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Thank you my friend! I'm about to go after it, not looking forward to it but I guess it could be worse. I have no intention of replacing the lock etc, what I am wondering is if I can stab the pin and push it back out of the way of the plate? grind/cut/drill it off, or the tip off? Once I get to the snap ring that holds the plate on, I'm wondering if I can just get to work on the pin without having to remove that ring, pull the lock housing and take the lock apart ? ?
Problem is that you need to get the slot ring off before you even attempt to cut the lock pin, so once you are this far anyways with the slot ring off, pulling the lock to pull the back motor cover to just lower it down on the screw gears is a lot easy, then the mess your going to make trying to cut the shaft off instead.
So just spent the $8 for the tool (Autocraft Part #AC579).
I pulled the lock plate, the it on the lathe and cut the luck tabs off of it, threw it back on and the car starts up, (with the eliminator installed) wheel is free, no column lock light, all is well......
EXCEPT FOR... Unplugged the battery prior to pulling the airbag, after I finished with the install of the new improved lock plate, wheel, airbag...I hooked up the battery to see if the car would start, all is good EXCEPT FOR there is a sound of something running inside the car, almost sounds like a CD is spinning, it may be coming from the radio, I don't want to put the gauges back in until I figure out wheat this mystery noise is....any help is much appreciated.
Yessir, your right, I got the tool, it was so much better than trying to fight that pin out, I cut the lock plate down so it looks like this now, the pin feels spring loaded, so it's not like I could have pushed it back into the disengaged position, but with the locking plate unable to catch the pin and the eliminator plugged in, I should be good to go right? I think it's good to go, except now I have this weird noise that I can't figure out what it is, started hearing it after I reconnected the power after I put the steering wheel back on.
Haha, the fan on the cabin air temperature sensor was on, not used to hearing that in my c5, got everything back together and got to take my new car out for a spin, thanks a million dano!
FYI, take a flash light to the bezel cover slots and make sure that the cabin temp sensor did not get knocked off and now in the bowels of the dash instead (make sure you can see the blue piece behind the slots).
If the sensor is laying in the bowels of the dash (can get knocked off when you go to snap the Bezel back in, the AC/Heat temps end up wild'g up and down in the cabin, instead of holding steady for what you have the temp set for instead.
As for lathing the lock ring, you where already there, and would have been faster to just pull the lock and manual adjust the pin back down on the drive gears isntead. Who knows, and if the gears where not that bad, may have been able to clean and grease them; to be able to hook the steering column lock back up when you sell the car down the road instead.
Good call, I knocked it off buy I saw it, I was looking for it. Don't plan on selling this car, but I'd just assume toss those gears and the while assembly in the trash but I'm pretty sure other things are mounted to the housing.
On another note, my airbag light is on now, totally pisses me off, I know I plugged it in, the yellow connectors, put the locking tabs back in, the big black connector in the center is good, and the little ground, I think is for the horn, any ideas about that?
Seems tthe seat wire harness connectors, unnder the back of the seat , both seats, can come lose and cause the airbag light to come on. I will be checking back and report until I get it fixed.
Great info on this subject. I had the dreaded column lock last night and freaked out since the car was in the garage with one side on ramps. Read the chain of messages and watched the video. Put the car on the battery minder for 30 minutes and then did the accessory button while pressing the brake (and clutch). Column unlocked and then started multiple times afterwards with no issues.
Went to eBay and purchased the bypass from your recommended supplier in Texas. It is in rout to me today. Getting my battery checked (looks new but no date code visible) since I have no idea how old it is since I bought the car last year.
Thanks for the education. Hopefully I won't have any issues this weekend before I get the module.
I wasn't having trouble with mine but changed it to head off trouble. Ordered from where Dano stressed getting it, install was fairly simple and a couple of years later....no problem. It's fantastic to have such knowledgeable forum members here....we are lucky
No. You can put power to the lock and usually get it to unlock though. Dano has made a bunch of posts about it, see if you can dig those up. The C5 column lock bypasses used to come with a 12V power plug that will put power to the lock and unlock it.. look into those too. Not sure if the connectors are the same but that should at least get you pointed in the right direction
Great info on this subject. I had the dreaded column lock last night and freaked out since the car was in the garage with one side on ramps. Read the chain of messages and watched the video. Put the car on the battery minder for 30 minutes and then did the accessory button while pressing the brake (and clutch). Column unlocked and then started multiple times afterwards with no issues.
Went to eBay and purchased the bypass from your recommended supplier in Texas. It is in rout to me today. Getting my battery checked (looks new but no date code visible) since I have no idea how old it is since I bought the car last year.
Thanks for the education. Hopefully I won't have any issues this weekend before I get the module.
Had the issue again the day after that weekend. Received the bypass that day and installed it immediately. It has been two months since I installed the bypass. No more lock out problems. Thanks for the info and link.
Last edited by Jon05vette; 10-25-2016 at 12:48 PM.
Reason: Misspelling
I have been having this problem with my 2005 manual transmission Vette since I bought it back in 2007. It has been towed to the dealer and other service shops several times. Usually unhooking a battery terminal will temporarily fix the issue. I bought a service column lock bypass and it worked great for about a year. When it failed, I had another one installed, but it failed after one week. It is now at the dealer yet again (they have a two week backup). I called GM Customer service today and told them about my problem and that it is easy to find others on the internet with the same problem. I told them it should have been a recall. They said if enough people contacted them, they would look into it. If you are having this issue, please let them know at 800-222-1020.
If you bought the bypass from the seller I listed on Ebay, then it not the lock that has the problem, but a bad connection of the main connector into the SLC module instead.
The quick fix here, un-connect the by pass connector, thee Main connector into the black box, and use electrical contact cleaner to clean the all the pin connectors on the black box sockets, and the main connector and eliminator C connector pins, then put it all back together.
Hence the problem most of the time is not the black box itself, but the connector pins getting slightly corroded, and not making a clean connection isntead.
As for it it it is the steering column black box module, it once of the relays that will go back, and either it needs to be cleaned (free) or you can replace the problem relay instead (like $7).
But will state, the last thing you want to do is put the actual steering column lock motor back in play, since even with a brand new lock unit, your on borrowed time until it motor spiral gear starts binding up again. Hence have seen brand new locks start binding up in a mater of a few years, since GM used plastic parts where plastic parts should have never been used.
If you bought the bypass from the seller I listed on Ebay, then it not the lock that has the problem, but a bad connection of the main connector into the SLC module instead.
The quick fix here, un-connect the by pass connector, thee Main connector into the black box, and use electrical contact cleaner to clean the all the pin connectors on the black box sockets, and the main connector and eliminator C connector pins, then put it all back together.
Hence the problem most of the time is not the black box itself, but the connector pins getting slightly corroded, and not making a clean connection isntead.
As for it it it is the steering column black box module, it once of the relays that will go back, and either it needs to be cleaned (free) or you can replace the problem relay instead (like $7).
But will state, the last thing you want to do is put the actual steering column lock motor back in play, since even with a brand new lock unit, your on borrowed time until it motor spiral gear starts binding up again. Hence have seen brand new locks start binding up in a mater of a few years, since GM used plastic parts where plastic parts should have never been used.
Thank you so much for your reply. There is more to the story. The dealer told me it would be $1,500 for the module and ordered it. Unfortunately the part was what they called a "ghost part". They said there were no modules anywhere in the country. They were going to just put it back together and give it back to me. I sent your reply to the service rep and told him to follow your instructions. You may have saved me a lot of headaches and money. I was to the point were I just wanted to get rid of my beloved car and never buy another GM product ever again.
So I bought the black box today in the hope that I fix the problem myself but my steering is in the lock position. I tried to do the jumper thing but it does not work. Am I wiring it to the right pins? I tried it on the pins on the left from the picture below.
If this is from the ribbon cable that goes to the actual GM steering column lock in the steering column (not the elimintor plug), then the left hand pins on the connector at the ones you use to jump the steering column lock to the unlock position with 12 volts.
The top left hand pin should get postive 12 volts, and the left lower pin should get 12V negative to move the lock shaft into the unlock position.
Note, when your a powering up the steering column lock, move the steering wheel a touch to make sure that the lock rod is not bound up on one of the U slots in the lock ring.
If you can't get the motor to unlock, reverse the polarity on the connector to first fire the lock rod to fully locked/outwards, then reverse the polatiry to fire the lock rod to unlock/back inward position. Hence on some motors, the gears are slightly bound up, it take a few time of firing the motor back and forth before you can get it the steering column unlocked.
If the motor is not moving with with the wires either way and the rod not bound up in a channel with the steering wheel tight to one side, then could be a problem with the motor gears so bound up, that it fired the lock motor isntead. If this is the case, and not just a bad connection in the ribbon cable, then you may have to pull the steering column apart to manual wind/move the gears from the lock to unlock position isntead.
I haven't taken mine apart, so the answer may be obvious, but why can't you just remove the rod/motor from the steering column and wire tie it up (leaving it electrically connected)?
I haven't taken mine apart, so the answer may be obvious, but why can't you just remove the rod/motor from the steering column and wire tie it up (leaving it electrically connected)?
I know this would not be easy!
The steering column lock module is looking for a resistance value from the steering column lock in both the locked, and the unlocked position. If if does not get back the correct value (they are different values), then it triggers a service column lock message, and the car will not start.
Hence what happens on the OEM lock, is that the motor gears start to bind up, the lock will not fully lock or unlock, and it fails to have the needed value resistance on the signal side to make the module happy (to prevent the steering column lock error message). Hence the OEM lock will only give the correct signal resistance when the lock is fully locked, or unlock (and not when it does not get fully into either position instead).
So what the eliminitor is, is a latching relay, that has the resitance value of 487ohm when the lock is supposed to be locked on the signal side of the connector, and 294ohm when the steering column is supposed to be unlocked instead.
In the above photo, on the left hand side of the plug, is the voltage sent to the motor to lock and lock the steering column lock motor (voltage reversed to unlock it through the same two wires), and the other two connectors are the resistance connectors for the signal back to the module.
So when the module sends out the power to the lock motor to unlock it (power on sent for a few seconds), it fires the eliminator latching relay to one direction, and the eliminator has the 487ohm resistance on the signal side.
When the module reverse's it power to lock motor to lock it, it fires the latching relay to the other direction, and the eliminator has the needed resistance 294ohm value on the signal side instead.
Also to point out, since it take almost no amperage, and the latching relay will work down to around 10v, it solves the low charge battery problem as well.
Hence on the OEM lock, you lose around 2 volts from the battery to the lock through the module and if the battery is drained down, the OEM lock motor is not seeing enough voltage to work correctly from the start.
Update: I have not solved the problem yet. I have not gotten a chance to work on the car since my job only gives me 1 day a week off. Tried to put some juice on the lock with no success. I may just try to dismantle the column all together to find out what is going on in there. Any other suggestions?
05-23-2016, 08:43 AM
