Originally Posted by 8VETTE7

Let me start by saying that the bill from the dealer for working on your problem will likely make the towing bill look desireable. If the problem is not just a battery issue you can expect a bill for somewhere between $400 and $1200. That might be acceptable if the GM fix were a permanent solution but it is NOT. Expect to have the problem again at some time in the future and pay another extortion amount to get it fixed again.

The dealer is likely to tell you the actuator (electric motor that operates the lock pin) has failed. Part is $300+ and a couple hours labor to remove/replace it at about $90/hr. They may also tell you the GM K Harness has failed. $150 for part plus ?? labor to install it. And of course several hours of diagnosis labor to tell you what parts you need. You need neither the Actuator nor the GM K Harness if you install a CLB. The dealer may also want to reflash the PCM if the fuel shutoff speed has not yet been set to 2mph (part of the NHTSA recall requirements) If they do that then the tune you have on the PCM is gone. Even if the fuel shutoff has NOT been reset, do NOT let them reflash the PCM.

There are several possible things that may have triggered your column lock symptoms. You did NOT tell us if you experienced the fuel shutoff along with the locked column. Did you try to drive/move the car a bit when the symptoms hit? Did the engine stall almost immediately when you tried to move it? The answer to this question will tell you if the PCM has already been reflashed by the dealer as a part of any GM Recall service that may have been done to the car. You can determine what GM has done to the car by reviewing the Claim History section of the GMVIS for your VIN. You can get a GMVIS by emailing your VIN to Gene Culley at GM Partshouse (a Forum sponsor). Email to

gene@gmpartshouse.com

The Claim History contains all service done to the car for which GM picked up the tab. Look for "reprogram" which indicated the PCM reflash, "wire harness" which indicates the GM K Harness was installed and "wire kit" which indicates the spliced purple wire and relay was installed in the passenger footwell to the left of the fuse box and above the BCM. What was done is critical to knowing what you need to do to be able to install a CLB. More below on that.

Back to the causes for the column lock symptoms. The most common cause of the column lock symptoms is a weak or bad battery or loose or corroded battery connections. You need to use a digital voltmeter and measure battery voltage directly across the battery posts with no key in the ignition. It needs to measure 12.5 volts or greater. The dash gages cannot tell you the state of health of the battery so ignore those. With key on and engine off there are many electrical circuits loading the battery so the dash gage readings are meaningless. With engine running you read the output voltage of the alternator. Nice to know the alternator works but useless at that point because the column lock system runs BEFORE you start the car. If the voltage is less than 12.5 volts the battery needs to be recharged at a minimum. Use a battery tender style charger to fully charge the battery. Once fully charged the voltage should be between 12.7 and 12.9 volts. Then disconnect the neg battery cable for at least overnight. Remeasure the voltage the next morning. If it is back to 12.5 or less the battery is bad as it cannot hold a charge with no load attached.

If the battery is good then most likely one of the components added by the GM Column Lock Service has failed. THe GM K Harness is the most likely but the relay that is part of the "wire kit" that may have been added in the passenger footwell is another possibility. Here is a link to a thread that provides a lot of details about these items including where they are located and what they look like:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...please-56.html

Starting with post #1108 read the next dozen or so posts.

I suggest you get the car to a location you can work on it your self or have a friend work on it for you. Corvettes of Dallas has the CLB for about $50. With the info from the above thread and posts I referenced you can determine what needs to be done to install a CLB.

Last words of caustion. A few of the early cars (1997 - 2000) do not work well with a CLB. The DIC error messages and fuel shutoff can continue to occur. BUT you can have the fuel shutoff reprogrammed to a high number like 200mph or greater (255 max). To reprogram the fuel shutoff speed you need to find a tuner that has either HP Tuners tuning softeare or EFI Live tuning software. (Should be easy to find one in Dallas). Either tool can set PCM parameters individually. The GM tool of choice (TECH II) can only replace the entire PCM Image and is not capable of setting individual PCM parameters. With the fuel shutoff set to a high number than the car is driveable up to the new shutoff speed. If the CLB works as it should then you do not need to reprogram the fuel shutoff. The CLB keeps the BCM happy by responding to BCM signals in place of the Actuator. This keeps the fuel shutoff speed from being requested by the BCM. I suspect that your car will work fime with a CLB. There have been only a few reported early cars that fail to work with a CLB. But I need to advise you in case your car is one of the few.

Feel free to PM me if you have further questions. Also check your PM's.