Hello everyone,

I've been waiting a while to get a C6, and finally got one this Saturday. Today...two days after buying it I tried to shut the car off and the dash read "Shift to Reverse". The car was in reverse. I searched to forums and saw this is an issue with the '05 model year, which mine is. Next, I disconnected the battery to see if that would help. It didn't. Now the message reads "Service Column Lock". and the car won't start. When I try to start it, I can hear the column lock motor making noise. Will the Column Lock Bypass from Corvettes of Houston help the car to start? The steering column isn't locked, the car just won't start. What is my next move here?

Thanks in advance,

Ryan

 

Just to update this, I just got off the phone with Corvettes of Houston. They said the Column Lock Eliminator will fix the column lock issue, but as far as the "Shift to Reverse" problem goes I'm not sure what to do.

 

Welcome to the Forum and Congratulations on your '05!!!!

There may not be much "you" can do with the Shift to Reverse issue. But at least try the simple stuff, if you can get it started.

When you shift to Reverse, is it actually in Rev? If you let the clutch out a little, does the car go backwards?

When you shift to Reverse, do the backup lights come on? Doesn't have anything to do with the system displaying the message but just a simple indicator that the car may not be going fully into Rev.

What will probably have to happen is a diagnosis by a mechanic. Independent mechanics, if you can find a good one in your area, are cheaper and better than a dealer unless you have some kind of warranty. Just for info, there is a switch/sensor mounted on the transmission that communicates with the BCM (Body Control Module) to tell the BCM that the car is in Rev and it's okay to shut everything down. You may get lucky and only that sensor will be bad and need replacing. OR you might have a bad BCM which is involved and costly to replace.

So if you don't already know a good independent CORVETTE mechanic, start asking around here and in the Southwest Regional Forum for recommendations.

Good luck, let us know what happens.

 

The 05 transmission has two switches on the passenger side of the housing which are prone to failure. In simple terms the bcm applies 12v to both of these, one being for the back up lamps and one a feed to the steering column lock control module.

When you select reverse both switches are depressed simultaneously and what should happen is 12v is returned to the bcm for the back up lamp circuit and 12v is sent to the sclcm which when it receives other messages then locks the wheel.

However, the system is so poorly designed (common feed) that if a switch fails internally to ground it shorts both circuits. Of course they can fail in other ways which will cause a single fail for example no column lock.

You can easily diagnose if it is a switch on the tranny (likely) by getting underneath and jumping both connectors with a short piece of wire hence "closing" both switches. If this is the case the car will immediately shut itself down.

If you need more info then pm me.

Ps - Chevy quoted me 3k when I had it towed to them with this issue which was when I spent a day and a half studying the system. I have a good contact who can supply you these switches at 40 bucks or so which is half what Chevy will quote for one plus Chevy won't have them in stock.

Good luck.