Thanks and keep us posted.

 

Harlan's title is Chevrolet Corvette Product Manager.

 

Correct, and the full title is:

Harlan Charles
Corvette Product Manager
Chevrolet Product Development
Chevrolet Division
General Motors Corporation
Mail Code 482-A29-C35
100 Renanissance Center
Detroit, MI 48265-1000
Phone: 313-667-4061
Fax: 313-667-4007
email: harlan.w.charles@gm.com

I'm told he had to take a memory test before being promoted [hahahaha] And yes, he told me I could publish this information. Shouldn't be long before his email box explodes? <grin>.

 

I have an MN6 On-Star made in 1/05. Just got DBS for the first time yesterday.

Also waiting for my new roof....

 

Did the boys say if will we have to ask for this change or will it be a recall?
Thanks for looking out 4 us

 

All of this discussion seems to be about 2005 MN with Onstar. I have a 2006 A6 with Onstar and have had DBS twice. Does anyone know if the new program/reflash will apply to 2006 A6 models?

 

Stan ....... I appologize for my late entry into this thread. I wasn't subscribed and only found it through a link posted in another thread.

Our POC at GM has been on vacation and will return on the 11th. Until he returns and sees where the pending publications (DBS) might be, he's again asked me not to publish anything. But I can speculate along with everyone else and suspect the information that came out of Carlisle is probably pretty accurate, if not dead on?

Since not all cars of any model year, or tranny type, or option code, are affected 100% there will NOT be a recall. We also need to remember that a "recall" is always safety related and that isn't the case with DBS. Rumors of a PCM or ECM or BCM flash have been circulating for some time and I'm pretty sure that's what will occur. I'll be most interested to hear what the specifics are, and exactly what the flash is going to change, or better yet, what GM determined to be the root cause! We should know within a couple of weeks?

We also need to ask, or wonder, how a flash might affect cars with custom tunes. Might this flash remove/reset the computer(s) to OE+ standards? If so, that could leave owners with a choice of living with DBS or doing the custom programing all over again? Since the C6 is pretty new and most owners probably haven't gone to custom programing yet (?) it may not be a big issue?

As always, as soon as I get the information, and the OK to publish, I'll do so. As our GM POC said in closing his last email to me, "Hang in
there, the calvery is coming"!

 

Do you suspect that this will be something available for all cars upon request? Or simply done to cars which have had repeated episodes of unexplained dead batteries as a matter of last resort.

For example, my car, and many others has never had DBS. However some may choose to have this update done as a precaution. Just like th ecrank pulley situation. Some got that diamond washer done and had never had a crank pulley problem.

 

DSOM Z51 ...... Not to be flipant but I have consulted my crystal ball and was unable to find an answer to your question. But seriously, and remaining in "speculation mode", the "fix" will probably come in the form of a TSB to dealers. If so, there won't be a letter going out to owners since DBS doesn't affect all C6's. We're just going to have to wait until one of us can get their hands on something official. Since my GM POC will not return from vacation until 9/11 (bad date), it's likely the TSB will be available to us before that date?

 

Bruce, I had this posted the other day but I think it got buried. My mechanic has the 4 page report in hand and read it to me. He'll get me the hard copy over the weekend, but here's what I posted:

"One of the mechanics at my local dealership is a friend of mine, and I asked him to check on the status of the supposed DBS TSB. He found out that GM, as of 8/31, has issued a "Preliminary Investigation Report" concerning their findings about the dead battery issue. It's a four page document which primarily details the steps the dealer should take to see if a cause can be found. One thing mentioned is that the car must be in reverse BEFORE turning the car off. They found that, in some cases, the steering lock circuit will not see the shutdown if the car is placed in reverse after the off button is hit. They also found some cases where the Bose radio stayed on, drawing current, even after the car was shut down properly, although this was seen only on NAV equipped cars. (The radio appeared to be off in these cases). The report noted that the vast majority of problems are limited to the 2005 model year cars with MN6 transmissions.

If no apparent cause to the drained battery is found, the dealer is authorized to reflash the BCM. My friend is checking now to see if that new program is available. My car will be done as soon as they can verify this. It looks like there is no one "smoking gun" here, but rather a series of minor glitches which could be involved in many of the DBS cases we've seen reported here. In any case, the reflash is supposed to prevent a recurrence of the problem."

Hope this helps.

 

Just got my first DBS on Tuesday. Jumped the car and took it to the dealer who kept it for the day and found nothing wrong. They did not flash the BCM or anything else. These simply looked for some current drains. Thought it was my radar detector or something like that......yeah, right. Then they thought we were keeping our fobs to close to the car at night........yeah, right. Then they thought aliens had tried to download from the "black box" in the car.....now they are getting somewhere.......where I have no idea, but at least it is an original thought, even if it was mine! The only good thing is my new SMC top got installed................

Is there some TSB number I can let the dealership know about? Oh yeah....mine is a '06 Auto with out nav.

 

DBS you did not have! But you had a dead battery for no obvious reason. Do you have OnStar?
The battery itself checked out fine?
Are you driving your car enough to keep the battery up?
Any aftermarket items hooked in permanently.
Lojack?

 

Only this hooked up is radar detector. Battery tested fine, as did alternator, and charging ckt. Yes I have ON-star. Why is this not DBS?

 

Do we know for sure that the radar is 100% totally off when the car is?
There have been some instances of early '05 and '06 with OnStar causing dead batteries.

DBS was a term coined here on the forum to differentiate unexplained dead batteries in otherwise properly shut down '05 MN6 cars with other causes of battery failure, and even other years.
'05 MN6 requires shutdown in reverse, otherwise the battery soon dies.
Only the '05 MN6 has this requirement and the Steering Column Lock (related).

Battery failures in '06 automatics are generally routine failures. The few actually defective batteries, and driver error such as leaving lights on or after market gizmos.

A poll showed infrequent dead batteries in '06 auto:

http://forums.corvetteforum.com/show...t=battery+poll

Previous polls showed a massive increase in dead batteries, on the order of 25-35% with '05 MN6. And much of it was due to DBS.

 

DITTO!! my 1rst DBS happened TODAY!!It only sat for 2 days-a new battery down the drain!! no pun intended!

 

Your battery's probably fine!
Is this an '05?

I have had 3 or 4 episodes of DBS and and at least 2 episodes of technician induced dead batteries over the last 2 years, and I'm still running the original delco.

 

OK, then let me restate my problem and not trying to be a smarta$$. I have an 06 A-6, without Nav, but On-star. Radar detector has been in car since day it was brought home. When the detector is turned off there is no current drain. When the detector is turned on but not in alarm, the current drain is 17.3 milliamps. I haven't tested it in alarm. With that stated, I guess my dead battery is really a discharged battery without any obvious cause. But simply math says to discharge a battery with at least 12 volts with this currecnt draw down to 8.4 volts, as tested when the car would not start, at an assumed "nominal" current capacity of 50% of the total capacity (about 150 amp-hours@ 12 volts), would take some where over 750 hours. This is simple math without the use of a calculator. Can dust off the sliderule if I need to and get down the nitty gritty. Sorry I left out a few details and yes my DVM is calibrated yearly, but just in case, I have a spare!

 

 

There were some early '06 OnStar problems with dead batteries, but I don't think that would cause your situation. Sounds like DBS suddenness, but you have '06 A6 so it can't be 'classic' DBS. I still feel it's most likely a bad battery, but certainly it could be some module not shutting off, or even turning on after shut down. If the battery is good this will take more time and analysis by your dealer.

 

I wouldn't think this would affect a custom tune, as they would be re-flashing the BCM, not the ECM?