[willzilla]

Hello! I had my car on my QuickJack for a long long time while I upgraded the suspension and a number of other things and initially didn't have the battery tender plugged in, oops. Battery died but I was able to get it charged back up and connected to the tender properly and kept it charged since... Unsure if related (or unrelated), but now that I have my car back on the road I noticed my OnStar is no longer functioning.

I went to set the auto timezone option so the time auto updates and stays correct but got the message, "The Automatic Time Zone feature is unavailable because your OnStar subscription has expired". Weird, as my sub is NOT expired and currently active.



I went into the OnStar screen and clicking something like call advisor or whatever gives me the message, "Could not connect to OnStar".



I notice the GPS icon at the bottom of the screen has a red circle around it with a cross through it showing it's offline or something but sat radio and nav seems to work fine.

I checked the OnStar fuse 20 and it looked fine.

Any thoughts?

[roostere4]

I think i saw something similar previously. I believe all I did was make sure it was parked outside and left it there for a couple of hours and it resolved itself after everything synced back up

[willzilla]

Originally Posted by roostere4

I think i saw something similar previously. I believe all I did was make sure it was parked outside and left it there for a couple of hours and it resolved itself after everything synced back up

I will have to try that, thank you! Just my luck it's torrential rain for the next few days, lol. Once it clears up I'll try this out!

[willzilla]

Originally Posted by willzilla

I will have to try that, thank you! Just my luck it's torrential rain for the next few days, lol. Once it clears up I'll try this out!

I parked it outside for a few hours... no luck.

I did notice there is no light above the Onstar buttons at the top of the car and clicking the buttons does nothing.



The red circle with cross out around GPS at bottom of infotainment screen...



Called OnStar from my phone and they did something on their end, had me shut off car, open and close car door, turn car on, wait 30 seconds.. no change.

Anything else to check or a way to reset the hardware on the car? Lol.

[arpad_m]

Looks like the OnStar antenna or module has failed. Some would consider this a feature, by the way.

[willzilla]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

Looks like the OnStar antenna or module has failed. Some would consider this a feature, by the way.

Haha, yeah.. I do see a lot of people talking about disabling it... and I'm not really worried about no OnStar but I would like to have my Nav working properly. I like having the speed limit signs displayed onto the gauge cluster, lol, and the auto time sync, etc. It also seems my Chevy app only half works... checking "vehicle status" or trying to unlock/lock doors, etc, all also do not seem to function :-/ Is this all controlled through the OnStar module?

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by willzilla

Haha, yeah.. I do see a lot of people talking about disabling it... and I'm not really worried about no OnStar but I would like to have my Nav working properly. I like having the speed limit signs displayed onto the gauge cluster, lol, and the auto time sync, etc. It also seems my Chevy app only half works... checking "vehicle status" or trying to unlock/lock doors, etc, all also do not seem to function :-/ Is this all controlled through the OnStar module?

I also use the built-in nav 95% of the time because of the nice DIC and HUD integration. If Android Auto could do that, I would use it more for navigation; as it stands, it's basically an occasional traffic display and spotify player... and GM can go pound sand for requiring a $120-130 annual subscription to keep my clock synchronized and let me use an app on my phone.

Yes, the phone app connects to your car via satellite, that's how you can lock/unlock and check diagnostics from anywhere. Same module.

[Joshinator99]

Originally Posted by willzilla

Haha, yeah.. I do see a lot of people talking about disabling it... and I'm not really worried about no OnStar but I would like to have my Nav working properly. I like having the speed limit signs displayed onto the gauge cluster, lol, and the auto time sync, etc. It also seems my Chevy app only half works... checking "vehicle status" or trying to unlock/lock doors, etc, all also do not seem to function :-/ Is this all controlled through the OnStar module?

Waze tells you what the speed limit is and how fast you’re currently going. AND tells you where the speed traps are, more importantly…

Oh, and I pulled the Onstar modem out since GM sells your driving information to third party insurance companies…

[willzilla]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

I also use the built-in nav 95% of the time because of the nice DIC and HUD integration. If Android Auto could do that, I would use it more for navigation; as it stands, it's basically an occasional traffic display and spotify player... and GM can go pound sand for requiring a $120-130 annual subscription to keep my clock synchronized and let me use an app on my phone.

Yes, the phone app connects to your car via satellite, that's how you can lock/unlock and check diagnostics from anywhere. Same module.

Is it the OnStar "module" or the entire telemetics box?

[willzilla]

Originally Posted by Joshinator99

Waze tells you what the speed limit is and how fast you’re currently going. AND tells you where the speed traps are, more importantly…

Oh, and I pulled the Onstar modem out since GM sells your driving information to third party insurance companies…

Haha yeah.. I always use Waze, rarely the build in Infotainment center nav but the ability for onboard nav to display in the HUD and to also show the road speed on the gauge cluster is pretty cool!

What I mostly miss is losing the ability to control the car from my phone which is super annoying :-/

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by willzilla

Is it the OnStar "module" or the entire telemetics box?

I'm not entirely sure, but I recall seeing the inside of the module in question, and OnStar connectivity is implemented via a daughterboard snapped onto the main circuit board, and it can be removed (the antenna must be terminated properly). This procedure would retain bluetooth functionality, whereas pulling the fuse for the module disabled it. One would also lose the builtin GPS if this auxiliary board is removed.

All in all, there is a strange coupling of functionality when it comes to radios, which calls for a mildly surgical approach to getting rid of OnStar.

Originally Posted by willzilla

Haha yeah.. I always use Waze, rarely the build in Infotainment center nav but the ability for onboard nav to display in the HUD and to also show the road speed on the gauge cluster is pretty cool!

What I mostly miss is losing the ability to control the car from my phone which is super annoying :-/

You only get this free of charge for 3 years, if I remember correctly, after that the $120-130 per year extortion I mentioned above kicks in. I was somewhat lucky to get 5 years back in 2018, but it did expire in 2023 and now I run with no app and no OnStar subscription.

[willzilla]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

I'm not entirely sure, but I recall seeing the inside of the module in question, and OnStar connectivity is implemented via a daughterboard snapped onto the main circuit board, and it can be removed (the antenna must be terminated properly). This procedure would retain bluetooth functionality, whereas pulling the fuse for the module disabled it. One would also lose the builtin GPS if this auxiliary board is removed.

All in all, there is a strange coupling of functionality when it comes to radios, which calls for a mildly surgical approach to getting rid of OnStar.


You only get this free of charge for 3 years, if I remember correctly, after that the $120-130 per year extortion I mentioned above kicks in. I was somewhat lucky to get 5 years back in 2018, but it did expire in 2023 and now I run with no app and no OnStar subscription.

I find used onstar modules for sale on eBay and such.. I wonder if I buy one if I can just have it programmed at a reasonable price at the dealership for my car/vin and then I could sway into place and be good to go... hmmm.

[roostere4]

Since there's no lights on the buttons, it might be worth double-checking that fuse with a multimeter

[willzilla]

Originally Posted by roostere4

Since there's no lights on the buttons, it might be worth double-checking that fuse with a multimeter

I swapped the fuse with another known good fuse and didn't notice a change. I guess I could try to meter it out.