Ding Dong the Witch is Dead

[TrickTruck]

OMG I have absolutely hated the ding dong in my truck since day 1. Seat belts, keys in the ignition and all kinds of other racket. I can't tell you how many fishing expeditions I've been on with my hands up in the dash. To no luck.

So yesterday while I was already doing an install (that's another subject) I decided now was the time to find the ding dong.

Today I have tools and I'm going digging

FOUND IT! It's in the cluster (that's the gauges for those of you who don't know.)


Step 2 is to take the cover off, that means all those phillips screws. And sure enough, there's that little buzzer in the upper right corner.


Perform a little surgery with your favorite side cutters or cutting device of your choice on the plastic speaker holder until you expose the pins.


Now comes the choice, do you remove entirely or would you like to rig up some sort of switch. If it's a switch you are wanting, it's time for you to take over on this project. For me, I have no desire to hear that darn thing ever again.
If you are like me, take your snips and cut those two pins. Toss the buzzer as far as you would like.


A simple reversal of the process of dissassembly and you've got your truck back together, except, that darn yappy Witch is silent.
Ahhhh, peaceful.

So what did we lose? Only thing I can think of is the backup alarm, but that comes thru the stereo so we don't lose that.

[JustinCovolo]

Thats awesome i have been looking for that thing for a long time!!! Time to get busy and get rid of it!!!

["Stroker 8"]

Thanks for the write up and good sense of humor. I will def. save this to my fav.s. Good job.

[ZMANN]

the older trucks could be permanetly turned of with simple ignition key inputs
and 1 trick to bypass the open door chime by taping a connector after sliding the ignition switch out,,

these trucks were made to work so open doors and no seatbelts is common

are you sure there wasnt a bypass ?

[bltp203]

I was able to turn off my seat belt chime........it's in the owners manual.

[ZMANN]

that's what I was wondering !
Just like the previous years

[TrickTruck]

You can't turn off the keys in the ignition dinger* and that's the one that drove me nutz.

*cutting the ignition wire allows you to lock the keys in the ignition. Leaving that wire intact prevents this. My 2nd Toyota has the cut the wire method and the keys have been locked in the ignition so many times it's silly (employees mostly.) My 1st toyota has the buzzer method and it never had this problem.

I think you are making this out to be a bigger deal than it was. Most of the dash is pop lock, a dozen little screws and it's out. 10 min to fix the cluster. Another 15 to put the truck back together.
Easy.
For me anyway.

[ZMANN]

I don't like permanently disabling a safety feature myself
some thing else to think about is
if u ever have a dash pod issue ( both My last two trucks have had gauge issues ) I fear if they notice the missing component they won't fix the POD for you under warranty now ?

because they usually send those out for repair and the missing buzzer would be evidence of tampering IMHO

I never can lock my keys in my truck since I use the fob to lock it LOL

either way it's your truck so you do what you want of course and you were cool enough to post a how to for others that may choose this method .. I was just throwing out some potential concerns ?

[ZMANN]

I googled and I think at a glance this is another method that is easily reversible if you sell the truck

Door Chime - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

[TrickTruck]

Originally Posted by ZMANN

I googled and I think at a glance this is another method that is easily reversible if you sell the truck

Door Chime - Ford Truck Enthusiasts Forums

I know.

BUT, doing so disables the thing that let's the truck know the keys are in the ignition and you can very easily lock them in the truck. W that wire in place the truck will unlock the doors if the keys are in the ignition.