This is great stuff!! Its a Mod I`ve been putting off till now...I`ll order the items and see how it goes..I`m glad you have a `98 MN6 also...Perfect test Mule!!

 

I have already installed one a couple years ago that I bought and it works ok most of the time. Sometimes I get the "remove key and wait 10 seconds" message. If you don't notice the message and try to drive away, the engine will shut off as soon as the car starts moving. This can be embarrassing or even dangerous.

I think I may build one of these to replace the store-bought CLB and see if it will stop causing this annoying message.

Cscokd, have you had the "remove key" message since installing yours?

 

Thank You!

 

No, mine has been working flawlessly for nearly a week now. Of course this is not much of a quality metric. In real product development you need to build dozens of units and test them 24/7 while cycling temperature and voltage to really find all the bugs. But my intuition tells me that once you make the BCM happy, then you're probably good to go.

Now, all that being said, this is a simple latching relay design. It remembers its last state without any knowledge of whether it should really be "locked" or "unlocked"....meaning if it gets one false trigger command as a result of a noise spike from the BCM, it can get into the opposite state still thinking it's okay. The BCM checks for this and when it detects that the Column Lock Motor (or CLB) status is wrong, it will send a message to your DIC saying "Pull the key and wait 10 seconds". Then on the next ignition cycle the feedback signal should be correct. I think this is what happens with the aftermarket CLB as well. I studied this and to add logic to remember and know the difference is a much more complicated project requiring a separate +12V supply voltage, so I opted to keep it as simple as possible. I've never disassembled any aftermarket CLBs, so I don't have a clue about their design. I would be interested to hear if anyone has studied one or made their own CLB...if so please share your info so we can all benefit. I'm hoping that others will post their results also.
Regards,
John

 

Thanks John,
I ordered the parts this evening and will have a working assembly by next week some time. I`ll be sure to post results.

 

Thanks for your input Cscokd. It sounds as if my CLB is getting in the wrong state sometimes and gives me the old "remove key" message. A home made unit might do the same thing but I think it might be worth a try to build one. That is really annoying to have your engine shut off when you start to pull away, especially when you have onlookers watching
What would be a good place to get the realy you suggest? Radio Shack?

 

Most likely because there are forum vendors that sell it. Thanks for trying though.

 

Never mind, I see you get it from Digikey.com. Didn't look far enough in your PDF file. I have my head removed from there now!

 

I decided to do my own CLB as a fun little side project but I have no interest in going into business or making money on it nor do I want the product liability that comes along with selling them if someone were to have an accident due to malfunction. I decided to share my work on the forum and I'm sure some vendors are going to be annoyed at me. But on the other hand, I felt they were charging corvette tax for something that solves a problem that causes us all a lot of grief and anxiety. I just hope my CLB turns out to be more reliable than the others on the market. If I can be of any help to anyone, let me know. You have my email address.
Regards,
John

 

Yes, I built my own last year, and yes, all of the aftermarket CLB's function exactly the same way as the component you've chosen. I'm using an "industrial strength" relay that would probably need 50G's of force to get it to bounce to the opposite side, so no worries there.