Hello Forum,

I have a 1999 C5 Corvette w/ manual transmission. I seem to be having a strange electrical problem. It seems harmless for the most part, but it's very annoying. I've been searching the forums for an answer, but it seems everyone that is showing similar problems that I am are having much worse results. I figured I would start a new thread to keep track of the issue myself. See below.

Problems:
1. As I am driving and sometimes as I first start the car all of my buttons (A/C, Radio, Traction Control, Door Window, Lock/unlock) will stop working and all my gauges go to 0 along with the gauge lights. The only thing registered is my speed.

2. In the information center, it displays the following messages:
"Service Engine Soon"
"Service Active Handling"
"Service Tire Pressure Mon."
"Check Tire Pressure"
and a few others I can't remember off the top of my head.

3. At some points when I don't have any errors being displayed and no other problem seem to be present my driver side door, and only my driver side door, will not work at all.

4. I borrowed a friend of mines code reader to see if I could receive any codes to get an idea what I should check first, but it shows passes everything and I receive no codes.

If anyone has any ideas or have found a solution to this problem please let me know. Thanks in advance!

 

It sounds like you have a pretty classic problem that plagues these cars. The wiring connectors in the door accordion are not the most robust, and after many openings/closings they start to get loose connections and have other issues.

Search is your friend! A quick search for me brought up this thread with Bill Curlee's wonderful pictures and help:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/c5-t...vers-door.html

Also, do a quick search on how to check your codes. Did you know you can scan your car via the driver's information center? No need to buy a scanner, and the car will even tell you codes that most scanners other than a Tech II will not report. Very, very useful for troubleshooting, and if you have further issues after looking at your door connectors, post ALL codes that show up via the DIC method and we'll help you out further.

EDIT: Another post by Bill explaining checking DTCs: http://forums.corvetteforum.com/1581289154-post7.html

 

100% ON THE MONEY!

Look at the FEMALE pins on the door harness connector and I bet you will find them spread apart thus making a very poor connection which corrupts the serial data buss and that shuts down modules!



BC

 

Thanks for the replies, I will pop off the harness and check the connectors tonight when I get off work and see if I can find anything wrong with it. Will something so simple really start shutting down the traction control buttons and gauges? That seems so weird to get so many problems from something so small.

 

OHHHHHHHHH YES! The Class 2 Serial data buss does a LOT in our cars and all the things that you see going FUBAR is a result od that very issue..

 

Okay, just got home from work, I got into driver's information center and copied done the codes. They are as follows:

10-PCM P0461 H
10-PCM P1431 H
10-PCM P1626 H
28-TCS U1301 H
28-TCS U1016 H
40-BCM U1255 H C
40-BCM U1016 H C
40-BCM U1096 H C
58-SDM U1000 H
58-SDM U1301 H
58-SDM U1040 H
58-SDM U1064 H
60-IPC U1255 H
60-IPC U1064 H
60-IPC U1040 H
60-IPC U1088 H
60-IPC U1176 H
60-IPC U1160 H C
60-IPC U1016 H
80-RADIO U1016 H
80-RADIO U1064 H
80-RADIO U1096 H
A0-LDCM NO COMM.
A1-RDCM U1255 H
A1RDCM U1064 H
A1-RDCM U1016 H
A1-RDCM U1096 H
B0-RFA U1255 H
B0-RFA U1096 H
B0-RFA U1064 H
B0-RFA U1016 H

I'm going to be honest, I have no idea what any of these translate to, but here they are. I'm hoping these are good and bad codes because there is a lot of them! So can anyone tell me what I'm looking at and where I need to go from here?

I'm going to check the cable in my door harness connectors tonight and will post the results of that as soon as I get done. thanks for the help in advance everyone!

 

Bet money on the Serial Bus error. I had the same thing once, driver's side door accordion was the culprit. Clear the codes and check that connector.

 

HOLY CRAP! Dont be afraid to clear the DTCs. If theres an issue,,, the code will return!!!

Clear all that stuff and see what comes back.

If they all come back,,,, I have some ideas for you.

Clear them and take it for a drive and see what you get

BC

 

so.... I'm trying to get to this wiring harness and I'm having difficulties getting the cables out to where I can disconnect them. Any tips on making this easier? It's 97 degrees outside and humidity is nuts and I didn't realize it until now, but it's extremely tight underneath the steering column! I'm getting a little frustrated to say the least...

 

Ok, I FINALLY got the harness out and disconnected the connector. It doesn't look too bad, but what's the forum's opinion?

 

I would check the ground point G105 as well. It is located on the driver's side of the block underside of the heads. No way to get to it without at least jacking the car up. Codes 1016, 1064, 1096 are all associated with a ground problem. Since most of your codes were "H" an intermittant loose ground at G105 could be the culprit. Curlee taught me, he can teach you!

 

I had the exact same prob. kept happening more often, After reading Bill`s posts, I pulled the connectors apart Driver`s side, and sprayed WD-40 in them and plugged them back in, and no more issues for over a year now!

 

Mr Narwal and Esteemed Bill Curlee:

Recall my same issue several weeks ago. I have about 90% of those codes and the inability of my code readers to even match the codes in the Vette DIC. The readers actually DO NOT CONNECT. This leads me to think of something in the Data Link Serial 2. As per suggestions I have first rebuilt the ignition, then bought a new one. Prior I replaced battery, checked star connectors and the BCM as well as cleaning the grounds under hood on rails. The DIC codes are mostly of the communication variety ie U1000, u1096, u1016........
Brother Narwal, I feel your pain, I am just about ready to quit til coming across your post. I will check the doors now......but someone, Bill, give me some ideas beyond that......
I understand Chevy has a scanner specifically for checking the Series2 lines......without that I think the stealership is getting close.

 

bad

iF YOUR SCANNER WILL NOT WORK/POWER UP AND READ THE dtcS,, YOU MOST LIKELY HAVE ONE OR MAYBE two ISSUES:

1. tHE SERIAL DATA PORT aldl / obd2 PORT HAS A BLOWN FUSE

2. tHE female PINS IN THE aldl/obd2 PORT ARE SPREAD AND WILL NOT MAKE THE CORRECT CONTACT WITH THE SCANNER.

GIVE BOTH A LOOK SEEE

bc

 

Hey Folks, just a quick update. I fixed the connector in the driver side wiring harness and I reset all my codes in the Driver Information Center and drove my vette around for a few days now with no electrical problems! All the codes are gone except for the
B0-RFA U1096, B0-RFA U1064, B0-RFA U1016 codes. Not sure what those are referring to and if it's even a big deal.

 

Most scanners are only for power train codes. Unless you have a Tech 2 or Autoenginuity the other stuff won't show anyway.

 

iFTHE SCANNER WONT WORK,,,,,,,,,, THE aldl IS DEFECTIVE ot THE FUSE IS BLOWN.

i AGREE,, TO READ all THE dtcS YOU NEED AN ADVANCED TYPE SCANNER OR A tech 2

bc

 

Looking at your connector,,,,,,,,,,,,,, The ONLY way to know for sure that the female pins are making the correct connection is to use spare MALE pin and insert it into the FEMALE PIN. If you have a proper tight connection,, your good to go...

BC

 

Let me clarify........I have 3 scanner tools, Autotap, innova (incs TCS), and a cheaper Actron. All will plug in and power up. None of them will return ANY CODE.
Sometimes when I am pulling codes from the DIC I will get NO COMM from various modules......the most consistent codes are u1016 h and u1096 h....from almost each module involved. This whole thing is as if somewhere from close to the data connector to the star connector is bad...as the schematics seem to favor that theory. I'm no engineer though and I am very frustrated. Earlier today I pulled the connectors from the driver side, opened and cleaned....they were however, spotless. The codes and lights again recurred . I even left them unplugged and started her only to have the same thing happen.
Any more ideas?

 

U series codes sometimes indicate that you are having a POWER issue with a specific module/s

Power meaning sometime during operation the module voltage dropped below the module low voltage cut off and the module no longer was able to communicate with the BCM.

What modules are reporting NO COMMS???? Thats where to start. Figure out if you have a problem with the B+ or the Ignition Switch power and also check the module ground wiring.

The serial data buss can get corrupt from a number of different ways. If a module has a loose connection and the module turns ON & OFF rapidly, it will cause issues on the data buss. The female pins in the power connector are a prime example of this issue.

In the past I have had a short on the serial buss and to get the car to run, I had the person pull the shorting cap off BOTH STAR connectors and ran a single jumper wire between the BCM pin and the PCM pin. The engine will run just fine. The short was due to a wet F-45 control module in the rear compartment.

You can pull the connector cap on the STAR connector that had "FOUR" wires and that will ISOLATE the left and right door modules and the seat control module from the rest of the car.

Hope this gives you some more troubleshooting procedures.

BC