Bad RDCLM ??

[059172Vette]

2005 6 speed coupe (VERY low VIN...it was a pilot car). When the car was about 4 years old it was stored for a weekend with the FOB about 3 feet away. That resulted in the first dead battery. For the next 3 years I ended up replacing a dead battery every year. There was a TSB against the RCDLM that I had installed for $90. It seemed to help but only for a very short time. Not having a serious learning disability, I finally added a new battery and started using a CTEK charger whenever the car is parked. That battery is now about 3 years old and going strong. But about a year back I began noticing that sometimes when I would close the door and walk away, after about 3 seconds the horn would toot twice. If I went back and opened the door the interior chime would ding-ding. Clearly the car is telling me I forgot to turn something off (I did not). I suspect the condition had happened many times before and I just ignored it. So I tried starting the car and shutting it off. Sometimes that would cure the problem. Sometimes it would take 2 or 3 ignition cycles for the car to be happy. One day, quite by accident, I put the FOB down about 7 feet from the car before opening the door and getting in. When I tried to start the car I got the "NO FOB " display. When I went to get the FOB, I closed the door and there was no horn toot. Reopening the door got no ding-ding. Many, many times now I've used that trick to kill the car and it has worked 100% of the time. I suspect the car thinks it is being stolen and gets into a special place for self protection. Now a new problem has emerged. When I press the start button the car acts like it will start...all lights on, gauges sweep, etc. My personal message appears on the DIC. But nothing happens. NO error message (like Service Column Lock - it is bypassed now). No DTC (like P0615). Sometimes re-pressing the start button gets a start. Sometimes that does not work and I have to shut the car off and start the sequence again. Sometimes several attempts are required. I'm wondering if the RDLCM is causing both problems since it is central to both closing down the car and starting the car. Or maybe I just need to try replacing the Crank Relay 43. I guess that is cheaper....

 

[Toms007]

Are you leaving the car in Reverse? I think the early cars had to be in reverse or they ran the battery down......

 

[059172Vette]

Are you leaving the car in Reverse? I think the early cars had to be in reverse or they ran the battery down......

The '05s do need to be in reverse. Yes I do leave it in reverse. To make sure the car "knows" it is in reverse, I've even tried shutting the engine off not in reverse. If not in reverse, the DIC says "Shift to Reverse". You have to manually unlock the door. When I then shift to reverse the DIC goes blank and the doors unlock. I forgot to mention that while the car was still under warrantee it had a Column Lock failure. The dealer replaced every part in the Column Lock system to get it working. One year later the Column Lock failed again and the dealer fixed that also under a parts warrantee. Figuring it would happen again I designed a bypass circuit long before CoH had a '05 Column Lock Bypass.