[Frank_Smith]

Following up to this thread:

Has anyone removed the 4G LTE Cellular modem from their...

I plan to physically disable the cellular connection in my Wrangler 4xe. Has anyone else done this? If so, is the modem in the back of the head unit, or is it in the uconnect module? I've seen one video where the modem is removed, but that's for a different vehicle, and the head unit was made...

www.4xeforums.com

First, I pulled the radio. I got the basic steps from this video:

Pull the trim panel below the radio. Remove 2 screws. Pull the trim panel around the head unit. Remove 4 screws.

There are 5 antenna style connections on one side. Push the tab and pull them out. There's a large black connector that uses a lever (similar to the one in the video). Raise the lever and it pops out pretty easy. The gray one is an old style mini-USB connection.

When you get it out, put it somewhere flat and take out the six screws. There are spacers between two of the boards, and the screws are pretty long. Carefully wiggle the back of the unit up. There's a socket that will come lose and the spacers might fall over. There's one antenna connector that extends to the side that comes off from the screen side.

I detached the ribbon cable and the three antenna plugs that go to the aircard and left the plug attached to the main board. That one goes to a Panasonic module (P/N j3bbzzb00074).

Remove three screws from the side of the case that came off, and pull the aircard off the edge. It's the piece with the ribbon cable and the three antenna wires coming from it.

I used needle nosed pliers to help pull the aircard off. It's attached tightly and there's a bunch of thermal paste under it.

Mine was a Sierra Wireless AirPrime AR7552 (At&t version).

https://www.sierrawireless.com/~/media/3800FE7E90294E74BCA463468D9579D1.ashx

The antenna connections are in Spanish for white, gray, and black.

Put the aircard cover back on with the three screws.

Lined up the spacers and pushed the board down to get it to pop back into the socket.

Tightened the six screws.

Re-attached the 7 connectors in the back. Put the radio back in, put the 4 screws back in place. Pushed the radio trim back on. Put in the two screws for that, and then re-attached the connectors for the button start and HVAC controls. Pushed that panel back in place. Reset the time. Done.

Assist and SOS buttons don't call. Nav still works (don't know how well, never used it before. Just switched to it and it still knew where I was. It's that antenna wire that goes to the Panasonic module). Carplay still works. Sirius XM still works. Also the first time I switched to that. It's also built into the Panasonic module.

 

[Nathan]

Nice! It's awesome that the cell radio is on its own PCB, that makes things easy.

Hmm, wonder if you could rig up an RF kill switch, so you can still get firmware updates when you want them. Or maybe there's a way to flash via OBDII with the FCA service tools? It's really too bad car electronics are such a mess from a DIY perspective.

 

[HWEO]

Good idea,the less we are connected the better,I just don’t trust powers that be right now,

 

[SnB4xe]

Love the determination.
What is the benefit for this mod?

 

[halsjeep]

Why?

 

[michail]

Nice! It's awesome that the cell radio is on its own PCB, that makes things easy.

Hmm, wonder if you could rig up an RF kill switch, so you can still get firmware updates when you want them. Or maybe there's a way to flash via OBDII with the FCA service tools? It's really too bad car electronics are such a mess from a DIY perspective.

You can download them and install through USB.

 

[michail]

Love the determination.
What is the benefit for this mod?

I'd guess it's one of

1. Privacy Concerns
2. Not wanting Jeep to know when he needs an oil change
3. Fear of radiation from the LTE signal
4. Need to be in radio free zones

All but #3 are valid personal concerns. I know there are places cell phones and WiFi aren't allowed for radio observatories.

I personally wish we had 5G, WiFi, and a bit deal more access to our data. But the Sirius Guardian system is terrible.

 

[Frank_Smith]

I'd guess it's one of

1. Privacy Concerns
2. Not wanting Jeep to know when he needs an oil change
3. Fear of radiation from the LTE signal
4. Need to be in radio free zones

All but #3 are valid personal concerns. I know there are places cell phones and WiFi aren't allowed for radio observatories.

I personally wish we had 5G, WiFi, and a bit deal more access to our data. But the Sirius Guardian system is terrible.

It's 1.

I try to consider the transactions I'm involved with and decide if I'm getting what I'm paying for. Sirius and Mopar aren't offering anything I value, but they're still collecting detailed location and sensor data from my vehicle, so I'm not getting my data's worth. Since it's pretty easy to keep them from collecting the data by pulling the modem, and asking them to stop may or may not actually cause them to stop, I decided this was the best course of action.

It also leaves the remote chance (Last couple of years we've seen the Solarwinds thing, every Exchange server in the world getting compromised, every managed Linux VM in Azure having a huge gaping hole installed by Microsoft, every MS print server offering easy administrative access to anyone who can gain any kind of user level access to a system, Zero click iMessage hacks of iPhones, and that's what comes to mind in about 3 seconds, there are probably more) of a system level compromise at one of the companies that lets someone push malware out to vehicles. Think Sirius and Mopar have better security than those guys? Even if the service is canceled and they do stop connecting to the car (doubtful), the LTE modem is sitting there patiently trying to connect to cell towers waiting for someone to reactivate the service. If you read threads, especially about earlier 4xes, I think you might get the sense that the software in the vehicle is probably not lacking in exploitable bugs.

 

[Shakes]

My mind is blown. Never in a million years am I ever doing that.
Good on you OP for figuring it all out.

 

[michail]

I forgot security in my list! You can then remove the security gateway with less concern for something like Tazer or JScan.

Agree on the value proposition. The Sirius XM Guardian service may not even be worth its free intro price. I do like being able to remote lock and start. But pulling data is so hit or miss I don't even want to try anymore.

I'd pay for service if Uconnect were more like an Android system that could stream Spotify, Google maps, etc.

 

[SnB4xe]

I'd guess it's one of

1. Privacy Concerns
2. Not wanting Jeep to know when he needs an oil change
3. Fear of radiation from the LTE signal
4. Need to be in radio free zones

All but #3 are valid personal concerns. I know there are places cell phones and WiFi aren't allowed for radio observatories.

I personally wish we had 5G, WiFi, and a bit deal more access to our data. But the Sirius Guardian system is terrible.

Good points. I think some military locations have cellular restrictions as well.

If #1, then I presume the OP doesn't own a cell phone so the loss of Uconnect would be a non issue.

 

[michail]

I wonder how sensitive areas deal with modern cars. A Tesla is basically a semi-autonomous data collection machine.

 

[4XEGator]

Wonder if you could swap the module to switch to a different carrier or upgrade to 5G eventually.

 

[Horse_Power]

I’m looking forward to the ability to turn on my AC remotely with UConnect more than any other feature on the Jeep I ordered.

 

[gus2k]

Frank, you're my hero. I found this thread googling for how to disable this, and will be making the mod myself.

My reasons are same as yours:

• The car otherwise matched my needs, but,
• Didn't consent to sending my whereabouts & vehicle telemetry to FCA/Mopar 24/7, and don't get any value from it;
• Don't trust FCA/Mopar with safeguarding my data even if I disuse it;
• Not remotely confident FCA/Mopar (& their attendant infosec practices, or lack thereof!) to prevent remote exploit of my, er, car. In fact I'll bet good money we see a uconnect exploit at blackhat/defcon within the next few years.

I found one other thread at a different forum on this topic, and in their case, it looks like they merely yanked the pink cable harness. I am curious, did you consider this option? My guess is the antennas go out this harness (need to verify), and it might be sufficient to prevent connectivity. If so, it might make the mod a bit easier. In any case, I plan to try it first and will report back.