I have 2004 suburban. Last night the message displayed that the rear access door was open. It wasnt. I have the barn door type doors. I found that one of the sensors on the left is the problem. How do I replace that?

 

Chuck, thank you for following up with the solution. You just saved me a lot of unecessary troubleshooting. I suspected it was a bad BCM in my case, the switches and sensors are pretty sturdy in my experience.

 

Newbie here to the forum. I realize I am replying to an old post here, but I have recently been experiencing this same problem in my 2003 Tahoe z71. I took apart the entire rear hatch trim and then unplugged every single wire harness connector thinking I would eliminate the problem. No luck!. My Tahoe (thus far) has only had the 'rear access open' message remain on at all times, but no alarms or other electrical concerns going on. This also in my case causes all the dome lights to remain on - which sucks when driving in the dark! I resorted to taping all of the dome lights up, which my wife just loves. The blue painters tape gives off a great ambient glow, lol. Anyhow - I am glad to know the problem lies in the BCM and the fact its probably needing replaced. This saves me a lot of labor charges for someone trying to troubleshoot this problem to ultimately come to that conclusion.

So with that said - My question goes to those whom have replaced the BCM. Is this something one can do themselves? I'd like to avoid paying the dealership, but I also realize that the dealer will be able to re-program accordingly - whereas I would not be able to do this in my garage....I'm hoping to get some feedback on ideas around the most cost effective way to do a BCM replacement.

Thx!
Nick

 

UPDATE: Replacing my 2003 Tahoe BCM. Upon further investigating more cost effective ways to fix my Tahoe's problems, I was able to get connected with Eric at Spartan Autoworx (link below). He was very helpful and knowledgeable about my BCM problems and it's effects on the vehicle. Basically you can purchase a new BCM online if you want for around $180 or find a good used on online for various prices. Spartan had mentioned that the 04 MY seemed to have less problems than the 03 or other years. So I took my chances and found a $20 BCM out of a 04 Suburban (eBay). The only thing you have to be sure of is that you need a BCM with the J6 plug/option. Once I recv'd my replacement BCM, I watched the youtube video (second link below) from Spartan Autoworx and removed my BCM - this walks someone through the dash removal process and getting to the BCM. After removal, I marked both BCM's (old/new) and shipped them to Spartan Autoworx. They completed the full re-programming the same day they recv'd the package. This service cost $75 and included shipping. Once I recv'd the BCM's back (for me only 2 days) - I installed the new BCM into the Tahoe - this service being plug and play was great! I then crossed my fingers and started the vehicle up, hoping my dome lights and rear access open message would not show up. Sure enough - the Tahoe is back to behaving well and all my electrical problems are no more!

Summary - Overall cost for BCM replacement = $125 (this included me overnighting the parts to Spartan for $30)

I appreciate Chuck's post and experience (which sucks) around the dealer charges in excess of $600 - this saved me a lot of $$$.

Hopefully this will help out the next guy!

Spartan Autoworx, LLC


-Nick