I have a 2005 C6 coupe. A month or so ago, something goes wrong inside the driver-side door and now it won't open electronically. (I have to pull the little latch down by my left foot and open the door manually to get out.) Dealer tells me it's probably a whatchamacallit and it will cost about $1200. OK. New wrinkle just last week: something is draining power and the battery dies overnight. (It's an automatic, so it's not that old issue.) My question for the forum is this: anybody else experience problems of this sort? In my experience, once electronic problems begin they escalate, and this car is nothing if not a complex bundle of electronics. Time to put the general behind me, you think?

 

Are there any after market electronic(ie. stereo equipment) installed? I've read about certain modules not shutting down/ timing out after the car is shut off? If something is still pulling amps the same way it would if the car was running, over night it will drain your battery.

 

Nope, nothing aftermarket in the car...

 

1200 bucks to fix your door? That sound pretty steep to me! I think you could get a new door for that much money. I think I'd want to know EXACTLY why the door won't open. Could be nothing more than a pressure switch which sure doesn't cost any 1200 bucks...... If he can't give you a better explanation I'd find another dealer. Might even be something you can fix yourself if it's a straight parts replacement.

Does your car have the original battery? If it does it could be as simple as getting a new battery for it............. Let us know how you make out with it........... I wouldn't over react on a couple of electronic problems. Both could be very simple to get corrected!

 

I had an electrical problem with my car that didn't go away after adding a new Optima Yellow Top... Took it into a dealer and after four days they told me it was an after market accessory I'd installed... And with that I got a $400 + bill... and a few new scratches in my paint to remember them by... I'll have to call and thank them again sometime... Maybe they think you'll never come back so they try to get you for as much money as possible? I know/ hope most dealerships aren't like that? But a lot of them are...

 

The problem with electronics has nothing to do with electronics per se: it has to do with access to source code and schematics. The General is no worse than anybody.

No manufacturer will share any of that stuff, so the systems are totally opaque. Making matters worse, the DMCA even takes away your freedom to figure it out on your own. So you're at the mercy of dealers who don't know what they're doing, either.

Imagine if car companies didn't publish mechanical specs, and if taking a mic to your crank journals was a crime? That's where we are with automotive electronics. It sucks, because these systems had the potential to be much _easier_ to diagnose and fix than mechanical systems.

 

Does the outside door switch work? If it does, then the problem with your inner door switch is most likely just the switch itself, or the wires associated with it. This is very cheap stuff, the switch assembly is $15, the wire practically free (spools of wire at any auto parts store for pennies a foot). If it is the computer module (very unlikely if the other switches are still obeyed), then a new BCM module is only $235. Even at highway robbery dealer labor rates, no way they can justify charging $1200 to unplug the old and plug in the new.

 

You're right in a sense. We can't very well diagnose a problem down to a particular line of source code or a particular transistor in a 200,000 transistor integrated circuit if the manufacturer won't publish the source codes or the internal fuse maps of the GALs or PLAs. But we can understand what the modules do on a functional basis, so that if one fails we can identify which one it is. Then is is a simple matter of unplugging the defective module and plugging in a replacement.

These modules aren't cheap, but they aren't outrageously expensive either. Relevant to this thread, the BCM is $235. We're not going to do component level repair on a potted surface mount integrated circuit module anyway. That wouldn't be cost effective at all. We're simply going to replace the bad module as a unit, so we don't need to know all the intricate internal details of how it works anyhow.

One of the nicer things about integrated solid state digital electronics is that it typically either works, or it hard fails in a large puff of smoke, and must obviously be replaced. There is seldom any doubt. Intermittant problems are almost always wiring or electromechanical component related, and traditional troubleshooting of those uncomplicated systems is relatively easy, and well documented in the service manuals.

 

Sounds like the consensus is no way in hell this is 1200 fix!!! These STEALERSHIPS love to spew out mumbo jumbo and hope the customer is clueless about electronics! It pays to do some research BEFORE having a STEALERSHIP repair ANYTHING out of warranty........

 

"...Time to put the general behind me, you think?"

I think that's a defeatist attitude to what is likely a simple problem. IMO you got some great advice. I'd check further into the problem, shop around and get it fixed. It isn't a big deal.