Its been four weeks and I still can't get my car running. My 99 A4 vert vin number doesn't qualify for the recall, fuses 22, 23, 25 are all fine, the CLB from Thunder Racing does nothing and I'm the original owner so I know that no work has been done to the car. Please help me with any possibilities! I have also read threads on battery issues, but my battery is only 4 months old! I really am starting to wonder if all this technological BS is worth it? Currently HATIN' LIFE!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Why don't you tow it to the dealer?

 

Already been to the stealership, they wanted to install a new motor so it could possibly happen again down the road. They also said my vin didn't qualify and they would not give any advice on a CLB because they hadn't heard of it! Oh yeah, they still charged me $100 bucks to run the diagnostic that told me absolutely nothing! The worst part is that my steering has never locked up it just keeps disengaging the fuel system.

 

Did the stealership reflash the PCM???

 

Man, I hate it for you, and please don't take this the wrong way, but if you let them feed you a line like " we need to install a new motor", you need to show them a little backbone and tell them that is not an acceptable answer. I the fuel system isn't working, than perhaps a relay isn't operating to allow the fuel pump power....

what I normally do in just about any circumstance for my '99 vert vette (or any other car that I own) is consult my Helm's manual, and figure out the problem on my own.

If the dealership wants to sell you a new motor for a fuel system or VATS problem, you need to take it to a dealer who knows there *** from a hole in the ground, and report the prior dealers incompetance to GM. They are treating you like an a$$howl, and I would show them what an a$$howl I really was if they gave me that load of crap.

Feel bad for you bro, but the Chevy Corvette c5 is abnormally prone to odd problems concerning the electrical system. I don't know why, as I've had a couple of Cadillacs that were more/same electrical complexity and haven't hardly had a single code thrown in some 100k miles, but my vette has had the Gremlins constantly in the 25k that I've had it.

 

If it disengages the fuel system than a recall was done.

 

Feel for you - it really sucks when you can't drive your car and you can't figure out what's wrong.
Are you sure its the CLB causing the problem?
Are there any codes in history?

If you reset everything (unhook battery for 10 minutes) and don't touch steering, does engine start and run fine. Maybe start the car on a wide straight away so you don't have to steer so you can give some throttle.

Just some suggestions,
Good luck,
Robi

 

There is a REALLY long sticky post on the topic and you need to read all of it. There is a 4006C recall and if the dealer won't fix the car, there is a toll free phone number in the thread to call and raise hell and it WILL get fixed. This whole steering column thing is total .

It is time for an attorney or group of attorneys to take an interest in 200,000 or so C5 owners who have, variously, either been in a life threatening situation (steering locked up), inconvenienced (car undrivable), or had to bear abnormal expense (CLB or ANYTHING else applied to this even if it cost a dime). It is obvious that the car is not suitable for the purpose for which it was intended - to drive - and that breaches an implied warranty that has no time limit as long as the car is on the road.

Charlie

 

Sethmo99...

If your car has had the earlier recall performed, it should have no column lock capability. The automatic's had the lock plates removed so there was no reason to re-flash the computer to shut off the fuel. Which means in a perfect world, your car is not running for a reason other than the Electronic Column Lock. The most recent recall finally removes the lock plate from the 6-speeds, but does not undo the fuel cutoff done to the 6-speeds in the earlier recall. Therefore if you have a 6-speed and the ECL sends the wrong code to the computer it will turn off the fuel even thought the column no longer locks.

I realize we don't live in a perfect world and it is possible that they re-flashed your computer installing the cut-off software. (The re-flash involves a download from GM that is serial number specific so I don't know if that would have been possible.) By the way the electric column lock motor still operates even though the lock-plate was removed. If the motor malfunctions it will set a code and tell you to service column lock, but it shouldn't prevent it from running...even though something clearly is.

It would be helpful if you were to check you DIC for codes and post them here. We might be able to discern more about what is happening.

It does seem also that your dealer is not "comfortable" working on your car. If he were, he would certainly know more about the recalls, all of them and what is involved. If you would fill out your profile a bit more someone from your area might be able to suggest a more capable dealer for you to talk to.

Good luck... GUSTO

 

Just to add to the prior excellent post, exactly what did you do during the CLB installation and what problem did you encounter?

 

WOOOOOOO HAAAAAAAAA!!!! I figured it out after about 20hrs of pulling, charging, swapping, probing etc. I had a bad relay above the BCM and my CLB had a bad plug. What a combo, but its all worth it now doing 150mph!

 

and that's in 4th gear.

Charlie