Charles’s 1994 Cadillac: The Bypass He Couldn’t Return

Charles Pooler wrote to us in July 2018, and his story is one we hear on the phone often but rarely get in writing: he had already bought a bypass from somebody else before he found us. It did not work, and he could not send it back.

A month locked out

“My car has been down for almost a month. Locked out on anti theft.”

A 1994 Cadillac DeVille, immobilised by its own security system, sitting for four weeks.

The other bypass

“Bought the key bypass system from another company. [ not returnable] After several times trying to start the car it started. So i made the connections secure. Tried to start the car again, nothing. Said same thing. Anti theft wait 3 mins. Still nothing.”

Look closely at that sequence, because it is the signature of a partial bypass rather than a faulty one. The car started. Once. Then he tidied his connections, tried again, and the anti-theft message came back exactly as before.

A device that spoofs the key’s value can pass the check on the attempt where the numbers happen to line up, and fail every attempt afterwards, because the module doing the judging is still in the circuit and still deciding. That is the difference between fooling the system and removing it. One of them works on a good day. The other works on every day.

“Did the fuse pull and the unhooked the battery over and over, still nothing. Worked at it for hours hoping i could find the problem. I gave up and found the NewRockies web site.”

And the two words that should worry anyone shopping on price: not returnable. He was out the money before he ever got to us.

Charles photographed the two modules side by side and wrote on the paper beneath each one. The note under the aftermarket bypass reads “Did Not work CANNOT Return!”. The note under the factory PassKey decoder reads “Removed NO Longer Needed”.

Those two labels are the whole argument in his handwriting. One device tried to satisfy the factory decoder and could not do it reliably. The other made the factory decoder unnecessary, so it came out of the car and onto the carpet.

Sceptical, and fair enough

“I was very sceptical after ordering the other key pass system and it did not work. Got it installed today and was so happy my 1994 cadillac is running again. Thanks again one happy customer.”

We would rather have a sceptical customer than a hopeful one. Scepticism after being burned is not an obstacle to sell past, it is the correct response, and it is why our module ships with a money-back guarantee. Charles had already learned what the alternative feels like.

Why the 1994 DeVille is its own job

These Cadillacs run VATS PassKey, where a resistor pellet in the key blade is read at the lock cylinder and judged against a stored value. What makes the 1994 and 1995 cars unusual is where the judging happens: the PassKey decoder module on these lives in the trunk, not under the dash, which catches out plenty of people who go looking for it behind the glovebox.

The NEWROCKIES PRO Module takes that decoder out of the starting decision rather than feeding it a number it might accept. There is no value left to match, so there is no good day and no bad day. That is why the decoder in Charles’s photo is sitting on the carpet: once the module is in, the car no longer needs it.

If you have one of these cars

The decoder module location and the full wiring are here: 1994-1995 Cadillac Seville, DeVille, STS and SLS installation guide. If you have already fitted a cheaper bypass and it half works, tell us what you installed and where you spliced it before you fit anything else. Knowing what is already in the car saves us both time.

Related stories on the blog. More Cadillacs: Steve’s 1993 Allante, which a shop held for eight months, and Jeffrey’s Fleetwood.

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