I had the recall done on my 00 6 months ago. For the past month or so I get the pull key wait 10 seconds warning about three times a week. It may take two trys but the warning clears and I get the service column warning. I pull the key once more and it will will be fine. It is always fine after I pull the key when I get the service column warning.

While it is a pain in the *** I can live with it if It dosen't get worse. Should I worry about this?

 

Ron, You should not be having these problems after the recall. Likely the relay used in the K Harness is faulty. We've seen a lot of these fail shortly after the recall was done. It will likely get worse and leave you stranded eventually. I would do one of two things:
1. return to the dealer and have them fix it properly, or
2. remove the K Harness completely and install a CLB from COH or Thunder Racing.
John

 

I had the recall done to my 99 automatic, twice, the last time they said they disabled by steering column lock. I have confirmed it no longer locks. Recently I got the 10 second pull key message. I responded as directed and the message went away. Ever since getting the message I have noticed that my radio lights flicker and I get pop sounds coming from the rear and the car seems to want to stall. Today, which driving I noticed my front driving lights where off, I press the light switch and the car started to stall, then all of a sudden all the dash lights started to go off and on before the car quite running completely. I waited a minute or so and tried to start the car, it started and I was on my way. I am afraid this is going to happen again. I am ready to make another appointment to have it looked at, but a little worried about what GM will do this time. Anyone out there have this problem or any advice would be welcome.

 

This is either an unrelated failure or they screwed up something while working on your car. This is not related to the column lock mod in my opinion. I would:
1. Check error codes on you DIC
2. Check your battery and make sure it is good.
3. Pull off your knee bolster under the steering column and do a good visual of your wiring harnesses and connectors. Make sure everything is properly seated, no wires pinched, nothing out of place, etc. If nothing obvious is found, I would return to the dealer and make them fix it.
John

 

My '02 MN6 started experiencing the column lock problem early in December. I had the recall done in October '04 so I was very surprised this happened.

Simultaneously, I had ABS, TCS and AH failure. I took it in to the dealer and left it for 3.5 days and they returned the car to me having only reset the BCM and cleared all codes. It did it again the next day which was a Friday. I took it back in the next Monday and left it and they were unable to find the problem again.

It happened again the following weekend. I took it back and this time they said the EBCM needed to be replaced and the column lock was probably related to that problem. I had them install a new EBCM supplied by me and they tightened the battery posts to "fix" the column lock issue.

The column locked up again the next morning. This time, I took the car and left it for two days during which they never even touched it. This time I was so pissed, I went in to talk to the shop manager and told him I wanted it either fixed or disabled and preferrably disabled if they weren't positive they had found a fix. I even suggested installing and A4 recall kit and removing my lock plate. They told me I would have to sign a waiver allowing them to do that.

Since it was Friday, the manager wanted to know if I wanted to use the car over the weekend and bring it back Monday morning. I told him I would leave it if he would assure me that it will be fixed Monday (01-02-06) one way or the other. He assured me and so I left it.

Monday morning about 11:00 I got a call that the shop foreman had found a TSB and applied it to my car and they were convinced it would take care of the column lock issue. I asked for a copy of the TSB and am waiting for the service writer to mail it to me now. When I get it I will be sure to share it with the forum.

So far, the column lock problem has not returned but it has only been a couple of days so I'm still cautious.

Note, each time my column locked up, the DIC would display Pull Key, Wait 10 sec. Well, it was more like 10 minutes before the column will unlock but it always did unlock eventually.

cc

I spoke with a tech who told the shop manager and I that he had spoken with GM and learned that there are two companies making the wiring harnesses for the column lock recall and one of them is bad. It has a relay that is not heavy duty enough for the application. Those relays are grey. The good ones are black. Believe it or not, GM recommended searching through the recall kits until they located a good one with the black relay! They were unable to help identify the kits any better than that.

Followup:

The column has not locked up since they reprogrammed my BCM. I stil don't have the Bulletin but the repair ticket has the following note on it: Reprogrammed Body Control Module due to bulletin #1653715.

Maybe one of the "insiders" can look this bulletin up for us.

By the way, I complained to Chevy Customer Support and they decided that since my car only has 25,000 miles, it is only 6 months out of warranty, that all my service has been performed at the same dealer including oil changes they would cover the cost of the new EBCM and installation. So I sent them the receipts and two weeks later I got a check!

cc

 

Amazing story. Thanks for sharing! Let us know how it works out for you.
Cheers
John

 

In the case of my '01 MN6, I'm just getting the Service Column Lock message - does not lock up or cut fuel. If I understand the group advice here, it is to remove fuse #25 for 15 sec to resynchronize and see if that helps. Assuming that cures it, should a CLB still be installed as preemptive maintenance on a 2001 6-speed?

Hats off to John for being such a valuable resource here

 

Yes - get the CLB. Email sent.
Cheers
John

 

I was wondering about the long term effects of the CLB, any feedback from folks who have had them in for a long time? Specifically I was wondering about:

1. the pin in the column lock that is used to and designed to be frequently cycled nominally now sitting retracted all the time in CLB cars, does that potentially wiggle at all over time (years) and cause any problems or concerns in terms of messages or performance?

2. Do CLB's go bad over time in a predictable way or is it just another piece of electronics subject to the same potential for failure as anything else under your dash (no noticable trends).

I have a late 04 Z06 (June 04 production) with no problems ever exhibited, I assume that whatever could have possibly been done at the factory in terms of relays and recall-type work was probably done on the last handful of C5's they ever produced (no recall listed on the car). I recently got the COH CLB but have not put it in yet. I have a little of the fear of 'it ain't broke...so don't screw with it' because a bunch of the posts seem to indicate "I had my first problem shortly after I messed with the system either via recall work or etc or just after I read this thread... (J/K)". My car's been awesome and hopefully reading this thread again won't transfer the curse...

 

EagleFlight I am in the same mind as you. I also have a later 04 and bought a CLB from COH but have it sitting in the garage for the same reason as you; if it ain't broke.... besides it is still under new car warranty and god forbid something goes wrong the dealer may blame it on the CLB so I am sitting tight until I see a few 04 C5 CL failures. Of course If I should get the wait 10 seconds message I will try and get it unlocked and then install it!

 

Just built a CLB from the first posting in this thread. Anybody know the Manufacturer or part # for the connector? I don't want to hack the cable end in the car.

 

I never discovered the source for these connectors. Your best bet is to go to a wrecking yard and see if you can find one or cut your old one off and reuse it. I cut mine off because I never want to use the column lock again. Good Luck to you.
John

 

C5 at Chevy right now. After acting up twice after recall cut out Column lock with sawsall worked fine for a year and a half. Played with wiring pulled fuses etc worked for another six months then it acted up again. Installed CLB worked fine for another nine months. Acted up again removed K harness/relay and installed new CLB still acting up. GM at no cost reflashed BCM acted up again. Now they told me there is a new procedure that they will cover. So now car is there again and the procedure is to reflash pcm which will obviously kill my tune which I told them I would just reflash it with LS1edit and they told me it would just act up again because it would lose the original reflash when I tuned it.

So my understanding is the BCM sees a problem with the column and then sends the fuel KILL to the PCM so they are looking at a way so I can still tune the PCM but also it will still ignore the fuel KILL command. Any ideas???? They say they are waiting for some top Corvette engineer to get back to them and if anybody knows he will know. In the mean time any other help would be greatly appreciated.....

A side note they originally wanted to charge me for this, but I own a small sales/service garage and threatened to not buy any more parts off them and I also called GM 800 and yelled alot and that I have had 25 GM cars (4 Corvettes) and if they do not take care of this I will never buy a GM again. So guys who ever screams loudest they will cover and mention you have owned alot of gm cars too.....Never loved BMWs but I have had a few dealings with warranty/recall items (wifes car/etc) and let me tell you they are awesome!!!! No fighting they just do whatever is needed and it is not just the dealership it is the manufacturer. Would it not be smart for other manufactures to addopt these policies especially one that is in so much trouble?????

 

I got another recall yesterday claiming they were going to DISABLE the Locking Mechanism, nothing like the last notice. The last notice claimed they would disable the A4 locking mechanism and just REPROGRAM tha MN6 to shut down. Wonder what they are really doing these days. This new notice makes no distinction for A4 vs. MN6.

 

JimX of LS1howto.com knows. I don't know if is under contract to stay mum or not, but I know he knows.

 

WELL, I just went to the Chevy dealer and they are supposed to install the GM version on the CLB and remove the lock plate on the MN6's-no reprogramming on this current rendition of the recall. FYI.

 

Interresting, I got the recall notice today and it just says "Do not bring your 04 Corvette for service unless you have the message "pull key wait 10 seconds". It also says they will cover any column lock problems until 2008. Wonder if the recall is different for differect model year C5's? It says to keep this notice in your glove box or with other inmportant papers.

 

GM recalls for both cars (2000 vert and 2003 Z06) came this week. Now, after 6 years of C5 ownership, GM wants to fix the CL problem. These will go into the trash just like the previous ones. They would have to pay me big time to even get a response on this one.

Neil.

 

If they can guarantee that the only thing they will do is to remove the locking plate in my steering column leaving everything else alone, it's a good thing to do and may potentially enhance your driving safety in the long term.
John

 

I just pulled my car out of it's arctic storage the other day, got the battery charged and up and running. I now get the "Service Steering Column Lock" message every time I start the car. I do not have a CLB and the column is not locked. The car is driveable and acts normal, you have to press the reset each time and it goes away. Any ideas on why this would occur? I also thought that on 2001's that it would cut off the fuel under this scenerio?

I got my recall notcice in the mail like everyone else. Mine says that the steering lock mechanism will be disabled. I think that I am going to schedule this after much hesitation!