jman33163

Ok, car is a 2005 M6 50,000 miles

Usually only driven weekends. I drive to work on Monday morning and it sits until Friday afternoon 90% of the time. Last Thursday I came into town early and got in it to drive home and the ABS and Active handling lights and corresponding messages appeared. I shut off car and restarted and the handling light went out but ABS light came back on. ABS lights don't worry me usually, I had a 94 Z28 who's ABS light came at around 12,000 miles and was still on at 79,000 miles when I traded it in on my 98Z. Unfortunately my gremlins didn't stop with just that on the Vette. The next thing that started happening is when I pushed in the clutch, the radio and the accessory plug my phone charger is plugged into and the compass on the rear view mirror goes out and then comes back on. Not every time but most. Also happens when hitting the brake pedal. Also, cruise control has stopped working. Next I get low voltage message on the DIC and look and sure enough volt meter is at 9, I increase rpms and most it gets to is 12 and hovers around 10. I was driving at night the first time this happened. Not once did lights dim or anything else except for the issues already described. The active handling light comes and goes but ABS stays on all the time. One other thing I have noticed is when I turned on the hazards every light flashes. The 4 ways, the lights in footwell, lights on the mirror all flash. The only other thing is the service column lock message came on one time. That was when I loaded the car on a hauler cause I had a rear tire blow (which is a story for another day).

I started reading and searching and have yet to find any thread describing everything I have listed. Several with voltage or active handling or column lock issues. I tried to order the CLB from COH but they are out of stock. They are supposed to call me when they get some. I saw lots of threads suggest a new battery. I had been running a blue top optima (sorta matched the car ) but a couple of months ago at a car/audio club meet I had let the battery go dead and had to jump it off and use a charger on it. The battery was only 1 1/2 years old but figured maybe I damaged it. So tonight I bought a yellow top and put in it for the drive home. It immediately went to 13volts but that's it and soon started the now normal fluctuating between 9 and 13 depending on rpms. The active handling light and message came and went and the ABS light and message came and the light stayed on. Radio et al went out a few times when shifting and braking. I still have only seen the column lock message the one time.

Now, anyone still with me and not put to sleep by the long post, is this the dreaded column lock issue? Will the column lock bypass trick everything into working properly? Is this something that would be caused by the alternator going bad? I am getting frustrated not to mention
Any and all help/suggestions is greatly appreciated

Thanks

vette6500

That is not column lock, car doesn't start if you have column lock problem.
Since you have battery, only guess is alternator going bad and low voltage causing electrical problems.
Otherwise, maybe bad BCM.

My car is '05 138k+ miles and still on original alternator, but been through hell on column lock and BCM replaced when chasing that problem.

Only consistent low voltage I got was when I got head n cams and shop put in the tr6 or whatever plugs everyone likes for power. Ordered me a set of ac delco z06 plugs and fixed that problem.

But you are getting weird things, so I would start with alternator.
Think I read posts about starter posts melting or something but dont remember if that causes low voltage problems or just no start.

cclive

Check out this thread:
http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c6-c...g-gremlin.html

Bill Dearborn

Before replacing anything I would check wiring connections. When you replaced the battery did you clean the battery cable terminal ends and make sure they were tightly fastened to the battery terminals? If that is OK then check where the battery and alternator cables are connected at the starter. See if the connections are clean and tight.

Then go about checking the alternator and the connections at the alternator. All it takes is a high resistance connection to screw up your battery charging.

Bill

jman33163

Thank you sir, pretty much the same thing my father suggested as well. Gave me lots of grief for buying the battery without checking the alternator



That is a thread I hadn't come across. I should've searched "gremlins" heck I even used the term in my post! I will check that location as well. Only thing is I almost never have passengers but a couple of weeks before this happened my on/off gf was up from Florida and rode over there the whole week cause she didn't want to drive her impala. Hmmm maybe

Yes and yes on battery terminals. Will add checking starter connections to the list. I did see a thread where a couple of members found a wire that had been burnt on a header and was causing issues. I looked best I could with a flashlight and didn't see one but will explore further

Thanks to all of you for the help!

csnow

I am pretty confident I know what your problem is. It is the starter. I had all kinds of weird electrical gremlins happening. The solenoid is plastic and the main hot terminal on the starter starts to loose connection due to deterioration of the plastic. I could never find the problem until the I tugged on the starter wire and the terminal came out of the solenoid. I also made a thread of a place in San Antonio that rebuilds the starters. 10 to 1 if you replace that solenoid, your problem will be gone. If that cable moves at all on the starter terminal, you have a terminal problem. Mine is also a 2005 with 54k miles.

EVRose

I had serious voltage fluctuation on my 05 too. The only gremlin type thing happening was the nav would lock up occasionally. I did get service charging system and active handling warning once. The voltage bounced around between 11.5 and 13.5. Never went over 13.5. At idle and warmed up I watched the voltage jumping up and down irratically. Battery was good. All connections were good. Last month I put a Billet Tech 170 amp alternator in it and voltage is constant 14.2-14.7 volts now. Its a very expensive alternator but has a 10 year warranty and looks really nice. No more voltage problems.

eboggs_jkvl

DITTO!

My Alternator was replaced and the NEW one couldn't do the job either. I purchased the billet tech 170amp and my voltage issues STOPPED. I start the car and it slaps over to 14.5v on the meter and stays there rock solid. All the stupid DIC messages have stopped and the electronic issues have gone away.


Elmer

jman33163

Thanks so much everyone

After a day and a half working on this, I don't appear to have it figured out. All wires from battery, alternator, starter have been checked and can find no burnt wires, bad connections, or any other issues. Also, in reference to the thread cclive posted, I pulled the passenger carpet down and checked those connectors and put dialectic grease on them. Besides the new battery, I also went ahead and changed alternator as well. According to computer and volt meter it is charging correctly. After reading a thread on here about volt issues and aftermarket plugs, and discovering I had a stored DTC P0621, I also changed out the NGK TR6 plugs for AC Delco platinum plugs. All of this time money and effort and the problem is not gone. The gauge still fluctuate. Upon startup it goes to 13, when you drive it moves down to around 10 and hangs there, sometimes moving up a little but rarely going to 13 again. If idling it stays at 13 unless you turn the lights on then it drops to around 10. The ABS light is on (starting to think this my be unrelated but not sure) and the service active handling light and message are still intermittent. Start the car one time, it's there, start another and it's not. The radio/mirror/ACC plug power shut down has apparently stopped tho. Only driven a total of 45 miles but so far hasn't gone out. The low voltage message has not appeared and neither has the service charging system message. A new, maybe not new cause I hadn't checked, issue is when I turn on the wipers they are super slow. High speed is slower than low speed used to be. Low speed will make you think they are going to stop. I am convinced it is not an actual charging problem, all tests at alternator and battery are fine. Just seems there is still something I am missing, just have no idea what it is.

Any more ideas?

Again, thanks to all that have helped so far

jman33163

Just to put a close to this and help anyone who is doing a search trying to find answers to their voltage issues, it was bad ground. That's it, all the money I threw at this was a waste. Not sure why this wasn't discovered by the shop I paid to do the diagnostic and track down the problem but am happy to have found it now. Apparently the original battery (I have been running Optima batteries since I bought car) had leaked acid onto the ground cable where it bolts to the frame, which ironically is underneath the battery tray. Replaced the cable and insured a good connection to the frame and ta-da all is well. Voltage gage reads 14 at all times, no more ABS light, no more service active handling light, cruise control works, no power outage when hitting breaks or clutch, everything is back to normal!

franman69

Glad you figured it out... Ground is a strange and important thing!...

jman33163

Thank you sir! Hate I wasted so much time and money figuring it out but if this thread helps someone else some time its all good