2019 Classic Express regular cab Remote start install & Hood Ajar switch and vehicle alarm question

[dwhutch]

In preperation to enable remote start on my 2019 Classic express I have installed the hood latch (68159725AB) as I already had the connector hanging loose by the existing latch. I'm still waiting for the key fob inserts with the remote start button from Amazon. While browsing ALFAOBD for the settings I noticed VTA Hood Ajar Monitoring. I have set that as well as Hood Ajar switch input present to YES. I set Hood Ajar Switch usage to 1K parallel resistor. Should I see an indication on the instrument cluster when I pop the hood indicating it is open? And should opening the hood with the alarm armed trigger the alarm? So far I see no changes it either behavior. Have I missed a step or has anyone else tried this?
Thanks.

 

[Ricks Ram]

In preperation to enable remote start on my 2019 Classic express I have installed the hood latch (68159725AB) as I already had the connector hanging loose by the existing latch. I'm still waiting for the key fob inserts with the remote start button from Amazon. While browsing ALFAOBD for the settings I noticed VTA Hood Ajar Monitoring. I have set that as well as Hood Ajar switch input present to YES. I set Hood Ajar Switch usage to 1K parallel resistor. Should I see an indication on the instrument cluster when I pop the hood indicating it is open? And should opening the hood with the alarm armed trigger the alarm? So far I see no changes it either behavior. Have I missed a step or has anyone else tried this?
Thanks.

The harness that is in the truck from the factory on the lower trim levels terminates before it gets to the BCM. It confuses many people. You will need to purchase a factory hood latch harness and install it.

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[dwhutch]

If that's the case the the hood latch circuit would be constanly open. I guess my actual question is for people who have installed and enabled the hood ajar switch, do you get any indication on the cluster that the hood is open like you do when you open the door?

 

[Ricks Ram]

If that's the case the the hood latch circuit would be constanly open. I guess my actual question is for people who have installed and enabled the hood ajar switch, do you get any indication on the cluster that the hood is open like you do when you open the door?

Yes basically the circuit is left open because it's not being used or monitored by the BCM if your truck doesn't have the factory remote start or alarm enabled. I have installed and enabled several factory remote start systems on these trucks and also enabled several alarms with and without the hood latch monitor. There is no hood ajar notification that I'm aware of in your cluster. If you have all of the hood latch/alarm settings correctly enabled and you're sure that your factory hood latch is actually connected to pin# 11 in connector C1 in your BCM the alarm should go off when you open the hood. You should also have a small blinking red LED light in your cluster when the alarm is set. The truck will start with the hood open with or without the hood ajar switch connected. The only warning on the EVIC I have seen is if the hood is open and you try to remote start the truck it will abort and say (remote start disabled hood open). If you are sure the alarm is set and it goes off when you open a door but not if you open the hood you have a problem in your settings or your harness. I haven't done a 19 Express Classic yet so I have no first hand knowledge of that exact truck but I have done several 13 to 18 Express and Tradesman trucks. The only time I have seen the hood latch harness actually connected to the BCM from the factory in those trucks is the Regular Cab due to the fact that they use one harness for all the regular cabs because they build so few of them. If you have enabled all of the codes in the known working codes list in the first page of the alfa thread your alarm should go off if it's set when you open the hood.

 

[dwhutch]

I guess I left out the fact that indeed my truck is a regular cab. I have enabled hood ajar switch present, I have also set the usage to 1K ohm resistor. I also enabled VTS Hood ajar monitoring. I enabled the alarm last year when I first got Alfa OBD and it has been working since. I tried leaving the window down, locking the truck and opening the hood but did not trigger the alarm. The alarm LED was blinking at the time. I haven't checked the ohm reading on the hood switch to confirm it is 1 K with the hood closed, I will try to do that today or tomorrow. Thank you

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[Ricks Ram]

I guess I left out the fact that indeed my truck is a regular cab. I have enabled hood ajar switch present, I have also set the usage to 1K ohm resistor. I also enabled VTS Hood ajar monitoring. I enabled the alarm last year when I first got Alfa OBD and it has been working since. I tried leaving the window down, locking the truck and opening the hood but did not trigger the alarm. The alarm LED was blinking at the time. I haven't checked the ohm reading on the hood switch to confirm it is 1 K with the hood closed, I will try to do that today or tomorrow. Thank you

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Thanks for the info, a little back story on the post makes your question make a lot more sense. The alarm should definitely go off if you have all the settings enabled. I set the hood ajar usage in the trucks I do to 500 ohm. Have you tried that? If you haven't already done so you may want to double check your connection at pin#11 just to verify 100% it's connected. I posted a pic of the settings I have used on the trucks I have done. Have you checked for DTC codes with the Alfa? If you have the hood ajar set and the truck is looking for the switch it may throw a code to point you in the right direction.

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[dwhutch]

Haven't tried the 500ohm setting yet, the thread I followed to get this far was about installing the remote start kit on a 2017 kit where it was recommended to use the 1k setting. I'll do some checks this weekend. Should there be a low voltage signal sitting on the wire at the hood latch from the BCM? I assume the other wire should read 0 ohm to ground. Thanks

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[Ricks Ram]

Haven't tried the 500ohm setting yet, the thread I followed to get this far was about installing the remote start kit on a 2017 kit where it was recommended to use the 1k setting. I'll do some checks this weekend. Should there be a low voltage signal sitting on the wire at the hood latch from the BCM? I assume the other wire should read 0 ohm to ground. Thanks

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Just checked one of the trucks here that is confirmed working correctly. It has approx 900Mv on the purple wire that eventually connects to the BCM. The other wire connects to ground.

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[dwhutch]

Success! Checked again tonight by leaving window down locking truck and waiting for alarm to arm itself. Reached in and released the hood latch, nothing. Opened the hood, nothing. Got my meter to check the switch in the latch and check for voltage on the connector. Truck is still locked, unplugged the connector from the latch, alarm goes off and I almost crap my pants. Now the alarm goes off if the hood is opened while the truck is locked. I'm dissapointed that there is no indication that the hood isn't latched on the display to keep you from driving off with the hood not latched but oh well. So what I found out is:

Hood open, connector on latch reads 500 ohms

Hood closed, connector on latch reads 1K ohms

Connector in wiring harness that goes to latch reads about 1.6 volts but its pulsating as if it may be a square wave.

My mistake was setting the Hood Ajar Switch Signal Usage to 1K ohm resistor intstead of 500 ohm series and 500 ohm parallel resistors, maybe there are different types of hood latches.

In summary, to make this work I installed hood latch (68159725AB) and made the following changes with ALFA OBD. Now just waiting for my key fob buttons so I can try remote start. Many thanks to Ricks Ram for all the help.

 

[Ricks Ram]

Success! Checked again tonight by leaving window down locking truck and waiting for alarm to arm itself. Reached in and released the hood latch, nothing. Opened the hood, nothing. Got my meter to check the switch in the latch and check for voltage on the connector. Truck is still locked, unplugged the connector from the latch, alarm goes off and I almost crap my pants. Now the alarm goes off if the hood is opened while the truck is locked. I'm dissapointed that there is no indication that the hood isn't latched on the display to keep you from driving off with the hood not latched but oh well. So what I found out is:

Hood open, connector on latch reads 500 ohms

Hood closed, connector on latch reads 1K ohms

Connector in wiring harness that goes to latch reads about 1.6 volts but its pulsating as if it may be a square wave.

My mistake was setting the Hood Ajar Switch Signal Usage to 1K ohm resistor intstead of 500 ohm series and 500 ohm parallel resistors, maybe there are different types of hood latches.

In summary, to make this work I installed hood latch (68159725AB) and made the following changes with ALFA OBD. Now just waiting for my key fob buttons so I can try remote start. Many thanks to Ricks Ram for all the help.

View attachment 221223 View attachment 221224 View attachment 221225

Glad you got it figured out. I have always used the 500 ohm setting and haven't had any issues setting the hood ajar monitoring to this point. I have seen posts here and there about some people setting it to 1k ohm but I'm not sure what exactly they had going on or if it worked or not.

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[kad]

Glad you got it figured out. I have always used the 500 ohm setting and haven't had any issues setting the hood ajar monitoring to this point. I have seen posts here and there about some people setting it to 1k ohm but I'm not sure what exactly they had going on or if it worked or not.

I seem to recall seeing people using the 1K setting when wiring BCM pin 11 directly to ground to bypass the need for the new hood latch.

-K

 

[Ricks Ram]

I seem to recall seeing people using the 1K setting when wiring BCM pin 11 directly to ground to bypass the need for the new hood latch.

-K

Maybe that's where I saw it. I just skimmed by the posts because I've never installed the remote start without replacing the hood latch.

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[dwhutch]

In thinking more about it I drew a diagram of what the inside of the switch assembly should look like according to what I measured and the choices in ALFA. You would have a 500 ohm across the switch contacts and a 500 ohm in series with the contacts, apparently closing the hood opens the switch contacts and the bcm sees 1k ohms. Opening the hood would bypass one of the 500 ohm resistors causing the bcm to only see 500 ohms. Therefore remote start should work with either setting but in the 1k setting the bcm will not see the hood open, remote start doesn't care but the alarm is not going to trigger. Keep in mind in the interest of safety I think the truck would be able to start with the hood open with the 1k setting.

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[dwhutch]

Here is what I think the inside of the switch looks like.

 

[dwhutch]

got my Amazon key fob buttons and my RF hub pin today and now I have factory remote start working for $64.

Hood latch switch on ebay $47.38
Key fob buttons on Amazon $16
RF hub pin from dealer $0
already had ALFA OBD app and OBDLink MX

 

[pgh94]

I've just installed it on a 2019 Tradesman and can't get the Hood indicator light to go out. With the Hood opened, I get 498 ohms and closed 1K. I check all the settings compared to the one's post and they're the same.
Any thoughts on this? Was going to take it Saturday and have keys fobs programmed and see if dodge can figure it out.

 

[dwhutch]

I've just installed it on a 2019 Tradesman and can't get the Hood indicator light to go out. With the Hood opened, I get 498 ohms and closed 1K. I check all the settings compared to the one's post and they're the same.
Any thoughts on this? Was going to take it Saturday and have keys fobs programmed and see if dodge can figure it out.

Can you post a picture of the hood indicator light, I don't see one when my hood is open

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[pgh94]

 

[pgh94]

Sorry for the big picture. If there is any thought on why this light would stay on with the proper ohm reading let me know.

 

[kad]

Sorry for the big picture. If there is any thought on why this light would stay on with the proper ohm reading let me know.

Possibly it's not actually latching correctly? Or possibly the 1K setting is not correct for a '19?

-K