Like to listen to music outside your car, but don't wanna hear the chime?

This'll work on all 3rd Gen Proteges. This little trick is easy, completely reversible, and IMO well worth the 20 minutes it takes to complete.

On with the show...
Here's the tools you'll need:
-A phillips head screwdriver(preferrably a short one)
-A small flat-head screwdriver
-The smallest alan wrench you have, or something similar to pry the wire out of the connector.
-A small rag to protect your steering column
-A piece of tape


You'll need to take out your gauge cluster for this job. If you've installed DaveB's gauge rings, you know how easy this is.
Tilt your steering wheel all the way down to it's lowest setting. Unscrew the two phillips head screws at the top of the plastic trim surrounding the cluster.


Now pull out on the two corners of the bottom half of the plastic piece. Pull straight out toward the rear of the car, being careful of your steering column. It's easy to scratch!


Once the surround is off, you'll need to unscrew three phillips head screws. If your gauges were a clock face, the screws would be positioned at twelve, five and seven o'clock(don't worry about the one on the bottom-middle).


Pull out on the top of the gauge cluster. Be careful of the steering column!! If you haven't covered it with the rag, do it now. The lower tabs on the cluster are really jagged and the steering column is soft plastic...not a good combo.


Now the wiring harness on the top of the cluster is exposed. Push in on the tab while pulling up on the connector to take off the plug farthest to your left.


Once you've got the connector out. It's time to unplug the white wire. Pirana's was white with a green stripe, and mine was white with grey spots/markings. Either way, it's the wire that's located top-center-right. It's the fifth wire from the top-left side of the connector & it's white.


Use the small flat-head to pry the orange strip of plastic up a little to unlock the wires from the connector. Easy does it!


OK. Here's the part that can get a little frustrating. Look into the end of the plug that the wires do NOT come out of. See the little plastic "tongue" that's holding the wire into place? You have to push down on that tongue while pulling out on the white wire on the other end of the connector. Stick the alan wrench(or any other really small tool, maybe a large sewing needle?) into the end of the connector that the wire does not come out of, and work on the wire with the other hand.
Patience, Young Jedi!


When you get the white wire out of the connector, pat yourself on the back. That was a bitch.

Now, all you need to do is put some tape around the metal part of the wire you disconnected to keep it from grounding out on anything, and put your gauges back together.


You're done! The door chime is gone forever! Feel free to open your doors and listen to some music!

If your plug looks any wayother than the pics, just disconnect the white wire that's located top-center-right. It's the fifth wire from the top-left side of the plug & it should be white with some kind of markings.

 

This needs to be done very soon. Thanks Natey, I always wanted to kill this little nuisance.

 

nice mod, need to do it sometime., dont forget to disconnect the power before doing this

 

I did this mod an alternate way... I desoldered the speaker on the board. Does cutting the wire disable just the door chime but not the "omg your headlights are on" chime? The actual chime patterns are different so I would imagine they used different wires on the connector

After leaving my lights on a couple times and needing to call RIT Public Safety to jumpstart my car, I decided to put the speaker back on haha

 

heh, thanks for the comments!

I did this mod like 4 years ago and it has had no ill effects on my car at all. When done this way, your headlight warning chime and interior courtesy light still work normally.

 

^^ good to hear. I'll have to do this the next time i'm working on the car

but wait, aren't we ALWAYS supposed to disconnect the battery before doing any work on the car? I'm a baaad boy haha

 

^ i figured SOMEONE out there would do it w/o disconnecting the battery, fry something , and then nates ears would start burning. and we cant have that