Bill, Thanks for all your useful information about the electrical problems a Vette can have. Thanks for letting me call you about my codes. I brought the car back to the dealer and he took it to The Chevy dealer.
I had given them all the info we talked about and then some.

Well it turns out, at least i hope it did, i have had no codes since i picked it up today.
They said they reapaired and electrial conection at the fuse box and repositined the fuse. All I can say is no more codes and the traction light has not come on. Hopefully this is it.
I am going to clean the ground boxes beside the lights in the spring.

Is it ok to use a battery tender during the winter as I will have the car under a cover untill April?? I am asuuming this would be a good thing as i have used one on my Gold Wing for the past 5 years and i am still on the original battery, that will be changed in the spring also.
Thanks again for your help I hope to keep in touch with you. Paul here in Waltham MA.

 

A GOOD quality tender will do a lot better than a walmat special. If I had my preference, I would have you disconnect the battery and reconnect it in the spring. It works just as good and will save the battery.

Bill

 

Bill that was a question I wanted to ask you, my friend has a 1999 and he disconected his battery and had tons of trouble when he reconected it, with the computer rebooting. Is there a correct proceedure to do this????????Thanks Paul

 

Paul

Disconnecting the battery should not hurt your car. The correct way to disconnect it is "remove the NEGATIVE terminal first then the positive. To reinstall it, connect POSITIVE then connect the negative. You should always clear the DTCs after reconnecting the battery. The PCM will relearn the LTFT and all should be well. The owners manual recommends disconnecting the battery for long term storage.

Bill

 

I wonder if anyone has any information on trunk release pop up height. I have an 02 C-5 Convertible and when you hit the key fob the trunk does not pop up enough and it is hard to get a finger under it to lift the lid. Thanks for your support

 

You need to get one of these:


I have one and love it! You can find it here:
http://www.c5trunkpopper.com/

 

Look up Rodney Dickman Fiero parts. He has a great headlight rebuild kit. I just rebuilt both of mine on a 99 in about 2 hours. 85.00 for both.
Don't waste your time with the plastic gears from OReilleys. Get the brass gears.

I am looking for some assistance in getting rid of the gremlins in a 99. I purchased the car a couple of weeks ago knowing it had some electrical problems. I have cleaned the two chassis grounds on each inner fender and disconnected the bcm and cleaned the grounds for it as discribed in this forum. I have been able to go from continuous fault to a semi continuous. The car runs fine. After I drive for a few minutes I get multiple codes for reduced engine power, the traction control light comes on, the abs light comes on, low fuel light comes on, check tire pressure comes on but the car still runs fine, the radio shuts off, the temp gage pegs, the oil pressure goes to zero, and the window will not function. I can shut the car off and restart a couple of times and all codes will clear and everything is ok for 10-20 minutes. Then it codes out again. I plan on cleaning the grounds behind the doors this weekend but am a little unsure of exactly where they are located. Any assistance would be appreciated.
I'm new to this forum so I appologize in advance if I'm in the wrong thread.

Rick Perkins
Texas

 

Did you check the wires in the accordion tubes in the doors? If not, the poor insulation of the bare silver wire (the serial data-bus) will cause all of the symptoms you mention. Check out previous posts in this thread.

 

100% correct!! You need to remove that accordion tube and insulate the BARE WIRES in each door!

Heres a picture to help you see the problem on that serial data wire.

Accordion tube popped out of the door and door frame:



Bare wire on the plug:



Coat that BARE WIRE in "liquid electrical tape" clear ALL your DTCs and see if it solves the issue!

If not I have big bag of stuff to try!

Bill

 

Thank you so much. I will be taking your suggestions to heart this weekend. It really bothers me that someone could let a car this nice get into this condition. I pulled the acordion tube off of the passenger side last night and did not take the time to pull the wires. There was a lot of what looked like corosion on the tube itself. I will advise as to what the results were.
Thanks
Rick

 

Well I pulled the acordian tubes and cleaned the plugs and put the liquid tape on the bare wire. Got in the car started it and cleared all the codes. The car did fine for about an hour. Then it started getting the reduced engine power alarm again. I took the car home and pulled it in the garage and shut it off and restarted it about 4 times. The code would not reset as usual. I took the key and wiggled it in the switch a few times then turned the ignition off and on about 3 times without starting the car. The horn then chirped and everything started to work again. Now I'm really confused. I did notice I am getting a code from the pcm for no communication. Am I looking at an ignition switch problem or maybe a pcm problem. I really don't know where to go next. I did read the thread on how to disassemble the ignition switch and check / clean the contacts. Would that be the next step?
Thanks for any help.
Rick

 

Rick

If you moved the key and it changed symptoms, YES, perform the FREE ignition switch repair procedure. It sure wont hurt anything and it will most likely fix a bunch of your issues.


Bill

 

Bill,

Thanks, I'm going to tear into the switch on Sunday. It definitely can't hurt. Should the key come out of the switch easily even if the engine is running? Makes me wonder if the previous owner damaged the switch.
I've been reading most of the thread and notice that I have asked the same questions that have been asked multiple times. Guess I should have read the entire thread first. Any suggestions on where to go after the key switch if necessary? Just trying to get prepared. The one positive is that each time I do something I notice an improvement.

(edit) Just noticed one other thing. I just went through what codes I had time to write down. Most all of the codes show either loss of communication or serial data malfunction. Makes me wonder if servicing the ignitions switch may just have a big impact.
Thanks for all your help.
Rick

 

Rick,
I also have a 99 I bought in October, and I am having the same issues. I cleaned all the grounds in the engine compartment, with no luck. I finally got a chance this weekend to work on it, finally quit raining! So I removed my battery, and the tray below the battery. And My main wiring harness and a small wiring harness had corrosion powder on them. I took all the loom off of the main harness and all the wires looked good, no breaks! So I cleaned them up the best I could and re-taped the loom. But in the small harness there were two wires completely cut in to, a white one and a green with a white stripe, that appeared to be arcing out on each other. I cut them and soldered a new wire in the place of the break. Re-set all of the codes. Drove it a couple hundered miles today and had no issues. I also had window problems, but that ended up being a LDCM! Don't know if that helps, but may want to look under the battery tray!! All I can say is THANK YOU BILL CURLEE!!!!!! I hope that has fixed things, now on to the leaks!

 

Thanks for the info. I cleaned the post under the battery box yesterday and also pulled the wire between both doors. I didn't feel right about the connector on the driver side because of the corosion it had yesterday, so I pulled it again today. Only today I went Radio Shack and bought some electronics contact cleaner. It works like scrubbing bubbles on the corrosion. I sprayed the connectors and let it sit and dry as the instructions suggested. Put another coat of liquid tape on the bare wire, coated the plugs with dielectric grease and put everything back together. Reset the codes and when I pulled out of the garage I got the reduced power alarm. I immediately shut the car off, restarted and have not had an issue for the rest of the day. Small successes. I'll see what happens tomorrow. I still think there may be an issue with the ignition switch. Time will tell.
Then I'll be like you. Off to the oil leak.
Thanks for all of the help. Hope to return the favor
Rick

 

Our cars are a continuous project! Sounds like you have the wiring thing nailed down.

To make sure that the acid is gone, make up a solution of baking soda in water and scrub it on the ENTIRE area where the acid was on. when it stops foaming, rince with water and repeat. Rince, dry and repair and repaint any rusting metal. Like on the frame. Use a rust converter and a semigloss spray paint.

BC

 

ok so several weeks ago my car wouldnt start, turns out the negative terminal was loose and i couldnt get it to tighten enough because the battery threads were stripped out. replaced the battery and all was fine. then it wouldnt start again, checked the connections and found the positive terminal loose, i had replaced the old bolt with a new one, well the new ones are cheap and the bolt stripped after i got on it a bit. put the old bolt back in.

then the new bolt on the negative wasnt tight enough. put the old bolt back in but i think the threads on the new battery are getting stripped.

i was thinking i also had something drawing a load when then car was parked because after sitting for a day or 2 it wont start, according to the voltage on the dash it dropped within about 2 hours last night. i hooked up an amp meter and saw how the amps went high then low. but it only went down to 1.2 amps. but then i hooked it up again and waited, and sure enough the amps dropped from 1.2 to .08 to .01 so i shouldnt have a gremlin drawing amps while shutdown.

i have the optima redtop with optional top mount post, im just gonna buy high quality top mount termials and hook my battery that way, i hate side mounts. i hope thats all it is, is loose side mount terminals.

 

Bill,
Drove the car to work today. Ran and acted great all the way to work. Got in the car this evening to come home. Same codes and reduced power alarm. I ordered a new ignition switch contact from O'Reilleys today. ($70.00 from O'Reilley, 100.00 from chevrolet) I'll change it out and then clean up the factory switch. Any suggestions on where to look if the ignition module doesn't clear up the codes?
Where do I send the check. You've already been a great help.
Your humble servant
Rick Perkins

 

Rick



After Ignition Switch replacement,,,,,,,,let me know what DTCs you see.. Then we will be able to determine what else is wrong...

BC

 

Bill Curlee,

i went to the automotive store and was hoping to find some high quality top mount terminals.

they generally have the universal ones as shown in this link:
http://www.remybattery.com/Products/5566U__5566U.aspx

but i was looking online and saw some solder type:
http://www.remybattery.com/Products/...mp__4004N.aspx

and also compression type:
http://www.remybattery.com/Products/...ve__5040N.aspx

i really like the compression type because i can change it in the future without having to cut the cable again if i were to solder it. because i do plan on having a custom stereo system installed and will need to add wire to the connection.

but in your experience what is the absolute best connection type, universal, solder or compression?