HELP! My C6 is dead!
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 101
Likes: 0
From: Gainesville GA
HELP! My C6 is dead!
Aaargh! Went out to take the vette for a ride tonight and it's completely dead. No power. Won't start. Last drove it 2 days ago and YES, I did put it in reverse and no known electrical draws.
Tried to jump start it and got the lights and electrical to come on but when I hit the START button, didn't turn over and "service column lock" came on the DIC. I have a bad feeling....
I know some of the early C6's have had bad batteries, but my VIN is 5303 and at 1900 miles no problems prior to this. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks
John
Tried to jump start it and got the lights and electrical to come on but when I hit the START button, didn't turn over and "service column lock" came on the DIC. I have a bad feeling....
I know some of the early C6's have had bad batteries, but my VIN is 5303 and at 1900 miles no problems prior to this. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks
John
Instructor
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 172
Likes: 0
From: Northern CA
Twice for me. When you jump it, you need to leave the cables on for about 5 minutes to charge the battery before it will turn over...or put the negative lead to unpainted metal area (I don't know how to do that). Question..since you last drove it, did you re-enter the car without starting it and let it sit again?
Drifting
Joined: Dec 2004
Posts: 1,973
Likes: 55
From: OIB North Carolina
St. Jude Donor '06
Originally Posted by drfeelgood
Aaargh! Went out to take the vette for a ride tonight and it's completely dead. No power. Won't start. Last drove it 2 days ago and YES, I did put it in reverse and no known electrical draws.
Tried to jump start it and got the lights and electrical to come on but when I hit the START button, didn't turn over and "service column lock" came on the DIC. I have a bad feeling....
I know some of the early C6's have had bad batteries, but my VIN is 5303 and at 1900 miles no problems prior to this. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks
John
Tried to jump start it and got the lights and electrical to come on but when I hit the START button, didn't turn over and "service column lock" came on the DIC. I have a bad feeling....
I know some of the early C6's have had bad batteries, but my VIN is 5303 and at 1900 miles no problems prior to this. Any ideas or suggestions? Thanks
John
Getting out of the car (did not know this) I hit the dash light switch and it turned on the mirrror lights, also the green start circle was lit as well... I found this out after coming back out side about 1/2 hour later and seeing the lights on in the garage... Had no idea what to do, drove it and parked it again, but still the lights were lit and the green circle as well.. Finally hit the dash light switch (pure guesswork/luck) and they went off. Have not had this problem since...
You might want to check that...
Sorry, best I can do...
Melting Slicks
Joined: Jul 2001
Posts: 3,284
Likes: 3
From: Southwest Florida
A couple people have found a bad relay (I think relay #49) to be the culprit here. A few others have found a bad Delco battery to be the problem. Also, "service column lock" is a common message that you get when you try to "boot up" the car with only partial power because the column lock doesn't have enough juice to pull the pin from the column and the computer detects that the column lock didn't unlock when commanded. I believe you can reset this message yourself, but I don't remember the procedure. Maybe someone who has done this can remind me? I know that at least one person has had their column lock replaced after a dead battery simply because of this message, but I believe they probably didn't need to if the dealer had known how to reset it. It can't be as simple as holding the "Reset" button on the dash when that message is showing... can it?
Mike
Mike
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 101
Likes: 0
From: Gainesville GA
Finally got it going
Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I did as suggested and left the jumper cables on for several minutes and revved the other vehicle while trying to start the C6. Finally fired up. Lost the time on the radio, but window indexing and most other presets(except the mirrors, strange) were retained. Don't think I accidentally hit the dash light button and, no, I hadn't entered the vehicle without starting it after the last drive.
Several posts regarding dead battery issue seem to indicate that the battery may be faulty and have to be replaced. Will the dealer do this?
Thanks
Several posts regarding dead battery issue seem to indicate that the battery may be faulty and have to be replaced. Will the dealer do this?
Thanks
CF Community Team
Joined: Oct 2004
Posts: 19,361
Likes: 5,243
From: Cape Cod, Mass.
2025 C6 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2025 C8 Z06/7/E-Ray of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2023 C3 of the Year Finalist - Unmodified
2021 C8 of the Year Finalist Unmodified
2020 Corvette of the Year Finalist (performance mods)
2019 C1 of Year Winner (performance mods)
2017 Corvette of the Year Finalist
2016 C2 of Year
2015 C3 of Year Finalist
dealer replaced mine
My dealer replaced my battery but with some reluctance after everything checked out OK as far as parasitic draw. The new battery was the fix for me. I would recommend the investment in a good trickle charger just in case you have the problem again. 1 hour on that and the car will start. Hopefully the fix for yours is as simple as mine was.
Drifting
Joined: Aug 2004
Posts: 1,532
Likes: 0
The stock battery is crap.Its the luck of the draw if it lasts.Mine died at 3k miles (about 3 months),my dealer said it was toast and gave me a heavy duty 7 year upgraded model ( that was all he had available). He also said thats what the car should have come with and the original battery was a piece of junk.Demand another battery and get them to give you one you can count on,its a 50k dollar car! 
Corvette Stories
The Best of Corvette for Corvette Enthusiasts
Top 10 Most Explosive Corvettes Ever Made: Power-to-Weight Ratio Ranked!
Joe Kucinski
150 hp to 1,250 hp: Every Corvette Generation Compared by the Specs That Matter
Joe Kucinski
8 Coolest Corvette Pace Cars (and Replicas) of All Time
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Corvette Engines RANKED by Peak Torque (70+ Years of Muscle!)
Joe Kucinski
Corvette ZR1X Will Be Pacing the Indy 500, And Could Probably Race, Too!
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Corvettes Coming to Mecum Indy 2026!
Brett Foote
Top 10 C9 Corvette MUST-HAVES to Fix These C8 Generation Flaws!
Michael S. Palmer
10 Revolutionary 'Corvette Firsts' Most People Don't Know
Joe Kucinski
5 Reasons to Upgrade to an LS6-Powered Corvette; 5 Reasons to Stay LT2
Michael S. Palmer
Thread Starter
Instructor
Joined: Nov 2004
Posts: 101
Likes: 0
From: Gainesville GA
Called the dealer: his response
Today I called the service dept of the dealership where I bought the car and explained the event. The service tech stated that this is not an uncommon occurrence in vettes because they are often not daily drivers and thus the battery never fully recharges, but gets a "surface charge" that is rapidly depleted with starts, etc. Claimed they hadn't seen any problems with bad batteries, etc. His suggestion was to put a trickle charger on overnight set at approx. 10 amps every month or so to keep the battery fully charged, and if it didn't hold a charge, then it would be replaced under warranty. With the multitude of battery threads on this forum, it seems like there is an issue here. I just wonder if the same things would be occurring with a "better" battery?
Any comments, forum members?
Any comments, forum members?
Le Mans Master
Joined: Jan 2004
Posts: 6,897
Likes: 181
From: Menifee (I.E.) CA
The battery on my '02 died after 6 months. I bought a 6/2 amp dual rate battery charger and trickled charged in about 6-8 hours.
I told my mechanic about how fast it charged and he told me to do it for about 72 hours to get the battery fully charged. I did, and never had another problem with it!
Glad I still have it for my new C-6, just in case!!!
I told my mechanic about how fast it charged and he told me to do it for about 72 hours to get the battery fully charged. I did, and never had another problem with it!
Glad I still have it for my new C-6, just in case!!!
