I have the service column lock message and am wondering how to unlock it before installing the eliminator that I ordered. My battery is a year old but when I checked it, it said “good,” but had 40%. So I put a maintainer on it all night and tried jumping it, but still no luck. Any way to unlock it? Wasn’t working in accessory mode either. TIF

 

Think you're in for a new battery. You say it's only a year old but did you buy a quality battery?? These cars "eat" battery's if not kept on a maintainer ALL the time you're not driving it. Take the battery back to where you bought it and have them do a load check on it. It might be bad and you might get a new one under warranty. If it wasn't a top of the line battery pay the difference and upgrade. Get the car to run and all functions working before you install the eliminator. Once running put it in park if an automatic or neutral and hand brake set. Disconnect the battery while it's running and check to see that you can turn the steering wheel. Should be able to. Now go through the steps to install the eliminator. The lock mechanism is in the unlocked position and when you're done installing the eliminator it's disconnected and can't go into the lock position. This is an easy job that should take you under 2 hours.

 

It could be the battery, but if you disconnect the battery and reconnect, it will temporarily reset the column lock so you can start your car.
I know that many have installed a column lock bypass or eliminator, but they can also fail in time.
GM does have a TSB that will remove the column lock forever, so no more worries.

 

I have tried disconnecting and connecting too many times now so I’ll try the new battery first. Thanks!

 

great info, I appreciate it! Going to get a higher quality battery 👍🏼