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Yes, you can unplug the buzzer/beeper - it is behind the bumper cover, below the left/driver's side tail light. I wonder if it does anything besides those annoying beeps.

It always feels like I'm going to wake the neighborhood if I open/close the tailgate late at night...

-Charlie
Silent...

Took about 20 mins to do in total.
5 screws as listed in the photos, then pull away the cover from the rear wheel.
placed a tiny ziplock and tie wrap over the connector to avoid corrosion, in case I ever connect it again for the next owner.

doesn't make any noise when closing or opening from the dash button, but does alarm if you stop it by hand.
guessing that buzzer is somewhere inside the back right area from what I could tell.

here is some pics for anyone else interested...

Thanks @phattyduck for the location.
 

Attachments

I got into this mod yesterday, and wanted to offer some more info that may be helpful, and to clarify the OP's end result: In my quest to silence the beep, I cut the #8 blue wire (blue w/silver stripe) on the light blue 20-pin and it did defeat the beep, but it also defeated the remote power operation of the tailgate, and only for opening. I could open the tailgate by the latch nice and quiet, but not from the dash or the fob. Closing the tailgate still beeped. There is another blue & silver wire on the light blue 20-pin connector, which I'm just guessing is the wire for closing. I left it alone. (To make things more confusing, the tailgate needed to be closed manually and then opened again before it would resume power operation, leaving me wondering for a bit as I had restored the wire but operation didn't go immediately back to normal.)

I re-connected the #8 wire to get back to normal operation and am now going to remove the bumper so I can disconnect the beeper itself and still have full remote control of the tailgate. Choose your own adventure.

A bonus to pulling the interior side trim out though- I was finally able to ground and route my aftermarket trailer wiring behind the panel. Looks like I'll have to cut and reattach the 4-pin connector harness as it won't fit through the "body holes" but at least now I'll have trailer wire available from the outside instead of pinching the harness through the tailgate.
 
Looks like I'll have to cut and reattach the 4-pin connector harness as it won't fit through the "body holes" but at least now I'll have trailer wire available from the outside instead of pinching the harness through the tailgate.
You might be able to squeeze it through the factory grommet in the center of the rear panel where the factory harness goes. You'll have to slit and re-use the factory grommet though. Read the directions for the factory hitch/harness for more info.

-Charlie
 
Discussion starter · #25 ·
I got into this mod yesterday, and wanted to offer some more info that may be helpful, and to clarify the OP's end result: In my quest to silence the beep, I cut the #8 blue wire (blue w/silver stripe) on the light blue 20-pin and it did defeat the beep, but it also defeated the remote power operation of the tailgate, and only for opening. I could open the tailgate by the latch nice and quiet, but not from the dash or the fob. Closing the tailgate still beeped. There is another blue & silver wire on the light blue 20-pin connector, which I'm just guessing is the wire for closing. I left it alone. (To make things more confusing, the tailgate needed to be closed manually and then opened again before it would resume power operation, leaving me wondering for a bit as I had restored the wire but operation didn't go immediately back to normal.)

I re-connected the #8 wire to get back to normal operation and am now going to remove the bumper so I can disconnect the beeper itself and still have full remote control of the tailgate. Choose your own adventure.

A bonus to pulling the interior side trim out though- I was finally able to ground and route my aftermarket trailer wiring behind the panel. Looks like I'll have to cut and reattach the 4-pin connector harness as it won't fit through the "body holes" but at least now I'll have trailer wire available from the outside instead of pinching the harness through the tailgate.
that's weird that you lost the remote power operation. I still have full functionality after adding a rocker switch in line of the wire. I have the beep turned off full time and and no problems.
 
I got into this mod yesterday, and wanted to offer some more info that may be helpful, and to clarify the OP's end result: In my quest to silence the beep, I cut the #8 blue wire (blue w/silver stripe) on the light blue 20-pin and it did defeat the beep, but it also defeated the remote power operation of the tailgate, and only for opening. I could open the tailgate by the latch nice and quiet, but not from the dash or the fob. Closing the tailgate still beeped. There is another blue & silver wire on the light blue 20-pin connector, which I'm just guessing is the wire for closing. I left it alone. (To make things more confusing, the tailgate needed to be closed manually and then opened again before it would resume power operation, leaving me wondering for a bit as I had restored the wire but operation didn't go immediately back to normal.)

I re-connected the #8 wire to get back to normal operation and am now going to remove the bumper so I can disconnect the beeper itself and still have full remote control of the tailgate. Choose your own adventure.
Just be aware that you are going to disable more than just the tailgate beep. Here are the results of my testing with the rear beeper disconnected. I chose to stuff a piece of soft rubber into the beeper instead of disabling the items on the list below. The various beeps are now barely audible, but still there if you are paying attention.
  • Beep on second press of fob lock button - Disabled
  • Beep when pressing the lock button on door handle - Disabled
  • 2 beeps on unlock when touching the door handles - Disabled
  • Series of beeps when liftgate is open and van is put in motion - Still happens
  • Solid beep when sliding doors are open and van is put in motion - Still happens
  • 3 beeps when sliding door obstacle strip is contacted - Still happens
  • Series of rapid beeps when walking away with fob while vehicle running and driver's door closed - Disabled

A bonus to pulling the interior side trim out though- I was finally able to ground and route my aftermarket trailer wiring behind the panel. Looks like I'll have to cut and reattach the 4-pin connector harness as it won't fit through the "body holes" but at least now I'll have trailer wire available from the outside instead of pinching the harness through the tailgate.
I don't know your reasoning for not wanting to pinch the harness - not that it's my favorite practice either - but I can say that after many years of pinching the harness in my Gen 2, Gen 3 and now Gen 4 Ody, it's never caused any damage. I've "settled" on doing it that way because I am fearful of damage to the harness due to salt, sand and other winter related issues based on where I live.

In my Gen 3, the harness is stored in the jack storage compartment when not needed so it is out of sight. (It may have been the same in my Gen 2, I don't remember).

The Gen 4 doesn't have a rear jack compartment so I ran it into lower storage bin, way down near bottom, and made a grommet from the same foam I used to quiet the beeper.

Looking at the back the storage compartment:

Image


Looking down into the storage compartment:

Image



The trailer side of the harness is long enough that the connection remains inside the van, not exposed to the elements.
 
Just be aware that you are going to disable more than just the tailgate beep. Here are the results of my testing with the rear beeper disconnected. I chose to stuff a piece of soft rubber into the beeper instead of disabling the items on the list below. The various beeps are now barely audible, but still there if you are paying attention.
  • Beep on second press of fob lock button - Disabled
  • Beep when pressing the lock button on door handle - Disabled
  • 2 beeps on unlock when touching the door handles - Disabled
  • Series of beeps when liftgate is open and van is put in motion - Still happens
  • Solid beep when sliding doors are open and van is put in motion - Still happens
  • 3 beeps when sliding door obstacle strip is contacted - Still happens
  • Series of rapid beeps when walking away with fob while vehicle running and driver's door closed - Disabled



I don't know your reasoning for not wanting to pinch the harness - not that it's my favorite practice either - but I can say that after many years of pinching the harness in my Gen 2, Gen 3 and now Gen 4 Ody, it's never caused any damage. I've "settled" on doing it that way because I am fearful of damage to the harness due to salt, sand and other winter related issues based on where I live.

In my Gen 3, the harness is stored in the jack storage compartment when not needed so it is out of sight. (It may have been the same in my Gen 2, I don't remember).

The Gen 4 doesn't have a rear jack compartment so I ran it into lower storage bin, way down near bottom, and made a grommet from the same foam I used to quiet the beeper.

Looking at the back the storage compartment:

Image


Looking down into the storage compartment:

Image



The trailer side of the harness is long enough that the connection remains inside the van, not exposed to the elements.
Good to know, thanks for that info about the beeps. I certainly won't miss those "leaving the car" beeps at all.

That makes sense to store the trailer harness inside based on your weather. It's pretty mild out here where I am in the west.
 
Success!

I removed the bumper and disconnected the beeper. To be able to open and close the tailgate without the beep is... so nice.

The 4-pin trailer harness is just 1/4" too wide for the factory port, but instead of cutting and re-splicing the cables I decided to ease the port open with some snips, then bend it back. I put a slice in the rubber grommet replaced it around the wires, secured the rest of the strand with zip-ties and it's all gravy.

Thanks ryukin2000 for your original post on this. Even though I reconnected the lt. blue wire in the end, your post motivated me to go open up the panel, and that allowed me to finally get the trailer wiring fixed up.

Thanks to the others that chimed in and posted info on this as well. I'm pretty stoked to have finally gotten to those items.
 
I wouldn't tow a rope with an Ody unless it has a tranny cooler.

Having toasted a Gen 2 tranny due to towing (I know, different animal, but still...) I installed a tranny cooler on my 06 the first weekend I had it home. My 17 took a little longer to get done, but I didn't even sell my 06 until the cooler was on the 17.

My 17 is CPO EX-L with 50K left on the extended warranty. There was no way I was towing anything until the cooler was installed.

The Tru-Cool 4544 comes highly recommended. Here is how I installed mine:


Pictures of the plumbing can be found late in this thread:

 
I wouldn't tow a rope with an Ody unless it has a tranny cooler.

Having toasted a Gen 2 tranny due to towing (I know, different animal, but still...) I installed a tranny cooler on my 06 the first weekend I had it home. My 17 took a little longer to get done, but I didn't even sell my 06 until the cooler was on the 17.

My 17 is CPO EX-L with 50K left on the extended warranty. There was no way I was towing anything until the cooler was installed.

The Tru-Cool 4544 comes highly recommended. Here is how I installed mine:


Pictures of the plumbing can be found late in this thread:

Good to know, I will have to look into that. Thank you for the info!
 
Silent...

Took about 20 mins to do in total.
5 screws as listed in the photos, then pull away the cover from the rear wheel.
placed a tiny ziplock and tie wrap over the connector to avoid corrosion, in case I ever connect it again for the next owner.

doesn't make any noise when closing or opening from the dash button, but does alarm if you stop it by hand.
guessing that buzzer is somewhere inside the back right area from what I could tell.

here is some pics for anyone else interested...

Thanks @phattyduck for the location.
Thank you for posting the pictures--really sped things up. I'd planned to just cut the wire as the OP suggested, but when I got to the board, the pin-out on mine was different than what was shown. Not wanting to cut wires I wasn't sure about, I opted to unplug the buzzer. Would have only taken 10 minutes to unplug the buzzer if I didn't have to first put back together the pieces I'd taken apart trying to cut the wire...
 
Wow. Never knew something like the tailgate sound bothered people that much.
It annoyed me a little (too loud) but it bothered me more that the loudness probably bothered other people. Campgrounds, late at night in the driveway, etc.

I muffled mine when I had the bumper cover off to install my hitch.
 
Good to know, thanks for that info about the beeps. I certainly won't miss those "leaving the car" beeps at all. That makes sense to store the trailer harness inside based on your weather. It's pretty mild out here where I am in the west.
Hi there.... I'm wondering what sort of soft rubber you used to muffle the sound? That beep is ear piercing to me, it literally hurts... and trying to plug my ears WHILE hitting the button is nearly impossible... I'd love to muffle the sound as I like the confirmation of the lock beeps to know a door isn't left open or something when I think I've locked my car. But I'm curious as to what would muffle the sound and also, WHERE to put said material?
 
Hi there.... I'm wondering what sort of soft rubber you used to muffle the sound? That beep is ear piercing to me, it literally hurts... and trying to plug my ears WHILE hitting the button is nearly impossible... I'd love to muffle the sound as I like the confirmation of the lock beeps to know a door isn't left open or something when I think I've locked my car. But I'm curious as to what would muffle the sound and also, WHERE to put said material?
the instructions are crystal clear in post #22
 
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