OnStar Delete

My '08 Corvette has OnStar.

I read about the "they're selling your data" post on Autoblog.  Since everyone else posted about it TODAY; I'll post about what I DID yesterday.

Changing the terms of service after purchase pisses me off.

Even though I am no longer a customer, since the hardware is installed I have to let them collect data?  This was not agreed.

So I searched out how to disconnect it.

There are four plugs and two antenna leads.

I own the service manual for the car; so I looked up the wiring diagrams.

Connector X1 carries the power from the fuse and contains the leads going from the VCIM (Vehicle Communications Interface Module) to the mirror.

Connector X2 has the leads for the speaker and microphone.  Plus a serial data lead that would report information from the Body Control Module (BCM) to the VCIM.

Connector X3 is a voice recognition input filter.

Connector X4 is more data to and from the BCM and Engine Control Module (ECM)  This connector is wired through the Assembly Line Data Link (ALDL) so it's required for the car to run.

Careful study of the wiring diagrams and diagnostics leads me to believe that all you really need to do to completely disable the OnStar module in a 2008 Corvette is to pull the 10amp fuse in the passenger foot-well.

That is all.

No need to unplug the module or the antennae; but you can disconnect everything but X4 (Labeled J4 on the box itself) and not hurt anything.  Disconnecting X4 will prevent the BCM and ECM from talking to each other and that will keep the car from running.  You can't remove anything from circuit 2500 and have a running car.  The lead from X2 is pretty much the same, but that's how the VCIM gets data from other systems to alert OnStar in case of a crash.  Without power, it's just a dead module.