed on some info screens is dependent on the onstar GPS, which gets disconnected when you remove the radio board. This will now show up as "CAL" since it defaults to assuming it is calibrating. I assume any in-car navigation is also left without access to gps but i can't tell because i dont have navigation pkg seeing as how I have a cell phone.

Great thanks! And you've verified your Bluetooth still works and no error codes or indicators show up in the DIC?

Tagged. Thanks

Nice info, thanks

Everything but the stuff OnStar needs a network connection for works.


Bluetooth works even if you pull the fuse and completely disable OnStar. The only thing that doesn't work is the compass and microphone.

Doing it this way you retain the microphone and compass.

No codes are thrown in either case.

Great to hear!

When I ask if bluetooth works, I mean the microphone too. The main reason for bluetooth in my opinion is for hands free cell phone calls through the stereo.

Just out of curiosity, what if you hit the onstar button or SOS button? Will it still try to make the call?

Depending on the selection, any attempt to make a call through OnStar will result in either a voice telling you that making calls are not available or it just drops you to the previous screen.

The radio is completely removed so it doesn't even get to try and dial.


Just to be clear,. The microphone is not connected directly to what provides Bluetooth to your phone. That is why Bluetooth works even if OnStar is completely turned off. The microphone is connected to OnStar which is then connected to the proprietary digital network that your mylink is connected to, which is what has Bluetooth.

I get what you're saying from a technical standpoint, but bluetooth isn't bluetooth if you can't talk :thumb:

Hey guys-

Thanks for posting this info. It's a far cry from a Camaro, but a few days ago I bought a 2016 Chevy Trax. So far I really like the vehicle, but my one issue is OnStar. It's a great product for some folks, but it should be treated as an addon, not shoved down the throats of those who don't want it.

I'm determined to locate and disable the OnStar, but I'm not very mechanically inclined. I tried removing the antenna and fuse, but that doesn't seem to have had any effect. Will keep looking. Thanks again for taking the time to post the info and pics. :thumbsup:

If you're so worried why don't you just unplug the antenna's? more specifically the purple one, as the brown one is for your GPS on the IO3 systems. Brown and blue is gps on IO5,IO6. There is also more less silly ways to go about this, as you've ignored from me before.

Oh, and if you don't want the ugly tape on your mirror, just unplug the mirror.. you get the same effect.

As I mentioned in the writeup. Unplugging antennas to a transmitter can cause the transmitter to burn itself out and be irreparably damaged. There needs to be an impedance load on most transmitting radio chips. The method I described takes only a couple more minutes than just unplugging the antenna wires and is completely safe and reversible.

Also, removing the antennas doesn't stop the radio from still being able to communicate in areas where the signal strength is high enough to not require an antenna. Which, since cell towers are everywhere now, is a very likely possibility in most populated areas.

Unplugging the mirror is something I plan on doing, i just didn't have time to do it yesterday after all the fun being upside down in the footwell.

I dont use my phone when driving except for music and navigation. Both of which played nicely with bluetooth (except for voice input).

Just to be clear, that was when i had the fuse pulled and the unit was totally powered off. Now that the unit is powered on and the radio is gone voice input operates perfectly.

Doing a lot of illegal street racing in the Trax eh?

Very good write up and nicely detailed. Thanks man for this Very helpful indeed. Doing the same thing tomorrow to mine lol.