I have been having electrical issue with my car well pretty much since I bought it in 2003. I have a convertible 2003. I got dealer put in a aftermarket stereo and a remote start alarm and since than I could never get rid of this problem. It is pointless to say how many times I have gone back and forth to get this fixed. No luck
Problem is that quite frequently my entire console (i.e Lights guages on dashboard) goes crazy. messages like check engine, check tire monitoring system, comes on security light comes on. All guages needles go back down to either end. Driver side door panel gets disabled. Cannot pull up/down windows. No mirror controles or memory controle. Interestingly enough even AC stope blowing cold air (mostly only hot air flows) . These symptoms happen frequently and intermittently. Some times generally when i go over a hump on the road while driving. Everthing goes back to normal when I go over the second bump or something (yep.. I look for bumps on the road so I can get control of my vette back...but that is only a work around i need real solution)
Car runs well otherwise. I have now removed the steering column lock and remote start alarm thinking It may be causing that issue. But no fix yet.I have showed it to various mechanics. no luck.
Any Ideas? Thanks in advance. Sean

 

Check your pm's

 

Sorry to hear your having problems. First I would check the battery and below it. Some batteries leaked and the acid goes down into the BCM which is below the battery. You access the BCM through the wheel well. There's a cover right behind the tire that you take off to gain access. The car also has several ground points, and if you do a search you should come up with their locations. Lots of guys have had problems with these and once cleaned up things work a lot better. Another common fault is the passenger side foot well when it gets wet from the air conditioner. The drain for the A/C gets plugged and the water backs up and enters the passenger side foot well. Which in that area there is another computer under the floor mat that gets wet and causes all sorts of havoc. The drain or udder for the drain is located on the fire wall on the passengers side. It's kind of hard to see but it's there and if you can squeeze your hand down there you should be able to clear it.These would be the first areas that I would check regarding your problems. Also I am sure that others will chime in and offer up some other suggestions. Keep us posted on your progress, and let us know what you find on the way that will give us better info to help you out. Good luck with it.

 

I had the same problem on mine, the issue was a bare wire in the harness between the body and the passenger door. Opened it up, found the bare wire, coated in electrical tape, and I haven't had the problem since.... check it out. There was a post on here a long time ago that I searched and found that detailed exactly which wire it was, as appparently it's a common problem.

 

sticky on the tech section for Bill Curlee's DIY on cleaning the ground areas of the car

 

Sounds like the same results I had, mine was a short from the harness going to the door . Check your codes and see what you get. If it is intermittent it is probably an H code

 

Check the tech section sticky for Bill Curlee's write up on this. Pics included.

 

Your door wiring harness should be the FIRST thing that you examine! That has plagued NUMEROUS C5 owners and its an easy fix! Takes 30 mins to inspect both doors and if you have a bare wire, a little longer to fix it.

Bill C

 

great keeper post thanks