Well I just had my 2005 C6 towed to the dealer again for the 4th time in less than 5,000 miles. Service Column Lock Message everytime. First time in they changed the Column lock actuator, Second time they changed the Column Lock Module, Third time they replaced the column lock actuator again and blamed my aftermarket radio for making it fail. They still replaced it under warranty. I drove it home, put an OEM radio back in, and car wouldnt start with the typical SCL Message. Disconnected the radio just to test it. No change, SCL Message. Called the tow truck again, back to the dealer. Waiting to see what they try to rape me for this time. Any ideas or suggestions? HELP!!

 

I feel your pain, but not that many times at dealer. The culprit that seem to solve my problem was the battery. Making sure your battery is in good condition, because if it's not parked in reverse after a couple of times killing the battery, it will eventually drain the battery. Since yours has happen more than once, I recommend replacing the battery. Hopefully this helps.

 

Battery got replaced when they did the column lock module. I tried jumping it just in case the battery was weak. No effect. I also keep it on a tender. I don't think that's the culprit. Thanks though.

 

Given the history of the column issue on the C5 I was actually shocked to see it on the first year C6. I still don't understand how that happened.

 

I hate to say this, but welcome to hell. My 2005 has been nothing but problems. I finally got all the bugs worked out after 27k miles in 6 1/2 years lol

 

The belief that your battery is fully charged may be the culprit. A fully charged battery should read 12.65 volts on a digital volt meter. A reading of 12.45 volts equals about a 75% charge. 12.45 volts is low enuf to trigger a host of problems on a C5 and early C6.

Take the battery out of the car and put it on a proper charger. This should clear the codes and get you back to square one.

 

I've done that already. Pulled out the battery, put it in a charger till topped off. Reinstalled, instant SCL message as soon as hit the ign switch. No sound, column lock not even trying.

 

Couldn't agree more. Additionally if you still have those crappy terminal connects on get rid.

When you Take the old ones off you'll see that the strands of cable will be all funky with green mess, electrical corrosion basically. Get a wire brush in there, clean it all up and put new terminals on.

Just doing this gained me an entire volt on my display when the car is running. You need a good strong power source as a baseline before fault finding.

I find it hilarious that they blame the after market stereo. They did that to me when I got the codes read. You can imagine the situation. 6 years ago when Chevy were scratching their heads wrt column lock problems some utter muppet in a shop somewhere has a brainwave that it's because of an aftermarket stereo. He did this because your average Chevy tech is useless. It spreads like wildfire via bulletins etc and now is buried in the back of these guys minds as a "safety blanket"!

What codes were stored when your car has been in the dealer? There are several things that will flag the service column lock message. Post these and I'll have a dig in the manual.

My number one advice - stop taking your car to Chevy, despite what logic tells you they are on the whole clueless when it comes to these cars. They are merely component swappers.

Are you reasonably handy with motors normally?

 

Yeah I try to do everything myself. The only reason I took it there in the first place because the column lock was still under warranty from previous owner. Figured it wouldn't cost me anything. I'll check on the codes when they scan it. My scanner couldnt read it for done reason. It's about 10 yrs old though. They are diagnosing it for free since it only drove home from dealer before it failed again in my garage. I never checked the volts on the display in car.

 

Excellent, I'm the same. FYI I had issues which were column lock related but ended up being neither of those components. Although there are some scl issues I believe many are most likely incorrectly diagnosed.

It is paramount you get all codes logged. Also would be really nice to know what codes were flagged on each evolution of repair. I bet ya the useless sods never even logged or checked them. They care financially about warranty repairs as much as you do.

Wonder why gm are going bust? Franchised dealers doing needless warranty repairs. They are all over this forum.

With the manual and the codes we can get to the bottom of this with some proper fault finding. The reason people have enduring nightmares with these cars or others is they do not diagnose and fix the actual problem.

It is an unfortunate truism of human nature that we think when shelling out 3k we are gonna get a good service and a professional repair. Not always the case sadly.

For what it's worth I fixed my 3k quoted repair for 30 bucks. I will never ever darken chevy's door again. Unfortunately I frikkin love their corvette!

Get the codes or we're pissin in the wind. All of em, not just scl related.

 

I let you know as soon as I find out. They should diagnose tomorrow.

 

You may need to replace the BCM. My dealer replaced that 1st, then after several more visits replaced the scl. I felt BCM was not the cause, but may it did have a short or something that the dealer explained away as?

 

I bet they blame the BCM too. They said they were getting weird voltages from it last time. They blamed the aftermarket radio for causing it.

 

I thought I was having SCL issues as well, but as a test I just started keeping the car on a battery tender when it is parked, and it has not had one starting issue since. Knock on wood.

 

I've always kept this one on a tender too.

 

The dealer says battery was low and that was the only code. They charged it and it's been working ever since. I don't get it. It had been on a tender and showing full.

 

What kind of battery is it? I have had the original AC Delco in mine, then I went cheap with a everstart (or NEVERSTART), then went with a interstate and it died, then finally back to AC Delco and its been fine ever since.

 

AC Delco. 3 months old

 

After going through 2 AC Delco's in 4yrs I switched to a different battery.

 

all you have to do is insert the key fob into the glove box area and restart the car. I know it worked on my 05 don't know how the newer key fobs are inserted into the car manually.