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Active Handling Wheel Directon Sensor Problem

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Old Aug 14, 2006 | 04:42 PM
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Default Active Handling Wheel Directon Sensor Problem

I had this in the Z06 section but it pertains to all C6's


About a month ago the display popped up a message SERVICE
ACTIVE HANDLING.
I shut the car down and restarted. No more message. A few days later I mentioned this to the SM when my wife had her car in for oil change. SM told me to let him know if it happens again. Last night the same message fleshed on and then went out again on a restart.
Now tonight what the **** is going on.
Doing about 65 mph on a good road in a slight turn with little upgrade and the **** hit the fan. I cannot tell you exactly what happened. Luckily I had both hands on the steering wheel. The (I assume) active handling computer started throwing on the breaks from side to side. The car rocked violently side to side for a short duration. I had cars to my right and rear. The guard rail 2ft to my left. I kept the gas on or maybe gave it a little more as the car was also rapidly slowing. A beep beep and the little car icon on the interment panel came on along with SERVICE ACTIVE HANDLING warning. The car then stabilized. At the time it felt longer but in reality was probably no longer than four seconds.

My wife thought I jammed the breaks on she also thought it was fishtailing. I know it never broke traction although though just felt like it. The car behind me quickly changed lanes. (They probably thought I had one too many.)
After a restart the warning is gone again.(edit:Actually took about three restarts and an hour. During the time the warning was displayed I held down the button to disable the system. It would not change the setting while the warning was displayed.) Will take it in for service next week.
If this happened in trip digits or under hard cornering. . . good by.

What’s up?


EDIT Z in for service

Three codes came up. I will get the actual codes and post then. One of them indicates a problem with the
steering wheel direction sensor or wheel direction sensor.
Again I will find out which one it is and post it.
The steering column has to be pulled and the sensor replaced. Also I saw a GM bulletin where the sensors and wiring harness at the bottom of the steering column must be secured. It showed how to do it and the column must be removed for this service. Either some or all Corvettes have a improperly secured wires or whatever??? at the inside base of the steering column. GM is aware of this problem and apparently being a little quiet about it.

The dealer told me they had a C6 with the same problem but replaced the sensor and secured the harness. The owner come in for a check engine light and they found the wheel direction sensor codes. I don’t think owner experienced any problem when driving.
SM told parts will be in tomorrow and should have the column out and back in one day.
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Old Aug 14, 2006 | 05:38 PM
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Consider the case where the AH/TC system thinks all the wheel sensors are working correctly, and you are driving down a straight and level road at constant speed. Then one wheel sensor starts to send every other rotation pulse to the AH/TC computer. The AH/TC computer takes this as 3 tires are now faster than the other (slow) one by a large margin, and therefore, intervention is needed to regain safe operation of the vehicle.

Either a sensor bolt/nut has become loose moving the sensor out of line wrt the reluctor, or a sensor is failing, or the wire connecting them is failing.
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Old Aug 14, 2006 | 06:44 PM
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In light of this event,
I think the lesson for the rest of us here is if you get a service active handling message, even if it clears itself, to have things checked out right away, and turn off active handling for that trip to the dealer.
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Old Aug 14, 2006 | 08:19 PM
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This just happend on my 05 Coupe. It'l be in the shop first thing in the am. I restarted my car, it cleared, and I disabled the system right away. This was even before reading this post. I'm very glad I saw this, and I'm also very happy nothing happened to you on the road. Thanks!
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Old Aug 14, 2006 | 09:38 PM
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On the way to the dealers this am I had the system off. You know how curiosity is. I engaged the system no warning came on. A few fast starts no warning. Had to try it. Only doing about 15 in 1st on a corner dropped it on the floor . Back end broke loose system engaged and reduced wheel spin. Worked fine and no warning came on.

My recommendation same as CessnaDriver and rulez. Disengage the system and take it in for service.
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Old Aug 15, 2006 | 01:57 AM
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The steering position sensor is only a 5 minute job. The column does not have to be removed. If it was a C5 then the column would have to be removed but not the case in the C6. I can bet you anything that the code that was set was a code C0710 sym 1F and sym 52.
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Old Aug 15, 2006 | 06:48 AM
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I get this "weirdness" occasionally myself - at low speeds though. Particularly while doing 3-point turnarounds. Active Handling will come on in the DIC, and the brakes will lock up (right front tire only). Quick shutdown/restart will clear it. I can only imagine how dangerous an AH brake lockup at high speeds would be.

Also getting a "Service Active Handling" warning a few times a day. This is going into to dealer after I get the clutch done this week.

I had the "secure harness" bullettin taken care of when I had the car in for a non-functional high beam switch. Apparantly, things are wrapped too tightly on top of the steering wheel column, causing stress on the wires near the sensor connector (and in my case, the connector that goes to the high beam/signal/cruise control stalk).

Hopefully my 3rd party extended warranty company will cover this.

Rick

Last edited by SickRick; Aug 15, 2006 at 06:53 AM.
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Old Aug 15, 2006 | 07:17 AM
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Originally Posted by SickRick
I get this "weirdness" occasionally myself - at low speeds though. Particularly while doing 3-point turnarounds. Active Handling will come on in the DIC, and the brakes will lock up (right front tire only). Quick shutdown/restart will clear it. I can only imagine how dangerous an AH brake lockup at high speeds would be.

Also getting a "Service Active Handling" warning a few times a day. This is going into to dealer after I get the clutch done this week.

I had the "secure harness" bullettin taken care of when I had the car in for a non-functional high beam switch. Apparantly, things are wrapped too tightly on top of the steering wheel column, causing stress on the wires near the sensor connector (and in my case, the connector that goes to the high beam/signal/cruise control stalk).

Hopefully my 3rd party extended warranty company will cover this.

Rick
Same thing happened to me during a 3 point turn, twice in 16000 miles. I turned the car off and the problem went away. Service active handling did light up for a few seconds. Brought car back to the dealer after second incident-they found no codes. Problem has not reoccured.
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Old Aug 15, 2006 | 09:43 AM
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Well mine went in the shop this morning. I'll post what I find out this afternoon/evening.
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Old Aug 15, 2006 | 05:40 PM
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Originally Posted by 99FewteRC5
The steering position sensor is only a 5 minute job. The column does not have to be removed. If it was a C5 then the column would have to be removed but not the case in the C6. I can bet you anything that the code that was set was a code C0710 sym 1F and sym 52.
You are probably correct about removing the column. The SM told me it had to come out. I don’t think they took mine out. I will find out for sure. The codes I had were
1A Bias Level Out Off Range
1F Intermittent
52 Compare Failure
This problem is with telescoping tilt wheels.
Cad XLR 04 - 06 Corvette 05 - 06

you got 2 out of three
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Old Aug 15, 2006 | 10:17 PM
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When the car tells you to service active handling, service the active handling. Don't kid around.
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Old Aug 16, 2006 | 12:59 AM
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On mine, some months ago, AH and TC were intermittently totally AWOL allowing the car to be slid or spun at will, even though everything was on. No codes or messages came up. At first, the dealer wouldn't do anything, then I gave the SM a demonstration ride. He has a C5 and we both agreed the C5s don't do that. They replaced all the sensors and the the BCM. We never did figure out which sensor was bad.

The C6 is going to be an electronic boondoggle.
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Old Aug 16, 2006 | 03:51 AM
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Originally Posted by CessnaDriver
In light of this event,
I think the lesson for the rest of us here is if you get a service active handling message, even if it clears itself, to have things checked out right away, and turn off active handling for that trip to the dealer.

I have a 2006 C6 and the "Service Active Handling" message came on two different times. After shut down of car after driving awhile the message goes away. My question is, how long does the trouble code stay in the computer so the GM service people can tell what is wrong and be able to fix it??? The last "Service Active Handling" message was about two weeks ago.

Any help from you will be greatly appreciated.
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Old Aug 16, 2006 | 06:58 AM
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Mine was in the shop for one day. They replaced the steering wheel sensor, and performed the harness TSB.
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Old Aug 16, 2006 | 10:55 AM
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I have this problem as will, I thought maby the sensor is not connected properly.

my question is, is there a picture of the sensors that deal with the AH system?

where are they located?
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Old Aug 16, 2006 | 11:30 AM
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Originally Posted by psimms
I have a 2006 C6 and the "Service Active Handling" message came on two different times. After shut down of car after driving awhile the message goes away. My question is, how long does the trouble code stay in the computer so the GM service people can tell what is wrong and be able to fix it??? The last "Service Active Handling" message was about two weeks ago.

Any help from you will be greatly appreciated.
Probably as long as you dont disconnect the battery.
Considering someone almost lost it because of this just driving normally.
Take it in right away, dont drive it with AH on and drive it slowly.
And what others have said will be looked at and repairs made even without trouble codes. Too potentially serious a problem to just ignore.

Last edited by CessnaDriver; Aug 16, 2006 at 11:32 AM.
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