Wendell’s 2004 Colorado: Eleven Years of Passlock, and the Wire Trick That Backfired

Wendell Waites sent us his story in April 2017. It covers eleven years with one 2004 Chevy Colorado, which makes it the longest single-vehicle Passlock timeline in our archive, and it includes a warning about a popular internet remedy that made everything worse.

2005: the first flash

“I have had a long frustrating experience with that ugly padlock-shaped flashing red head icon called Passlock on my 2004 Colorado. My first experience was in 2005 shortly after I bought it used with only 2000 miles. That red icon started flashing and I had a to wait ten minutes before it would start. The truck was still under warranty then and the dealer said I should bring it in because it was an expensive fix otherwise. I thought it might work itself out on its own so I just waited.”

Note the year and the mileage: the fault first appeared at 2,000 miles on a one-year-old truck. This is not a wear-out story. Some of these sensors are marginal from the factory, and they decay from there.

2010 to 2016: the slow slide

“Five years later it happened again but this time every couple of weeks I would have to wait ten minutes for Passlock to settle down. Well things went on like this until 2016 when the Passlock light stayed on and the truck would usually start in the morning but after that it was very iffy! So I replaced the battery, which didn’t help.”

The internet’s favourite bad idea

“The first so-called fix I found was to cut a white with blue stripe wire under the dash while the truck was running. HUGE fail for me! Mine wouldn’t start at all next time I tried it. So I was planning to bite the bullet and take it to the dealer.”

The cut-the-wire trick circulates on every GM forum, and it fails for the same reason the resistor trick fails: it freezes one moment of a live handshake and hopes the system never asks again. When the BCM does ask again, the answer is gone, and a truck that sometimes started now never does. If you have already done this to your truck, it is recoverable, but tell us about it before installing anything.

64 years old, one afternoon

“Due to an injury and illness I had to delay installing it, and I must say reaching the BCM connectors on my truck taxed my 64 year old body’s flexibility. But it was a straight-forward job and the tech support provided was spot-on. I am overjoyed that I have my truck back and can return to all the projects for my friends and myself that I had on hold. What a great product!”

He is the second 64-year-old in our archive to say the flexibility was the hardest part of the job. Mike Rutledge said the same about his Saturn Ion. The wiring is the easy bit; the yoga is on you.

If you have a Colorado or Canyon

Wendell’s truck shares its Passlock and BCM location with Shawn’s Colorado in Honduras, George’s Canyon and David’s Hummer H3, and the wiring is here: 2004-2012 Colorado, Canyon, Isuzu i-Series and Hummer H3 installation guide. And if a forum tells you to cut a wire while the engine runs, close the tab: the NEWROCKIES PRO Module removes the system properly instead of gagging it.

Related stories on the blog. Same wiring, other owners: George’s 2008 Canyon and Shawn’s Colorado, fixed three hours from the nearest city.

Read more customer stories →