OK

I just got back from a 2500+ mile road trip. The car ran great except for at one point on the way back yesterday and it was very weird.

I sat on the bridge at Sarnia, Michigan coming from the Canada side for a long time, 30-45 minutes. Idle the whole time. I finally get to the customs guy and he asks me to shut the engine off (its a bit loud), and does his checks and tells me I can go. I go to start the car and nothing. No lights, no power, can't open the doors, its like the battery is disconnected. The customs agent helps me push the car out of the way and park it, and calls MDOT for me to get a jump (or tow). I open the hood, its very hot in there. While it sat for maybe 4-5 minutes I fiddled with the start button, which would light up, try and start and then tell me I had a column lock and go dark, also the electronics seemed to be flickering a bit. When the MDOT truck is pulling up, I try starting it again and it fires up, no problems. Battery voltage looks good, and it seems to be fine. I shut it down while the MDOT folks are there and fire it up again, and no issues again. So I head out, looking for a Chevy dealership on my GPS.

I noticed a few things while heading out US-69. The left front TPS was reading 0 PSI for the first 5-10 minutes of the drive then seemed to get signal again. TC kicked in on the highway a couple of times in a straight line, before that happened, and it was very brief, may have been the Michigan roads. Also It would not go into Competition mode at first, then later it was also fine doing that.

It ran fine after that, checked at the dealership the battery was good 957 CCA, 12.8 Volts. Never got any CEL of any kind either. Service guy thought because it idled so long the electronics might have overheated? I tend to agree since waiting for 5 minutes with the hood open allowed air to get into there and the battery was very hot.

Any thoughts or wisdom on the forum on this? I ran from East Lansing to North of Chicago today with no problems whatsoever but I would hate to have that happen again and be worse?

Thanks
Mike

 

Mike

My 06 has had a rash of very strange electrical issues in the past 6 months.
I had a very simular issue as yours. Went to take the 06 for a drive and BAM,,, no start, no power, weird messages, very strange indications. The no power thing got my attention!!!

I am very good at troubleshooting C5/C6 electrical problems but this one had me stumped. Battery had good voltage, Battery connections were good, nothing was wet etc.....
SO,,,,,,I broke out the C6 power/starting/charging schematics and low and behold,,, the START/IGNITION Switch seemed to be the KEY to all my issues. It starts a sequence of power up and starting operations.

It just so happens that my OEM Switch had a cracked face. (early switches seemed plagued by this issue) and I had ordered one from Gene Culley ( www.gmpartshouse.com ) and had it at the house. I removed the benzel popped out the switch and everything came back to life. Changed out the switch and everything is GOOD until today.

I took the old switch apart after the repair was complete and it is a very delicate complex, OMG easy to break POS. Stand by for a lot of issues with this POS!
SO,,,,,,,, I think I am going to have one on hand for future ISSUES!
The crack has NOTHING to do with the switch failure issue. Its just a lens/cover ugly looking problem.

Now I have new different symptoms that I have to go home and troubelshoot. My wife hit a small bump in the road this morning (nothing out of the ordinary) and the dash/IPC went ballistic. Car wouldnt start after she shut it off. She got it to start after several power on/power off steps and I told her to just leave it be for now till I get home.

Outcome of this issue is still pending upon further investigation.

Hope this helps ya. Like I said, manulipating the OLD switch made it come back to life. So,,,if your stranded, whack that area on the dash and see if that changes conditions.

 

I have similar problems on my '05....shut off car after driving in extreame heat...would not start for at least tem minutes....now engine shut off while driving...won't start. ZDoes not recognize key fob..no electronics working....battery checks good....only getting power to headlights and interior cabin lights....

Please Let me know if you find out anything....Thanks

 

Well,, a few months ago, I had a similar issue. Press the start button and the IPC goes DEAD. Only light is the CEL. After some electrical schematic research, I determined that the IGNITION SWITCH wasn't working correctly.

Upon tearing into the dash to replace it, and removing it from the bezel, the car came back to life. I replaced the switch and have not had any more issues until TODAY.


Same damn issues..... Car stranded my wife at work. I asked her to do some banging and poking and prodding under the dash and it started. THANK GOD!

So,,, I have to do surgery under the dash and behind the IPC again today to look for intermittent / poor electrical connections. FUN! NOT!!

You can bet a pay check that, if I find anything I will post it.

Bill

 

Bill,

thanks a bunch for the post, I will check out the ignition switch, it us at least pretty easy to remove and replace . How much was Gene asking for these?

That all said, I drove the car an additional 120 miles right after it happened and another 260 miles the next day to get home from East Lansing, MI? No problems, but being stranded by my toy car would not be high on my to do list , though I used to own a Ferrari and that thing was a beast at times until the Italian Electricians were exorcised...

 

Mike

Seeing that I'm having the exact same issues as before,,,, I doubt if it a switch issue. Is more than like a connection issue somewhere at or near the IPC or a connection near there. I looking as well for that troublesome point.

Unlesss your switch is cracked and you need to replace it, maybe just get one as a spare for now. Looks like I have a good spare.

BC

 

I would replace the battery. A bad battery can check out at 12.8 volts. The only way to check it is with a load test. These kind of problems are usually the battery and a new one takes care of everything else. Most of the time the C6 will not even start with a jump.

 

My battery is 3 months old and load tests fine. The connections are correct and clean and starter leads are 100%. Car starts excellent if the IPC symptoms are normal.

Its a connection issue inside the vehicle at or near the IPC. Could even be a bad IPC. Wont know until it breakes and I can mess with it.

BC

 

I really wonder how much high IAT's might play a part in degrading and causing electronic component problems? I say this because I've been closely watching IAT's since installing an AeroForce gauge and WOW....

I was AMAZED at the temps reached under the hood on a hot day.. 90+! It was only idled about 5 mins! and was hitting over 170 degs. This was on a bone stock car too. Hate to think how hot they would get after 25 or 30 mins of idling. Have no plans to find that out with my car but I suspect it might hit 200 degs.

That's just to freaken hot IMO for some electronic components unless they were designed for it. Have no clue how much heat some of these components were designed to take but it seems logical they could over heat! It's another reason I'm changing my rad and perhaps stabilizing under hood temps.

Just seems like slow cooking those electronic components is going to result in problems as these cars age....

 

In addition heat is a batteries worse enemy.

 

Good point but the Chevy dealership did a load test on it, 957 CCA under load, much better than the rated 850 CCA (Optima Yellow top). The battery is old but I think it is OK.

I agree its a combination of under hood temps and a bad connector or some components showing their susceptibility to high temp failure. I also noticed while waiting a bit that the volt gauge was hopping a bit from 13.6 to 12.1 and the gauge cluster backlight would flicker in time with this a bit as well... The flickering might have been my imagination though.

Wonder if a simple electric fan could be placed under the hood somewhere to force circulation when the car isn't mouth breathing the air? BMW does this on their cars for when they idle...

 

There actually is one - comes on at 204* (stock) I suspect your problem is heat related but not solely heat caused.

 

WELL,,,,,,,, seeing that my wife had the problem at dead cold start up,,,,,,,,,,,,,, I, SERIOUSLY DOUBT that heat has anything to do with the issue.

BC

 

If you were referring to my post, Bill - I was referencing Mikes issue...and the issue could well happen cold but may be heat accelerated (you are an experienced electronics tech - you know that! )JD

 

Well the EE in me would suggest there are a couple of issues here A dead start cold, would indicate a failed component and that would require some kind of attention before the vehicle recovered at all. Unless we are talking really really cold

Most electronic components for automotive applications are rated -40 to +150 C which is pretty hot. Now the PCB's and connectors used should also be rated like that, but no telling since most of these parts end up being outsourced anyhow. I have also had intermittent fuel sender failures when driving long distances. Gas gauge would go to zero, then magically bounce back, then zero and so on. Let the car sit and cool overnight and the problem went away until the next long drive. Chevy dealership recently updated the ECM and the sender issue no longer occurs (at least not during 2500+ miles of road trip I recently took), probably they do a longer average or look for the signal to suddenly drop rather than a gradual one and don't report it, this is pretty common to work around a difficult and intermittent hardware problem by fudging the software a bit.

If I had to guess the location of the ECM is poorly chosen for heat exposure and/or has some substandard connectors which fail under various conditions, but tough to prove that really.

BR,
Mike