Matt’s Second Module: A 1996 Camaro in a Single-Digit Wind Chill

The strongest endorsement a product can get is a repeat order, years apart, with the first unit still working. Matt Salmons sent us this in February 2015, when his second module went into his wife’s 1996 Camaro. His first had gone into a 1993 Buick LeSabre years earlier.

Just after Christmas, single digits

“A few years ago, I discovered the bypass module after being repeatedly stranded in my ’93 Buick LeSabre. Just after Christmas, I got a phone call from my wife; her ’96 Camaro was dying every time she tried to start it. In late December, with a single digit wind chill, an unreliable car just wouldn’t cut it. I asked her if the dreaded GM security light was on. It was. I knew what I had to do.”

Notice that Matt diagnosed the car over the phone with one question. That is what living through it once does: the security light plus start-and-die is a signature, and once you have seen it you never mistake it for anything else.

An hour in the driveway

“I ordered my second bypass module on a Wednesday, and was plesantly surprised when it showed up before the weekend. New Rockies has digitized their installation instructions since the last time I had installed a module. I downloaded a PDF and took the iPad out to the driveway the next time it was above freezing. Less than an hour later, including a trip for electrical tape, I had the new module spliced in, wired up and tied under the dash.”

“The first rumble as it started, and kept running, was a priceless feeling. The hundreds of dollars I saved by installing this bypass module was nice, but the worry I saved knowing my family would be safe is the real value hidden in this product.”

The first module, four years on

“I sold my Buick to a family member over a year ago. Last I heard, it was still running fine, almost 4 years after I first installed the module. I have no doubt my second module keep the Camaro on the road just as long.”

Four years, a change of owner, and no attention needed. That matches what Eric Knowlton told us about his Avalanche across two and a half years of Facebook comments, and it matches the design: once the failing comparison is out of the circuit, there is no mechanism left by which the fix degrades.

Why the Camaro does this

The 1996 Camaro runs PassKey II. The resistor pellet in the key is read by contacts in the lock cylinder and judged against a stored value; on these cars the theft logic lives inside the Body Control Module. Cold snaps are notorious for tipping a marginal pellet reading out of range, because contact resistance shifts with temperature, which is why so many of these failures announce themselves in the worst week of winter. The NEWROCKIES PRO Module takes the whole reading out of the decision, in any weather.

If you have one of these cars

For the 1996 to 2002 Camaro, Firebird and Trans Am there are two ways to wire the module, and both are documented: installation at the BCM, or installation at the PCM/ECM if you prefer to work at the engine computer.

Related stories on the blog. More Camaros: Matthew’s 1989 IROC, his grandfather’s car, bought new.

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