Okay.

So:
a) Took my car to the mechanic. He took apart the ABS module, told me there were 4 spots that needed resoldering, resoldered it, and re-installed it. Driver side door panel stuff didn't work (lock/unlock/power windows/etc). (He told me before he did anything it didn't work, and after he fixed the abs, still didn't work).
b) He tested the charging system, said it was fine, said battery was fine too.
c) Paid him. Drove off the lot. Within within 5kms/miles of driving, still got the wonky gauges.
d) Took the advice of members here, bought a new battery (red top/optima), installed it.
d) Drove another 5 miles, still getting wonky gauges. First goes "Service ABS/Traction/etc", then "check tire pressure", then oil pressure going to 0, coolant going to max, fuel going to 0, "reduced engine power" message, etc, etc.

What do I do now?

- New battery, still wonky gauges.
- Driver side door doesn't work (none of the controls). I had thought "maybe" it was a battery issue (since a couple days ago, periodically it would 'work' then 'not' work when I left a trickle charger overnight).

This is extremely aggravating, as I "just" bought the vehicle, paid good money for it too (since low km's/very good body), just to run into all these problems.

Advice?

Thanks.

 

All of those problems reminded me of the first trouble my C5 gave me, 2 months after buying it. You can check my first thread if you want to see it.

So according to my gauge cluster, my oil level was low. Also the fuel pump wouldn't prime (unless I bypassed the relay but then it would stay on all the time) and other many random, seemingly-unrelated-problems I can't remember right now.

It turned out to be a ground splice under the battery tray that was completely corroded.

There are so many ground splices on our cars. It took me the better part of 2 days, working day and night, to find it via completely taking the car apart (just about) and searching the forums to connect the dots.

 

I wish I could find a mechanic I could trust, and they weren't so expensive. (Where I am the average is $140/hour)...

I don't know what to do. Already spent $1k the last couple days on a battery, service, repair, etc, and the thing still doesn't work...

 

Moved to C5 Tech.

 

There is a body ground and a splice pack (SP) for the IPC/BCM I’d look at !!...body ground is G104 (pictured) and SP208...physically REMOVE the ground terminal, wire brush it and also the frame rail and reinstall !!...remove the “comb” from the splice pack and check the pins for corrosion and wire brush the comb too !!...don’t know how mechanically inclined you are but if you take a 12 volt test light connected to battery POSITIVE remove to BCM connector C1 and touch the test light to pin A9 a BLACK/WHITE wire...the light should be bright if the ground is good !!...I prefer to “load” ground circuits with old headlight bulbs ranging from 1-5 amps.

 

Maintenance on the splice packs should be standard procedure for anyone who buys a C5. They all need cleaning (with few exceptions).

 

When various gages and other car functions mysteriously freak out, one of the COMMON things that can cause it is the SERIAL DATA BUSS. Somewhere in the car and on that buss, it is being corrupted. There are several well known causes of this issue.

1. The BCM is damp or wet or has been damp or wet and is corroded
2. The LDCM, RDCM and or the Seat module are having power or serial data buss issues.

To the LEFT of the BCM are two thin connectors, STAR-1 & STAR-2 Find the connector with FOUR wires. Pop the top off that connector and see if that clears up the GAGE ISSUE.

Report results

See if the carpet and or the carpet underlayment in the passengers foot well is wet or damp.

Report results

Bill

 

^^^ That could be another issue besides the grounds. The PCM is mounted in the passenger fender well. It is next to the end of a drain tube for the wiper cowling that alot of people don't and haven't cleared debris out of. The PCM is also near the ground where water could collect and corrode pin connectors.

 

mememe : Please pay close attention to what Bill has told you. he is an electrical guru on these cars. you asked for an electrical mechanic,
you have one.

 

Thanks.

Was just working on it now. Seats seem to work okay (forward/backward/up/down). Driver door panel doesn't work.

Found the passenger BCM/etc - everything seemed to be dry. The 'carpet' seemed to be a very tiny bit damp (like 5%, where 100% would be wet). Don't know if that is just the humidity here, or what. (Also - about a week ago for about 45 seconds had a bunch of rain get into my car because it fell all of the sudden with the top down - although I had rubber floor mats on both sides. Immediately pulled over, opened the driver door, & put the top up. Took me about 10 minutes to get home where I could dry everything with terry cloth towels. So I don't believe the actual 'floor'/'carpet' had gotten wet, but it may have a little bit. Both leather seats did get wet and had dried a little bit by the time I got home).

Connectors looked fine - not sure what he meant by "pop the top off that connector" - did he mean disconnect them? (I didn't - I just looked at them, everything looked very dry).

Still getting the errors & driver side door not working (windows/locks/etc). "Periodically" the passenger side door locks (with the key fob) do, then don't work (sometimes it will unlock/lock, sometimes it won't). Not sure if that means anything. (Right now seems to be working).

Incidentally - if you 'tip' a car battery (lead acid, maitenance free) at maybe a 20-25% angle for several hours (had it in the car to install/test that) - will that affect the battery at all, or can I still use it a-okay? (When I took it out, I heard a bit of a 'sloshing' sound, and then noticed a warning label message on the battery that said "Don't open battery. Don't tip battery"). Didn't see any leaks or anything, so hoping its fine?

Thanks

 

On your door switches not working, try wiggling the bellows that connect the door and A-piller while trying the switches. There is a connector inside the A-piller that looses contact, known problem in C5's.

 

thanks! I am quite the beginner here to working on corvettes, so don't have any of those tools at the moment (wire brush, don't know what a frame rail is)... learning though, bought a book to help me.

 

Okay, *interesting*! That did something.

I'm assuming you are talking about the black accordian tube? I did wiggle it just now - and wiggling a portion closest to the base of the car seemed to "re-activate" the driver side door. (Its dark out - so if it is working, the panel 'lights' up when its dark, otherwise nothing)... As soon as I closed the door though, it 'deactivated' (assuming it disconnected). When activated, I could push the lock/unlock/power windows, and they all seemed to work.

So what do I need to do to make this a permanent fix?

Will fixing this fix the 'gages' issue? (Because I can drive about 5 minutes, and then all of the sudden everything goes wonky. I also noticed when I just had the car sitting/running with the hood up (was trying to 'heat' out any moisture) - that if the gages went wonky I'd almost hear like a "crunch" sound. (Would go "crunch" for about .5 seconds, then gages wonky). Strangely enough - driving around - "sometimes" it would reset itself. (So gages go wonky, keep driving 2 minutes while it keeps beeping/etc, then everything reset itself).

One thing though - I noticed the passenger door lock didn't seem to lock/unlock though with the key fob and/or driver power door lock (it was lit up as well, but didn't seem to respond). It seems to be intermittent/has worked in the past. Any ideas why? (Just went back & tested it - "once" I was able to get the passenger door to automatically unlock by pressing the unlock on the driver side door. The reset of the time it never unlocked. If however I manually 'unlocked' the passenger door - it would lock with both the key fob & the driver side door power lock...)

Thanks!

 

You will need to take off the interior trim panel where the bellows enters the car. Follow the wires coming through the bellows, you find a multi pin connector, disconnect it and look for corrosion and pins that don't make good contact. You may need to bend the pins if they have lost their tension.

 

sorry - don't know what a 'bellow' is - are you referring to the black accordian-like tubing?

not exactly sure what the interior trim panel is - is that the actual 'door' panel (found a video showing how to actually take the entire door panel off - unscrew the two screws in the handle, take out the power locking/etc switch, the little light, and door handle) - is that what you mean?

thanks!

 

Yes the accordion tubing, remove the interior panel that the hood release handle is attached to. Look for the wires coming through the accordion tubing there is a connector just inside the car, clean and bend the terminals for better contact.

 

okay, will do that later. right now - *finally* got my car working again (thank-you for that suggestion of 'jiggling' the wires), hopefully it stays that way! was able to *finally* after about a week and a half take it for a nice long drive today!

 

I would not play too much with all those potential loose electronic wires without first disconnecting the negative battery cable.

 

Here is some more info on these connectors/wires in our doors with photoes .

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...-there-is.html

 

thank-you!