Wow, thanks Dano523! Great explanation and I totally understand how it all works now.

My remaining question: will replacing the original motor/gear load (?? mA draw) with the latching relay load (450mA draw, according to you) cause any ill effects on the black box module and the components inside it? I've read about cases where the eliminator works fine for a while (maybe a year), but then the black box module goes bad. Is it coincidence or is the eliminator causing the black box module to go bad?

Thanks!

 

Actually, less load on the SCL module (back box and the draw through it's own relay contacts), so it will last longer.

The problem most of the time with the eliminators going bad, soldered to the pins to over heat the internal relay contact points. In the case with the module (back box, either a bad solder joint on the board, one of it's own relay contacts going bad from use,or just the connectors going into it need a good cleaning with spray contact cleaner instead.

Hence when you go to install the eliminator, pull the black box and clean/lube not only all the connectors the the black box pins (SCL Module), but all the wire connector contacts that your going to plug back into it.


Burnt contacts, but think on a smaller scale with the relay contacts we are talking about.



And yes, if you drove British Leyland's in your youth, you became a pro on tearing open relays to clean the contact on the multitude of relays they had in those cars. Hence you kept extra in the glove box, and when the car burnt up the contacts on the one in the car, would change it out to the other one that you clean up from the last go around.

The good, the bad and the ugly (tr8 fuse box with all it crapmaster lucas relays) and lucky if you where not pulling a few lucas relays at least every 6 months to swap them out with the relays that you just cleaned up from the previous 6 months before that the car tried to kill the old set of relay contacts,




But on the positive note, the relays had covers that made it easy to bent the cover prongs open to pull the covers and clean the contact points to save the relay.

 

I installed the column lock eliminator last week. Drove it the next day to try it out. The car soaked in the hot SoCal sun all day and then fired right up! No more sitting and waiting for it to cool off.

It's a little eerie starting and shutting off the car without the "rrrrrrmp" noise of the column lock. It was such a normal noise to hear that it just sounds so weird to start/stop the car without it.

Thanks for all the info!

 

I installed the column lock bypass a couple years ago and had 0 issues until now. After having my tranny replaced the light showed up on the dash again. It hasn't caused any start problems, just the annoying warning light, even after pushing the reset it goes away and returns after a few mins. Any ideas?

 

Being that they had to pull the center console to get to the shifter to drop the drive line, I would pull the center console to check the connectors behind/below the radio, as well as pull the dash gauge against to check the connectors there as well to the SCLM.

Hence would bank that it not the column lock eliminator connector to the SCLM the problem since that would not allow the car to start if the problem was there, but instead either the main connector into the SCLM (large black box), or somewhere in radio area that got one of the connectors semi pulled loose when they removed the center console.

Hell could have been up at the RCDLR area since you have to un-clip the flashers plug to pull the center console, and it may be one of the connectors up there causing a electrical gremlin to the SCLM to give you the message after the car has been started.

Also, might want to double check the reverse sensor in the trans, since it may being bumped to close it connection as you are shifting through the gears.

Note, if you went to a single sensor trans from a later model car (05 has a sensor for reverse, and one for b/u lights, while later trans just have the single B/U light sensor only), may have screwed up on the cross connection to tie the two sensors connectors into just the one sensor. Also, double check the hand brake sensor wire to make sure it was connected back when you have the center console out.

 

Thanks, I will check all that out.

 

Hi, I'm trying to match up my symptoms with your advice on diagnosing my column lock problem. It doesn't seem to quite match what others have described in this thread.

In my car, so far twice, several months apart, the column lock got stuck unlocked. The car refused to start, turning on/off, on/off repeatedly. There was no "SERVICE COLUMN LOCK" message, but there was a check engine light. The thing that got the car out of this state was to disconnect the battery for 10 minutes. Then the column lock would engage and the car was able to start immediately, and continued to do so without fail for months until the second case (no flakiness). I can't tell if the column lock engages slowly or not since I don't know what to compare to; it's reasonably fast, maybe 0.5 to 1 second. Now that it's working again, I can't make it go back to the failure mode.

Does this implicate the column lock motor and thus use of a bypass module, or something else?

 

Sounds like the motor worm drive plastic gearing did a bind up

It's the case of why the actual locking mech goes bad over time, so with the eliminator in play, it leaves the motor device in the unlocked position unplugged, so the problem does not happen again.


Hence the steering column lock device in my 05 is good/brand new, but since all the 05 manuals locks will develop the worm drive bind problem in enough time, I selected to just put the steering colum lock in the unlocked position, unplug it from the SCLM, and used the eliminator to make the BCM think that the lock was still in play isntead.

 

I see a bypass in your future..do it before it screws up all the way and you cant fix it.

 

Thanks for the input, guys.

Ordered a bypass module.

 

Just wanted to say big thanks to this thread. My 05 had the service steering column lock issue off and on for a few months, but then it got to a point at which I could no longer start the car without manually jumping a relay in the fuse box. Besides the huge annoyance of having to pop the hood every single time I needed to start the car (which is just embarrassing when you're at a gas station filling up, or if you accidentally stall the clutch), the service steering column lock message would persistently pop up while I was driving.

I took it to 2 dealers who couldn't figure it out, and just handed me GM's recommendation which is to use an aftermarket bypass module (which I already had from Corvettes of Houston). Both dealers said GM is coming out with a software reprogramming to get rid of the steering column lock requirement, but I'm not holding my breath.

After no luck with the dealerships, I ordered a replacement bypass from kfn01 on eBay which wasn't any better in my case as that ended up not being the issue. Then I took out the column lock module itself, which was an older part #10387604, and replaced it with a brand new unit which I got off eBay part #15915003 ($150). That did the trick. No reprogramming needed.

 

I think have the steering wheel lock problem and solution is bypass BUT is there a way to troubleshoot it first to know what the problem is? I was driving and all the gauges went to zero and got check engine message??, but kept driving. Parked and shopped and came back and has never sharted since, had to tow home, and not the battery, jumped it no diff. When try to start nothing happens and interior lights go off and gauges, 10 secs later they come on again. Try it 10 times in a row, same thing each time.

 

If it the steering column lock problem, you will get the DIC maessage telling you service the steering column lock.

With the car not starting, could be starter solenoid isntead. Hence either the nut loose where the battery and alternator positive wires come together on the terminal, or the terminal cracked off isntead.




Also, just above the starter is the negative cable bolting point to the engine block, and that bolt may be loose as well.

 

https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums...post1598480464