Column Lock

[98 c-5]

Hey Guys,
I had the column Lock recall done on my 98 A4 corvette 2 years ago.My chevy dealer installed the K-harness at that time. I now have the service column lock on my DIC.the good old pull key wait 10 secs....
I've removed the K harness myself,and no column lock on my DIC. My question is will the dealer charge for this repair and will my car make it to the dealer?

 

[MsSchroder]

98 c-5
Welcome to the Corvette Action Center.
There have been mixed reports from members who have had a column lock problem after the dealer had taken care of the original recall. Some have had success getting the dealer to pay for the repair, others have not. Sometimes it has varied, depending on the nature of what went wrong. It has been the consensus that GM should be liable, usually, for the repairs.

GM has a special "policy adjustment", (see our tech center article here:
http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/kb/question.php?qstId=601) which indicates that GM will take care of column lock issues.

Perhaps C4C5specialist can shed more light.

Tammy

 

[tghawkins]

Hey Guys,

I've removed the K harness myself,and no column lock on my DIC. My question is will the dealer charge for this repair and will my car make it to the dealer?

Whether it will make it to the dealer depends on how you removed the harness. Did you remove the harness and reconnect the actuator, or did you leave the actuator disconnected?
If you have a working actuator, and you reconnected it, you should have no problems. (until the actuator fails!)
If you left the actuator disconnected, then the BCM will not receive the correct message that the column is not locked, and may cause the fuel to be shut off when you try to drive it.
It sounds like the relay in the harness K failed, and should be replaced by the dealer under the latest recall. If not, you can always install a new harness yourself, or replace it with an aftermarket version of the column lock bypass. As long as your actuator still works, and I assume the lockplate has been removed by the recall, then you also could just leave the actuator connected to get you by.

 

[98 c-5]

Thanks alot!!!!!!!!!!!!
I'll keep you guys posted...

 

[Fungooli]

Figures

Took my 99 to the dealer for some fixing up a couple months back and they did the recall. Couple weeks later I get the column lock message. Figured it may have been something to do with that recall. I'm also having a battery charging problem along with it. Can this have anything to do with this column lock and what, basically does this column lock do or what was the problem.

 

[tghawkins]

Took my 99 to the dealer for some fixing up a couple months back and they did the recall. Couple weeks later I get the column lock message. Figured it may have been something to do with that recall. I'm also having a battery charging problem along with it. Can this have anything to do with this column lock and what, basically does this column lock do or what was the problem.

The column lock message could be related to the recall. A relay harness is installed to simulate the column lock actuator, and if the relay has failed, you could be getting an error message. It does not seem like failure of this relay could cause the battery problems, BUT I think it is possible that if you are just having battery problems, it could also cause the column lock problem. I would get the battery checked out, and if you are sure it is not the battery, then go back to the dealer and have them replace the relay harness installed as part of the recall.

 

[Fungooli]

Thanx tg, gonna work on it today. Ever since I had it, everytime I left it sit in the garage for maybe 3 weeks, I'd have a dead battery. The dealer said this was pretty much normal as he was always jumping the cars on the lot to service them. I kinda found that hard to believe. I replaced the battery, but couldn't find the time to seriously search for a short.

 

[mjsmm]

OK, I have a totally different issue with my column lock that just happened earlier today. I have a '99 with a MT. While pulling out onto the main drag, I jumped on the gas since it was rush hour and I didn't want to wait 5 minutes for another opening. After banging through 1st & 2nd gear, I backed off and the DIC came on with "service column lock" message. I hit the reset button, and the warning went off. I was only a mile from home, so I continued on. When I turned the car off, the column wouldn't lock. I took my car in for the recall a couple of years ago, even though they said there is no fix (no problem either?) with the 6 speed and I've never had a problem with it before this. I guess I don't care that it doesn't lock other than someone who wanted to take the car could at least now steer it where they couldn't before. I'm probably putting the car away next week and I'll have the dealer check it. But has anyone had, or heard of, this issue before?

 

[Roc]

Hey Guys,
I had the column Lock recall done on my 98 A4 corvette 2 years ago.My chevy dealer installed the K-harness at that time. I now have the service column lock on my DIC.the good old pull key wait 10 secs....
I've removed the K harness myself,and no column lock on my DIC. My question is will the dealer charge for this repair and will my car make it to the dealer?

Earlier this year GM issued a TSB instructing dealers to pull the locking plate out of any MT C5. All automatics should have had this done already under an earlier bulletin.

Special Policy Adjustment notice:
Subject: GMP06-029 - 05081 Special Policy Adjustment - Electronic Column Lock System Message #: VSU20061001

BTW, when bus voltage drops due to battery/charging issues, it is quite normal to start getting strange error codes.

 

[MsSchroder]

mjsmm,
Those symptoms don't ring a bell with me, but I'm just going on memory of the posts that I've read here.
Letting the dealer check it out sounds like a good idea.

Tammy

 

[sbushwhacker]

I had a bad experience with my y2k 6spd, I never had an issue but had the 1st recall done anyway. Several months later the column locked while started, got message wait 10 sec, started and unlocked. Weeks l8tr it happened again this time in my garage and nothing would unlock the column. When I got it to the dealer I was told they were aware of this problem but there was no recall to help me and was to cost $500. As the repair to remove the locking plate and install of the relay harness was being done I called the GM 800 # and was told they would cover it! So don't listen to the dealer if you are refused.