The Silverado, Cold Mornings, and Two Meters of Electrical Wire

If you live anywhere near the northern border, you know exactly what a winter remote start is worth. My 2008 Chevrolet Silverado 1500 is a workhorse, but it takes forever to warm up when the temperature drops below zero.

Last January, I spent half my mornings running out to the driveway in nothing but flannel pajama pants and work boots, sticking the frozen key into a frozen lock, just so the heater could defrost the windshield before my morning shift. The truck smells like old tobacco smoke and wet wood from the timber loads I carry, and that cold vinyl seat feels like sitting on an ice block.

My brother told me I was wasting my time trying to add modern electronics to an old Chevy electrical system, claiming the Passlock immobilizer system would permanently brick the truck if I messed with the ignition wires.

The Installation

He was almost right. I tackled the installation on a breezy Sunday afternoon while some old classic rock countdown was playing on the shop stereo. The weather was turning cold again, the sky that heavy gray color that promises snow by evening. I had my heavy canvas work pants on, the ones with the permanent grease stain on the left knee from a leaky differential project last summer.

The kit I used required splicing into the heavy-gauge constant power lines underneath the steering column, and let me tell you, there is no room to move your arms down there. You're basically lying on your back across the driver's side floorboard with your head jammed against the brake pedal.

I read through the wiring guide four times, but the instructions completely left out the specific wiring sequence for the Chevy Passlock II module. I had to go online and dig through old forum threads from 2011 to find out that you need to measure the resistance of the factory key loop before wiring the immobilizer bypass unit.

My cheap digital multi-meter had a low battery, so the screen kept flickering while I was trying to read the ohms. I was frustrated, my neck was stiff from the awkward angle, and I accidentally scraped the back of my knuckles against the sharp edge of the lower dash framework. It bled just enough to get on the white plastic connector housing, which is still there if anyone ever takes the dash apart again.

The kit wasn't perfect either. The wire leads running from the main relay block to the actual push button were about six inches too short for a full-size truck installation. I had to rummage through my electrical scrap box, find some spare 14-gauge copper wire, and solder extensions onto four different leads just to reach the mounting spot I wanted on the lower dash panel.

My soldering iron took forever to heat up because of the cold wind blowing through the garage door seams, and the smell of melting resin and old truck dust was making me dizzy.

The Moment

By five o'clock, the wind was really picking up, and I was shivering. I put the dash back together, leaving two of the minor trim screws out because I simply couldn't find where they had rolled off to in the dark. I stood outside the cab, took a deep breath, and hit the lock button twice on the new remote fob.

The truck clicked, paused for a beat, and then the starter kicked in and the big V8 started idling smoothly in the driveway. The headlights turned on automatically, cutting through the dusk.

I didn't feel some massive wave of triumph; I was mostly just glad I didn't have to walk to work the next day. But sitting in the house now, looking out the kitchen window at the snow starting to accumulate on the hood while the truck runs warm and defrosted by itself, I can safely say my brother was completely wrong.

Final Thoughts

It's just regular old mechanical tinkering, and it works. That's all that matters. If you're driving a Silverado and dreading winter mornings, don't let the Passlock scare you off. The EFHIPS push-to-start system is worth the time, the scraped knuckles, and the extra two meters of wire.