OK, please no flamers. I have been researching this for the past few days. Actually selling my car and have a buyer, but an issue has come up. We were on vacation (2 weeks) and I forgot to plug in the tender so the battery (new Red Top in January) was totally dead. Took it out and over to shop for an overnight charge and all was fine and car started. Problem was two messages popped up - Service Column Lock and Service Tire Monitor System. Now, GM shows the column lock recall was done in 2004 (I bought in 2005) and the car drives fine, no issues with the column lock. No readings on tire pressure, though. So, I took the car over to my local mechanic and he plugged in his computer and could find no codes at all other than three old door codes. Buyer was scheduled to come over today from 2 hours away (came over Sunday and drove and inspected and loved the car) so I took it to local Chevrolet dealer on Monday to have the TPMS reset and see how to clear the message.

Dealer left door partially open Monday night, so dome lights stayed on and partially drained the battery. They had it all day Tuesday and said after charging the battery that they could not pull any codes either and could find no reason the message on the column lock was coming up. Once again, the car drives fine. They said they were unable to rest the TPMS, though. They had no idea what was going on with the car. At least they did not charge me anything...

Any ideas on what could be going on? Buyer says he is still on, but concerned with the 2 hour drive and potential column lockup. Dealer told me that the recall had been done and there was no way anything could happen. And what could be causing these two messages and why could the TPMS not be enrolled?

Thanks in advance for any insights and helpful thoughts.

 

Wow! That is a lot of strange messages.

Sorry...couldn't resist.

Hopefully 8Vette7 will chime in to help...

Best of luck.

 

Wow! DON'T GO TO THE DEALER
He's wrong... the factory "fix" was NOT a fix!
Buy and install a LMC5 module
Clear the codes...
Disconnect the battery (fully charge it)
Check the voltage with a multimeter
Reinstall check codes
Report codes...
Battery VOLTAGE is HUGE!!!!
IT MUST BE FULLY CHARGED...

 

Do the LMC5 and never have that issue again. Sounds to me like it's all low battery related. Get it charged up.

 

8Vette7 has been MIA for months. Hope he;s just taking a break. He always added value, with a touch of attitude.

 

Well, I think it was all a low battery issue. Disconnected the negative terminal for 5 minutes and when I hooked it back up and started the car, no messages at all. Looks like the computer just needed a reset. Will take it up to tire place to get the TPMS reset.

Thanks for all the feedback!

 

Cars with computers tend to "remember" faults. Normally, after a few no problem start/stop cycles they will clear. BUT, I have had to do the battery disconnect thing on multiple vehicles to clear "historic" faults. And C5's are very sensitive to low voltage issues.

WRT the column lock fix, there were 3 fixes for the problem released by GM. Only the last one (Rev. C) actually did the job, which is why a lot of people claim that the GM fix "did not work". I had the first two done and still had a lock up - cleared by hooking up the battery charger to make sure the battery was 100%, then putting the charger into boost (sometimes called "start") mode and turning the key. That extra voltage did the job, and the lock released.

Still, I give GM a lot of credit - the car (an early '98) was 13 years old when it locked up, and the Rev C fix was still done for free (2010). And no problems since - well there would not be, as there's no locking mechanism any more.

 

You still need to order and install the LMC5 MODULE or the new owner may have column lock issues on his drive home, if not then, who knows when it might happen...

 

You don't need to go to the dealer. You're wasting time and money there.

That the dealer did the column lock recall doesn't mean anything. This is very well documented and most of their "fixes" were anything but. You need to buy the LMC5 and install it. The LMC5 will clear all service column lock messages. It won't appear on a code reader because a code reader is not reading the EBCM signals that are being sent for the column functions; basically the code reader sees nothing wrong.

Really by this point every 1997-2000 C5 should have an LMC5 in it.

Your service tire monitoring system messages are potentially because the car has sat. Once I'd get the other issues resolved I'd drive the car some to cycle the TPMS sensors and see if a particular sensor has failed. If you have never replaced the TPMS sensors before they're twenty years old which is an eternity for them.

Don't buy an Optima battery next time. They're junk. Can't understand why people continue to spend money on a brand when there are superior AGM batteries out there that are cheaper, work better, and last longer.

 

 

You did not read my post above, did you? Recall code 04006C works by removing the locking mechanism, therefore no more problem - and was free.

If that recall has been done on a C5, there is no need for an aftermarket hack.

 

that will not fix the 2mph shut down, if I understand corretly. It only unlocks the wheel. The LMC5 is the only cure (brown wire mod for certain years).

 

You can set the TPMS yourself with just a strong magnet. That is as long as the batteries in the sensors are still functioning. I replaced mine when I changed to C06 wheels.

Here is a link to the procedure:

.

 

Yes, GM removed the locking plate, but I believe it was only on auto and not manual cars since the autos also have a shift interlock and they argued that those cars were theft protected by that..

GM used a failure prone relay in their version of the column lock bypass. It will still cause messages if it fails even if the locking plate has been removed.

The manual cars with the lock left in place can definitely have the issue.