I need help! My '99 C5 has been a model car until this year. I let it sit too long over the winter and spring and had to replace a very dead battery. Since then, I can't get either key fob to reprogram and now the car keeps resetting all the fuel information (average mpg, average speed, etc...). Today, I was driving in traffic at 65 mph and the speedometer and tach went to zero and then did the whole sweep of the gauge like I had just started it. It never stalled. It did this twice more before I got it home and as I was backing it into my driveway I got more lights and the "check abs" message flashed on my DIC.

My take on this is I am losing power to my gauges, but not the whole car since it doesn't stall. Do I have a loose ground somewhere? Loose connection? And where is the first place to start looking?

Thanks in advance!

 

Pull the codes and post them.


http://www.c5forum.com/ayc/dtcdic.php

Include the sub-group the code belongs to and the H, C, or HC that follow the code. Makes looking them up much easier.


Here is another link that you might look at:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...n-long-32.html

Then go to post #640.

Some of your symptoms match the bare wire in the accordian tube issue.

 

Yup I vote an electrical grounding issue. Probably your accordian connection in the door or the ground connector on the top of the frame rail on the passenger side. I would begin by cleaning and applying dialectric grease on those connectors and go from there.

 

Thank you, fellas. I will begin trouble shooting first thing in the morning. I knew this was the right place to come.

 

I had a similar (all gauges sweep, DIC goes crazy) while driving once. It was back when I was having battery problems but Im mentioning it because I also found that the crimp on the negative battery cable was bad, so while the bolts on each end of the cables were torqued properly, there was still play in where the cable (stranded part) is crimped into the head on it.

It would periodicaly screw things up but only once did it cut everything out. Took a while till I zeroed in on that.

Good luck

 

Good luck - keep us posted on what you find.

 

Check battery connections.

If your car was fine prior to dead battery, and you replaced a dead battery only to have other issues occur....I would go double check what you just did, which was replace a dead battery.

I would check battery connections, verifiy no loose wiring. Verify that bracket holding battery secure is tight.

it is possible to buy a weak or bad battery, i would get a trickle charger anyway.

if all that checks out then you have a possible ground issue like what was previously stated.

 

My guess is the battery or the terminals not tight enough to spec. Check that out first before you even think it's something more involved or difficult. A loose battery connection on a brand new fully charged battery can make our cars do all kinds of crazy, unexplained things.

 

He may have more going on but yup.

I recently replaced my battery (long story, nothing wrong with battery but it was the wrong size, actually humorous outcome http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-g...ls-errand.html)

But at any rate, I did tighten down the terminals, well aware of problems that can ensue when they aren't at spec. I didnt put a torque wrench on them (mines a half inch beam type, so its problematic in tight spaces or on smaller bolts) but I tell ya I tightened them down pretty damn well. (Spec would be 11 lb/ft if any are wondering).

All is good, everything running perfect since then. Come back from vacation, take the car out...Hmmm ?....slightly slow starting ?

Check the gauges, Hmm? 12.8 volts running....that cant be right ?
The car is always on a CTeck charger when parked at home, has performed impeccably.

Ok, so maybe the power went out and reset the charger to standby while we were away ? Put it back on the charger, take a look the next day...13 running ?, check the battery terminals.....negative wasnt loose but wasnt as tight as I originally had it. Tightened it down, check gauges....14.3 running . Been that way ever since.

So it does pay to check the basics

BTW, I should have known the CTeck wouldnt fault if the power goes off, when checking it later it does in fact return to the last mode selected (charging) if you shut the breaker its on then turn it back on Good to know.

 

I still think it's your battery connection. I have a similar tale, like Jistari. When I first bought my used 99, I made sure the lights worked properly. It had a Costco battery which worked fine but there was a lot of corrosion on the tray and I just didn't trust it. After doing a lot of research, I had Sears install a new Platinum battery after having the car for only a week or so. While working on other things to the car, I started to notice that my
radio lights would flicker but only at idle. Then after a car show coming home the first time I drove the car at night, my headlights would turn on but not pop up with the engine running but would pop up perfectly with the engine off. Now I'm thinking I need an alternator for the flickering lights and a new multi switch for the headlights until I read an old post about battery terminals not being tight enough. So now, 3 months after buying the battery, I head back to Sears. The stupid salesman gave me a hard time and wanted to charge me since I was a few days over the 90 days but after talking to the mgr., he personally took a wrench to my car ...1/4 turn on the negative terminal instantly solved both problems. So check those battery terminals, even on a new battery!

 

Update - I took everyone's advice and torqued those battery terminals down good. Everything was fine until yesterday when I pulled into a gas station, turned the car off, and lost all power. I mean, all power. I popped the hood and went and wiggled the battery terminals and the under hood light came back on. I filled the car up and went home. The terminals weren't what I would call loose, but they weren't as tight as when I worked on it last. I wire brushed all surfaces good and re-installed the battery with lockwashers between the cables and the battery terminals. So far so good and I was even able to get the fobs to program (something they haven't wanted to do). Is having lockwashers in there a good idea or am I asking for more trouble down the road. Whatever the case, I am not going anywhere without that 8mm wrench for a while.

 

There were some aftermarket batterys produced a few years back where they failed to tap threads deep enough into the posts on the battery (side terminal batterys) and the result was that the bolt in the cable could not be tightened tight enough to make the necessary contact to the posts. The solution was to place washers between the cable and the post or to cut the bolt a little so that the cables made th necessary contact. The washers should not hurt anything. The proper torque for the battery cables is 11ft/lbs from my shop manual.

 

That could very well be my problem. It would explain why they seem tight but loosen up after a while. I'll drive it for a week or so and check them again. Nice to have my fobs working again.