Howdy, I’m back with an update.
Removing wires and Checkmate was so simple I accidentally got started on it. Was waiting for Bondo to dry, started looking at wires…noticed a few that weren’t connected, and then a few more, and then those ones went to lights I didn’t need…etc etc and boom! Done!
Ok but for real here’s a few useful notes for anyone else with a Collins short bus circa 2007.
1. Check Mate system is as the others said, totally supplemental and you shouldn’t face any issues just pulling it out. If you want to be safe, there’s a wiring harness connected to a white box in the upper fuse panel area: you can just unplug that and see what happens. That box makes all the noises on startup and alarm sounds.
2. I found 99.8% of the Collins wiring (stuff above the driver) is A-OK to just rip out without consequences. Collins tends to use red/yellow/white 16awg wires, Chevy stuff is 18awg or thinner.
Exceptions below.
2.a
Clearance lights (red/orange lights on four corners and triple lights front center and front back) have their common wires (white) tied in with the Collins stuff. Common (negative side of battery) is connected to the bus, so just reconnect the white wires to anywhere metal on the bus. I’m sure you can find somewhere metal to do that
2.b
Cabin fan’s power cable is intercepted by Collins wiring, so when I ripped out everything, my fans/AC stopped working. I didn’t notice this until a day or two after ripping it out, but I
think it’s intercepted to a relay for the “Noise Suppression” toggle switch to control it. In any case, you’ll need to remove the front dash cover, and right under the fan control dial thingy-majig you’ll find 3 Collin’s wires hanging out in there.
2 Reds, 1 Yellow. They’re VERY long and run under the driver seat to get back here.
In my case 1 Yellow was disconnected, and 1 Red was disconnected. The other red was spliced into an 18awg purple wire leading to the back of the fan/AC unit, and another curiously cut purple wire just chilling out. Cut the red, reconnect the purple to purple. Fixed
(see second picture attached)
3. A super smart thing to do before just ripping everything out would be to go into the engine bay, passenger side, there’s a uniquely open chunk of space in an otherwise PACKED engine bay. It kinda looks like a battery, but I think it’s just a bus (the electrical kind).
There’s a thick red wire (covered in black wire housing) that runs up and across the engine bay to the driver side, then runs under the driver seat. You can easily tell if it’s the correct wire by squeezing it. It’s thick braided copper, maybe 6 or 8 awg.
This wire provides power to the entire wiring panel above the driver’s head, which is all the “bus” stuff.
If you disconnect this red wire source, you’ve killed everything “bus” related. You can now try starting your bus, check blinkers, horn, clearance lights, etc etc etc and just see what goes wrong.
If everything works, then you’ve got the all-clear to just rip away.
4. Final note…anyone know what these wires do?? (First attachment) I found 3 18awg wires that ran up to the wiring panel, originating from under the steering wheel, and running under driver’s seat. They seem to be original from Chevy, not Collins. No idea what they do, I’ve noticed no adverse effects from disconnecting them. One wire sparked when cutting. 2 read no voltage, the other reads inconsistent 4v
Black one just kinda goes to the wall…so maybe common? That black box thing is the bottom of the seatbelt. The other two wires I have no idea. Tried connecting them and nothing happened.
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