I too, never hear anything when I turn the key on. What does that mean?

 

Dealer has blamed it on low voltage the last few times it's been towed in. Even with new GM battery, I got stranded. Then it was "corrosion on the terminal". Got stranded again. This trip they are still harping on low voltage. It's like that's the only memo they got. They won't even acknoledge that it's a widespread problem. They want me to believe mine is an unusual case so there's no data to go by.

 

It means your column lock actuator is not fiunctioning and probably needs to be replaced.

cc

 

CC.
Thanks. I'm fixing to call them and tell them that. Still seems like they should be able to figure this out if you guys have.

 

if the recall has been done and there is no lock plate tell them to flash the car so the fuel kill is taken out. there is no safety issue if the wheel will not lock so no need to shut off the fuel. low voltage will cause the problem it did on mine. your best solution might be a clb. $50. the dealer reflashed mine back to factory spec removing the fuel kill when they did the recall. they agreed that it did not make sense to have it in there if the locking plate is gone. so if the actuator doesnt retract i can still drive the car if there is a problem. i never had to have the car towed though. i just shook the wheel and it unlocked for me. when it did it the last time i put it on a charger and it unlocked. then i drove it in to the dealer for the recall. you could have the actuator replaced but only at gm's expense. call customer service if they give you a hard time about it.

 

Even though I've never had a column issue, where can I purchase a CLB?

 

Talk to service manager today. He says there's no way to "reflash" the computer. He said you may can load another program onto the computer but the programs they get are the basic downloads that they get online. What do you guys mean by "reflash"?

 

reflash = download or program. my dealer just fixed my problem. no lock at all, no actuator sound, no codes and it has worked every time so far. they told me they could take the fuel kill back out that was put in from the first recall.

 

Purchased the car on Wednesday evening, drove it to work on Thursday, Thursday evening have problem, remove key for 10 seconds, service column lock. After about 5 minutes, car started. Not being familiar with any of the issues with the ECL, and the car starting fine after that, I decided to take the car on a 2 1/2 trip from home on Friday. Get to my destination, inside for about 30 minutes, come out to take the car to my hotel, and car won't drive. Once again, remove key for 10 seconds, service column lock. This time however, the thing won't reset itself. Tried everything, disconnecting battery, removing fuses, etc. Finally, I have my bother bring my truck and trailer, able to drive it slowly enough to get on trailer and haul it home. When I got it home I tried everything. The battery never seemed to be low, because it started every time, however, I did notice some corrosion on the cable. So I removed the negative cable, however, the positive cable was extremely hard to get off because of the corrosion under the connecting bolt. Finally got it off, checked the charge on the battery that seemed fine. Put battery back in the car, and as I'm attaching the positive side, the attaching point breaks off the battery. As I'm inspecting it, I realize the battery post has been corroding and finally came apart from my messing with it. At this point, I'm still not familiar with all the problems with the ECL. I finally call the dealer, have the car towed there, (this is Monday) provide them with a new battery, and ask them to figure it out. Somehow I end up researching this service the column lock issue on the internet, and this is how I ended up here. The dealer finally called me today, Thursday, and told me the ECL actuator/motor needs to be replaced (GM part #88965331 at $200 plus dollars) plus $200 plus for labor. I have asked them to look at my relay, and K harness, but they say everything is fine with them. I can't even get them to tell me what color the relay is. I've read that if it is white these are the bad ones. I've asked them if they would pull the fuses to reset thing being it's possible I had low voltage with the last battery, and they aren't buying into any of this. I also don't remember the column every being locked with the key removed either.

Sorry about the long email, and not flowing very well but I'm not very happy right now. My question is, what should I do? Also, I noticed in your past responses, you stated you were going to build some of these clb. Do you still sell these, and if so, for how much? Should I go get my car and try all the methods of pulling fuses, etc, and purchase a bypass? Any advice is much appreciated.

FirstSergeantUSAF

 

2000

Who was your dealer and do you have a name and number?

jddani@aol.com

 

FirstSargeant,

Do you know if that actuator is the late 2004 version?

 

I believe it's the newest one because it has the new GM part number #88965331. After all was said and done total cost of the repair for the part and labor was $447.29 plus the tow of $55.00 for a grand total of $502.29. Not to mention the fact my wife had to come get me when it originally broke down because both tow trucks that showed up with wreckers and not roll backs as I had requested. The second one did show up with dolleys. So add the fuel at $3.00 a gallon, 250 miles round trip and a truck and trailer that only get 12 miles to the gallon. Not bad for the first week of ownership and only 120 miles on the car.

Now having stated all that, guess what happened the third time I entered the car to start it. You guessed it, "Remove the key for 10 seconds" message. Did that and even though the car started and moved, I have zero confidence that I can take the car on vacation next week. I have ordered the CLB from COH, so it's on the way.

The bad thing about all the above, is that the $447.29 was a waste of time and money, however, I didn't discover your site and information in time before I had committed to the repairs. They gave me a choice of repair it or remove it, and not knowing what to do, I had it repaired. They weren't mean about it, they just needed a go or no go. Like a dummy, I said do the repair before I was able to receive a response to my email. Nobodies fault but my own.

Anyway, I will watch this forum closely as well as others for future problems and trust the people with the C5s for answers rather than the ones that just work on them and only do what they are told to do.



Jim

 

Dang. So the NEW (late 2004) don't fix it either. Mine is still in the shop by the way. I'm on a mission to learn all I can before I pick it up. I've read that the CLB doesn't work well on the 97 and 98's. I have a 98. Should I do it? My steering column doesn't lock (no internals) but my fuel shuts off. What would you do?

I'm very dissapponted to here the new actuators don't fix it. I thought that was going to be the deal.

 

No actually the last two fixes added the fuel cutoff
the best thing would be a CLB and no fix from GM
Untill they get a reflash to take out the fuel cutoff the problem (for us)
remains!
Legally they were supposed to have the cloumn lock, when it was found to give problems they added the fuel cut off so no one could get hurt if it acted up...... now it's supposedly fixed and the fuel cutoff is giving problems!!!!
When a dealer flashes your car with the normal setup they can not go back as their equipment does not save the old program. It seems to me that some one should be able to just take that out maybe with LS1 edit? but I have not heard of a tuner saying they could.
How about it tuners?

 

Lets be clear. There seems to be a lot of confusion even after years of this issue being discussed.

The GM Column Lock design ALWAYS cut fuel to the engine if the BCM detected a the CL was still locked and you started to drive the car. The older recalls that included a reflash was to address an unforeseen condition where a low battery voltage during startup could prevent the BCM from properly detecting that the CL was still locked and then allowing you to drive without cutting the fuel.

 

Before you and your dealer waste any more money, you need to get in touch with GM Tech support and put them on the hook to get your problem resolved. There are quite a few things that can cause this problem and your dealer was taking a wild guess when they should have been working with GM to resolve it.

The last thing that was done to fix mine was replacing the actuator and it did in fact fix it, but there were many other things done along the way also including replacing the battery, adding the K harness with a black relay, removing the lock plate and reprogramming the BCM.

This problem does not have a single magic solution except maybe the clb. Personally, I prefer to make GM spend thier money and other resources on my car since it is they who created the problem to begin with.

Look back through the last couple of pages, I even gave you the 800 number for Chevrolet Customer Service.

That is one complaint I have about the way this country has evolved. No one takes responsibility for their actions, and everyone seems willing to let them off the hook.

I can tell you straight up that GM is willing to take responsibility for this one so let them.

Ok, end of soap box tirade.

cc

 

Thanks for the correction
I didn't know that. I think every one will agree that this can be a big pain and something we shouldn't have to put up with. For myself I'd like to see some one be able to remover the fuel cut off from the system. Then at least the owner would be able to drive his own car.

 

I had already done all that you have mentioned. The very first thing I did was replace the battery. According to the dealership, my car has had all the recalls, has the latest k harness and relay, and had already had the wheel lock removed. They were stumped, other than not really buying into the information I provided them from the website here on how to trouble shoot it. They were working directly with GM Engineering about my car. They had them try numerous things, and through a process of elimination had them replace the actuator/motor.
The GM hotline seems to be willing to work with me and actually sounded like they are going to reimburse me for the work that has been done. The dealership actually seemed a little embarrassed that it acted up when I got it home and told me to bring it back Monday and they would download the codes and talk with GM engineering. Either way, I'm going to go with the CLB. That seems to be the only answer out there right now to solve the problem.

 

I DID call the 800 number. Guy seemed very helpful and started my a file number. Said he would call me back that afternoon after talking to my dealer. That was last Tuesday and I have not heard from him. I've called him but his voicemail is FULL so I can't leave a message. The dealership told me friday that they had a call in to Bowling Green and couldn't tell me how long it would be but that was all they knew to do at this point.

 

Call back and ask who ever answers to escalate to a supervisor. I had the same problem with the first guy who took my call and started my file. Don't be a victim. Make them listen to you and act. If you have this guy's name make sure his supervisor knows he is not responding or calling back at the agreed upon time.

cc