Earlier this year, I started having issues with the keyless entry. The distance at which the remote worked kept reducing week by week. I also had the Tire Pressure Monitoring System (TPMS) light turn on, despite having replaced all of them with brand-new ones. I didn’t realize the two issues were related and started by replacing the battery in the keyless remote entry. However, that did nothing to help fix the issue.
Continuing on down the process of eliminating possible ways of fixing the problem, I thought wrong that the remotes were going bad. So I bought some new OEM GM remotes. Got an appointment at a GM dealer and that all turned into a big mistake. The Techs at the dealer question where I bought them despite being sealed inside officially labeled ACDelco / GM packaging. Then they tried to tell me that the Body Control Module is bad and that it would be very expensive to repair.
I didn’t take too kindly to the service tech and salesman telling me that, because I knew that they were wrong. Of course, they didn’t take too kindly to me telling them that I know better. Best of all they charged a bunch of money to do absolutely nothing and refused to work with me using a process of elimination to fix the problem.
But what they had said had a hidden gem of information in it. They couldn’t get the two brand-new remotes to work. They couldn’t get the original remote to work. The service tech could hear the radio signal from the remotes, but not the vehicle itself. They also couldn’t reprogram the TPMS to the vehicle. And that’s when I realized that the TPMS problem was related.
I told the GM Dealer that TPMS and Keyless Entry use the same Antenna. They adamently argued with me that they don’t use the same Antenna. Well, guess who is right. The Keyless Remote Entry and TPMS use the same Antenna.
The TPMS & Keyless entry use the same antenna. The service TMPS warning dash light is on because the vehicle can’t hear the radio signal. The distance at which the Keyless Entry on the H3 Hummer was less and less and less because the radio antenna quality was reducing to nothing. It all made finally sense, I needed dielectric grease to fix the issues. Similar to the battery terminals on vehicles getting corroded making seem like the battery is dead.
In the end, I carefully remove the BCM cleaned it and then repaired the antenna connection to the circuit board. Now everything works great. Check out the YouTube video below to see exactly how the repair is done.
Oh, this would have given me a headache if I had read it before installing new tires. I too have had trouble with my remotes, even after new batteries. AND my TPMS was always bad. I assumed it was the sensors (2009, probably original) and just cracked remotes (on my third Dorman replacement case on one).
Then, when the technician couldn’t get the H3 to learn the sensors, I figured it was going to be a problem. Turns out, the TPMS just needed to be driven to make the light finally go out. As for the remotes…
Well, the one I’ve been using must have a bad case or something because if it doesn’t unlock, I squeeze the sides together as if I were trying to bust it apart at the seams. I hear a faint “click” and it then works. Beats me, I could get another case and try again, or maybe I’ll get new remotes.
But thanks for this, I’ll definitely consider this antenna connection if I have more trouble!