You're not going to believe this one....

My 2006 C6 Corvette Coupe has been giving me electrical problems for the past 12 months. Battery wouldn't hold a charge for more than a couple of days at a time. Had AAA tow it to the shop 4 times and had a new radio installed trying to fix the problem, and am now on my second GM dealer….got about $2400 of parts and labor into it over the past 3 weeks.

The dealer calls me today and says "Hey, Tom, we finally found the problem and you're not gonna believe it. You know those 3 buttons on your visor for programming your garage door opener?" "Yup" "Well, you also had a clip-on garage door opener clipped to the visor which was depressing some of the buttons causing the various GM control modules to wake up and drain power". "Oh, man!!" "Yup, we removed the clip-on opener and the electrical problem went clean away."

I need to call my buddy and tell him about this. He and his wife came to visit us last April so, as a favor, I lent them the Corvette for a week while they cruised the CA coast. So I had the car detailed and decided to put it in the garage awaiting their arrival because of a pesky neighbor cat that likes to nest on top of it making paw prints all over it. I usually park it outside cuz the garage is my metal shop. So, basically, the neighbors !R$@$#@^ cat just cost me probably $4,500 (including new radio) all for a non-problem. Not to mention two GM dealers inability to think of removing the clip-on garage door opener….can't believe this has never happened to them before.

I haven't collected my car yet but am very reluctant to accept the dealers charges for fixing essentially nothing.

A simple power-up scan of system I/O should have highlighted abnormal I/O status. This should have been caught within 10 minutes of connecting their diagnostic computer.

I've designed, built and troubleshot several complex PLC-based control system and would never design a system as unmaintainable as the Corvettes. This is a Corvette engineering problem, in my book.

Thoughts or suggestions?

 

I wouldn't get too excited until you know the problem is fixed.

 

Very true!

Thanks......for nothing.

 

%^&&(^%$# CATS!!! I would never have thought of something like the buttons on the visor causing your problems. But, I am an animal lover but hate that neighbors cats love to sun themselves on someone else's property. They scratch the paint for sure.

 

Typical Stealership.

Like you said, a quick check with a VOM/AMP meter would have shown the battery drain was above spec with the engine off. Pulling the fuses one by one would have helped isolate which circuit was causing it. One probably did not need a TECH 2 to figure out this problem and certainly not Stealership techs that are supposedly properly trained and experienced throwing parts at it.

 

We make the Homelink system and is powered all the time and it has nothing to do with the body control module.

I don't know if yours is Homelink or the cheaper version that GM started using, but I find it very hard to believe.

 

Why all those accessories are NOT on a delayed power bus is not understandable - yet another failure of GM to do acceptable systems engineering. Same problem with the visor lamps on the late C4s ...

Now go out and buy a clip-on current probe for $100 or so - it's the "cheapest" tool I ever bought.

 

At a MINIMUM, I would discuss the labor charges with the Service Manager and the inability of the tech to find a simple BCM Sleep issue. See if they will at least reduce some of the charges.

I would ask for the old parts back!!!

REPLACE THE RADIO??????????????????????????:wil ly: Where the hell did that one come from?


DEALER " Mr Turbodude,,,, We replaced EVERY electrical part on the car and the same problem still exist... All we have left is the CIGAR LIGHTER and we are positive that is the issue!

BC

 

Hello,

You're exactly right, simple process of elimination would have narrowed it down!

Generally speaking people with high IQ's don't become auto mechanics.

Douglas in Green Bay

 

According to the dealer, the Homelink is not a "monitored system" which is why it escaped detection.

For some time they have known which fuse was supplying the faulty circuit, but were incapable of tracing it to the source.

Basically, its a design problem. The Corvette electrcial system is not very maintainable. How could any input not be monitored?

2 GM dealers and 2 independent shops missed this.

Simply pathetic.

 

Then call Jesse, the service manager at Platinum Chevrolet in Santa Rosa, CA and tell him he's full of crap. He'll know all about the garage door opener issue.

 

i had issues with the door pads and it was constantly waking up the bcm which was killing battery pretty fast.

 

door pads beng the pad you grab to open from the outside

 

And if the problem is fixed you can blame whoever clipped the remote opener over the Home Link, not the GM designers.