disabling DCM / telematics in 2025 Taco

[Dayen]

I would recommend not pulling the GPS antenna wire. I think it's the center one. GPS does not transmit. It will theoretically prevent the vehicle from storing location data locally, but I don't think it's doing much/any of that.

The head unit furnishes the GPS data to Android Auto and CarPlay. It's much more accurate than it is coming from the phone, as it's roof mounted vs under a giant sheet of metal. You'll get a less jerky Android Auto/CarPlay map if you leave the GPS intact. I'm assuming it still actually works when the telephone antennas are terminated...will find out when my cables/terminators arrive.

Also on the subject of cables and terminators.... One of the amazon reviews is saying that particular terminator is crap and not actually terminating the signal. I ordered some from Mouser Electronics instead. 712-2467938-1 terminators and 523-095Z820159012 cables. Definitely more expensive. Probably safe to still buy cables from amazon. TBD if these work well at all, they're in the mail at the moment. The Amazon ones might be just fine, but I've 100% had it with that site and its fake crap.

Thank you for this tip, I have noticed that my GPS in Android Auto acts quite strange sometimes because the antenna is unplugged. Do we think that it's using the port as the "antenna" anyways instead of your phone's GPS? I will probably plug the GPS antenna back in this weekend when I have time and see how it does

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[Droid]

Thank you for this tip, I have noticed that my GPS in Android Auto acts quite strange sometimes because the antenna is unplugged. Do we think that it's using the port as the "antenna" anyways instead of your phone's GPS? I will probably plug the GPS antenna back in this weekend when I have time and see how it does

I tested with a couple of Android Auto phones and they pretty rough when the GPS was off (Had DCM fuse pulled). The Pixel 8 Pro's GPS did better than the Pixel 7's.

Android Auto definitely is reading a GPS signal from the head unit. I'm not an expert on Android Auto development but have been playing with the code of OrganicMaps (an open source AA-supporting map app). It is sending GPS location data to the phone. I had set up a device to only use the headunit-provided location and it was totally frozen after I powered off the DCM.

I'm guessing the DCM has the GPS in it and is simply sending a data steram of latlongs to the head unit. I don't think any GPS antenna connects to the head unit itself.

PS thanks much for the MT specific teardown instructions!

 

[Dayen]

I tested with a couple of Android Auto phones and they pretty rough when the GPS was off (Had DCM fuse pulled). The Pixel 8 Pro's GPS did better than the Pixel 7's.

Android Auto definitely is reading a GPS signal from the head unit. I'm not an expert on Android Auto development but have been playing with the code of OrganicMaps (an open source AA-supporting map app). It is sending GPS location data to the phone. I had set up a device to only use the headunit-provided location and it was totally frozen after I powered off the DCM.

I'm guessing the DCM has the GPS in it and is simply sending a data steram of latlongs to the head unit. I don't think any GPS antenna connects to the head unit itself.

PS thanks much for the MT specific teardown instructions!

No problem!
I have a pixel 6a and just assumed that the gps module in the phone was the issue. Didn't get to it today because I was too busy being hungry but I'll try and do it tomorrow!

Glad you enjoyed the manual teardown information, there is not much information on the 6 speed cars out there it seems, check out my post a few weeks ago about the nalgene cupholders if you're also thinking about that!

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