start up, dies when put into gear, idles well in neutral

[targatom]

Hi,
I am hoping that someone can help with some info on my 97, its stone stock. I replaced the battery today, and started the car up after it has sat for about four months. It fires right up, idles well in neutral, but when put into gear, either drive or reverse, it dies right out after about three seconds, I get far enough, maybe about ten feet with it. Anyone happen to know where to start looking for the problem? Thanks Tom

 

[BoDuke]

Give it more gas as you let the clutch out . (I just felt the need to give you a hard time.) The only experience I've had with mine sitting over the winter was a dead battery. Maybe a gas filter is plugging up? I've had that scenario with my carb'ed motors. Other than that and some sarcasm, I cant be much help. There's a LOT of people on the site, I'm sure someone will be able to help ya out with it!

 

[NOPASIN]

Hi,
Sorry to hear yer havin problems. Need to determine if it's a fuel or electrical problem. I would suspect fuel, being as it's been setting for 4 mo. Carb. float or fuel filter might do that as putting it in gear causes vac. advance and more fuel requirements. Does it Bog down if you rev it up in park ? If so, it's not getting enough gas.:eyerole

 

[Don Mason]

Hi,
Sorry to hear yer havin problems. Need to determine if it's a fuel or electrical problem. I would suspect fuel, being as it's been setting for 4 mo. Carb. float or fuel filter might do that as putting it in gear causes vac. advance and more fuel requirements. Does it Bog down if you rev it up in park ? If so, it's not getting enough gas.:eyerole

I have had that problem with my 01 a couple of times in the past and unfortunately, one of those times I was not in my garage. First, are any messages/codes coming up in the DIC. In my experiences this was caused by codes being thrown and what is happening is the computer is shutting off the fuel pump when you try to move the car. It will sit and idle all day but when you try to move the fuel is shut off and the engine stalls. This can be voltage related. Be sure you replaced your battery with one that has enough cold cranking amps. voltage is critical on C-5s. Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[targatom]

I am nearly certain this is electrical,, it is so abrupt,,

Hi,

Thanks for the help so far, I did put a fairly light battery in,, only 525 cca, it had 670 cca batt in til now, but stock, I am told the car has only a 600 cca batt. I do have a larger one I can try, in the camaro that I can swap temporarily, about 800 cca,,so if its voltage, that should do the trick.

It kept doing exactly the same thing, thru about fifteen start stall cycles except one time, it seemed to run a couple of seconds longer, but then went right back to dying after about two or three seconds. I am leaning toward the idea, that something may be shutting the fuel pump off after its put in gear, since it does momentarily run, for a couple seconds and if it was totally ignition, it seems it would die instantly if there is some ,,,,,,,in gear ,,,,,,,,,sensor that is shutting the ignition off.

What is happening is very abrupt, this is a 97 and is fuel injected, stone stock. It was running fine last year. I did start the car with the old battery about four weeks ago, and it idled fine, but that was in neutral and it wasnt put in gear at all.

I am fairly new to the car, and it was dark out, so I am not really hip to the lights on the dash, but will take the owners manual, and check out any lights and the dic while it is idling in neutral. I will also rev it in neutral to check that, but this only happens when its put in R or Drive, not in neutral and park.

I have had that problem with my 01 a couple of times in the past and unfortunately, one of those times I was not in my garage. First, are any messages/codes coming up in the DIC. In my experiences this was caused by codes being thrown and what is happening is the computer is shutting off the fuel pump when you try to move the car. It will sit and idle all day but when you try to move the fuel is shut off and the engine stalls. This can be voltage related. Be sure you replaced your battery with one that has enough cold cranking amps. voltage is critical on C-5s. Hope this helps and good luck.

 

[Don Mason]

Hi,

Thanks for the help so far, I did put a fairly light battery in,, only 525 cca, it had 670 cca batt in til now, but stock, I am told the car has only a 600 cca batt. I do have a larger one I can try, in the camaro that I can swap temporarily, about 800 cca,,so if its voltage, that should do the trick.

It kept doing exactly the same thing, thru about fifteen start stall cycles except one time, it seemed to run a couple of seconds longer, but then went right back to dying after about two or three seconds. I am leaning toward the idea, that something may be shutting the fuel pump off after its put in gear, since it does momentarily run, for a couple seconds and if it was totally ignition, it seems it would die instantly if there is some ,,,,,,,in gear ,,,,,,,,,sensor that is shutting the ignition off.

What is happening is very abrupt, this is a 97 and is fuel injected, stone stock. It was running fine last year. I did start the car with the old battery about four weeks ago, and it idled fine, but that was in neutral and it wasnt put in gear at all.

I am fairly new to the car, and it was dark out, so I am not really hip to the lights on the dash, but will take the owners manual, and check out any lights and the dic while it is idling in neutral. I will also rev it in neutral to check that, but this only happens when its put in R or Drive, not in neutral and park.

Once again, check your Driver Information Center on the dash. this is the window at the bottom of the instrument panel between the speedometer and Tachometer where your mileage appears or what ever you choose to view there. A common code and one that put me walking was the column lock. This mechanism is highly sensitive to voltage/amperage and if the battery is not strong enough, the computer cannot detect if the column lock is engaged or not and will shut off the fuel supply to the engine if you try to move the car.

 

[BigJimZ16]

Hi,

Thanks for the help so far, I did put a fairly light battery in,, only 525 cca, it had 670 cca batt in til now, but stock, I am told the car has only a 600 cca batt. I do have a larger one I can try, in the camaro that I can swap temporarily, about 800 cca,,so if its voltage, that should do the trick.

It kept doing exactly the same thing, thru about fifteen start stall cycles except one time, it seemed to run a couple of seconds longer, but then went right back to dying after about two or three seconds. I am leaning toward the idea, that something may be shutting the fuel pump off after its put in gear, since it does momentarily run, for a couple seconds and if it was totally ignition, it seems it would die instantly if there is some ,,,,,,,in gear ,,,,,,,,,sensor that is shutting the ignition off.

What is happening is very abrupt, this is a 97 and is fuel injected, stone stock. It was running fine last year. I did start the car with the old battery about four weeks ago, and it idled fine, but that was in neutral and it wasnt put in gear at all.

I am fairly new to the car, and it was dark out, so I am not really hip to the lights on the dash, but will take the owners manual, and check out any lights and the dic while it is idling in neutral. I will also rev it in neutral to check that, but this only happens when its put in R or Drive, not in neutral and park.

Cold cranking Amps is only part of the story, the C5 wants a battery of at LEAST 100Amp Reserve Capacity. You need to watch this: http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com...rformance/122487-c5-column-lock-debunked.html. Paul explains everything you need to know...

 

[targatom]

Cured itself

Hi, Thanks for the info guys, the car cured itself overnight, when I started it this am, it ran fine around the parking lot. I will read the column lock info since this is what it appeared to be .

Cold cranking Amps is only part of the story, the C5 wants a battery of at LEAST 100Amp Reserve Capacity. You need to watch this: http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com...rformance/122487-c5-column-lock-debunked.html. Paul explains everything you need to know...

 

[reholmes]

Hi,
I am hoping that someone can help with some info on my 97, its stone stock. I replaced the battery today, and started the car up after it has sat for about four months. It fires right up, idles well in neutral, but when put into gear, either drive or reverse, it dies right out after about three seconds, I get far enough, maybe about ten feet with it. Anyone happen to know where to start looking for the problem? Thanks Tom

I'm inferring that it's an automatic. If the cars been sitting, it could be you have a stuck Torque Converter Lockup. Now that it's running you may never have the problem again, but then you may. I would add Seafoam for transmissions to your transmission fluid to be safe, and certainly do it if it happens again.

 

[GULFTANGO]

Have the same problem.

Hi,
I am hoping that someone can help with some info on my 97, its stone stock. I replaced the battery today, and started the car up after it has sat for about four months. It fires right up, idles well in neutral, but when put into gear, either drive or reverse, it dies right out after about three seconds, I get far enough, maybe about ten feet with it. Anyone happen to know where to start looking for the problem? Thanks Tom


Dealer says it is the ignition switch, computer sometimes can't read the key and shuts engine off. It can not find the key code, so computer shuts down as a safety issue. They are replacing the switch.

 

[Terry Quinn]

sounds like the column lock problem to me

Hi,
I am hoping that someone can help with some info on my 97, its stone stock. I replaced the battery today, and started the car up after it has sat for about four months. It fires right up, idles well in neutral, but when put into gear, either drive or reverse, it dies right out after about three seconds, I get far enough, maybe about ten feet with it. Anyone happen to know where to start looking for the problem? Thanks Tom

Even though you said your car "cured itself" after sitting overnight, if it comes back, it may still be the column lock problem. When mine first exhibited it, it was an intermittent problem.

At first, the problem was the steering wheel would stay locked. If I jiggled or tried again, sometime it would free up, but I knew from reading others' experience that it would fail completely soon. I took it to a Chevy dealer and they did a recall fix, but I learned later that they had only changed the physical lock plate, but not changed the electronics which was part of the fix. So when I started to pull out of the garage once, the engine died. It started right up, but as soon as I let out the clutch a little, the engine died again.

What this was is a backup antitheft function. Even if a thief defeats the physical column lock, if the car thinks that the column is still locked, it cuts fuel to the engine above a certain speed, like 3 or 5 mph. It is low enough that even in first gear, the engine will die if the clutch is fully engaged.

In the end, I gave up on the dealer and bought a module from Corvette of Houston which at the time was a little over $60. The module fakes the system somehow to override everything, and I've never had another problem with it after that (four years and 9,000 miles later).

Terry

 

[targatom]

someone said the avoidance manuever on the column lock could eventually cause contacts in a puter to fail, do you think

Hi Terry,


Thanks for that info, someone said the avoidance manuever on the column lock could eventually cause contacts in a puter to fail, do you think that sixty dollar part, causes that problem too. I realize you havnt had trouble with it yourself, maybe someone else knows.

Even though you said your car "cured itself" after sitting overnight, if it comes back, it may still be the column lock problem. When mine first exhibited it, it was an intermittent problem.

At first, the problem was the steering wheel would stay locked. If I jiggled or tried again, sometime it would free up, but I knew from reading others' experience that it would fail completely soon. I took it to a Chevy dealer and they did a recall fix, but I learned later that they had only changed the physical lock plate, but not changed the electronics which was part of the fix. So when I started to pull out of the garage once, the engine died. It started right up, but as soon as I let out the clutch a little, the engine died again.

What this was is a backup antitheft function. Even if a thief defeats the physical column lock, if the car thinks that the column is still locked, it cuts fuel to the engine above a certain speed, like 3 or 5 mph. It is low enough that even in first gear, the engine will die if the clutch is fully engaged.

In the end, I gave up on the dealer and bought a module from Corvette of Houston which at the time was a little over $60. The module fakes the system somehow to override everything, and I've never had another problem with it after that (four years and 9,000 miles later).

Terry

 

[Terry Quinn]

Hi Terry,


Thanks for that info, someone said the avoidance manuever on the column lock could eventually cause contacts in a puter to fail, do you think that sixty dollar part, causes that problem too. I realize you havnt had trouble with it yourself, maybe someone else knows.

I've never heard that, and as noted, I have some time and miles on my module with no problems. My suggestion is to call Corvette of Houston and ask them if they have heard anything about that. They seemed to be pretty straight up people, and if there was a real problem, they doubtless would have stopped selling them or fixed the problem. My understanding is that the module just fakes out the ECM into believing that the steering lock is still there and working, even though it is not.

 

[targatom]

did it again, but started up and ran fifteen mins later

This 97 just did that six foot and shutoff thing again today, fortunately I was in the driveway when it happened and could park it. I went in the house and looked this thread up, unfortunately, the reason this is happening apparently not known at least when this thread started.

Fifteen mins later I went out and it ran fine. So is this thing one of those ten minute wait with the key out of the ignition things or what. For what its worth, I have a batt in it, that stays at 12.6 v or better even after sitting. I also had some work done on it recently, the mechanic cleared all the codes, the dic is now halfway working. He offered to put a resistor in the wiring to by pass the security lite. It has been starting fine ever since, maybe twenty times or so. Today was particularly colder than it has been. Also the traction control ABS lite is again on, but it comes and goes, and I tried the trac control, it is NOT working, we had snow on the road here today. The mechanic said the code is telling him there is something wrong with the abs in the passenger rear brake, he says it might be needing a wheel bearing there too as part of the fix.

If anyone has any ideas, hit me up please.

 

[Terry Quinn]

This 97 just did that six foot and shutoff thing again today, fortunately I was in the driveway when it happened and could park it. I went in the house and looked this thread up, unfortunately, the reason this is happening apparently not known at least when this thread started.

Fifteen mins later I went out and it ran fine. So is this thing one of those ten minute wait with the key out of the ignition things or what. For what its worth, I have a batt in it, that stays at 12.6 v or better even after sitting. I also had some work done on it recently, the mechanic cleared all the codes, the dic is now halfway working. He offered to put a resistor in the wiring to by pass the security lite. It has been starting fine ever since, maybe twenty times or so. Today was particularly colder than it has been. Also the traction control ABS lite is again on, but it comes and goes, and I tried the trac control, it is NOT working, we had snow on the road here today. The mechanic said the code is telling him there is something wrong with the abs in the passenger rear brake, he says it might be needing a wheel bearing there too as part of the fix.

If anyone has any ideas, hit me up please.

Regarding the six foot and stop, it still sounds like the problem with the security system. It's been 6 years and 15,000 miles since I installed the Corvettes of Houston module, and have never had problems with that since.

Regarding the trac control, it might be a wheel bearing if that has an integral speed sensor. But first check out the wiring harness to that sensor. My daughter has a 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix, and just tonight I was working on a problem with her car on the ABS / Traction control. Twice before (left front and right front wheels), it was a harness failure. Now I just found a harness failure on the Left Rear, one of the two leads broken somewhere in the harness. When I read on this, the Pontiac dealer always seems to install a new wheel bearing, or worse, a new ABS module or ABS pump first. But more often than not (at least on the Pontiacs) the problem doesn't get fixed until the harness gets fixed. I'm not certain that the Corvette's have the same problem (mine has not had a problem, but my Corvette only has about 55,000 miles. Her Pontiac started to have harness problems at about 80,000 miles).

 

[dadaroo]

If you are looking for the fix on CL related issues then I consider the LMC5 to be the best Column Lock problempermanent fix out there. Very inexpensive and it also does not require you to “undo” any previous CLattempts to resolve this issue. Their eBay ads have a good video that shows theinstall at the BCM. It does not cover everything in the written instructions.So, read the instructions and also here is some extra info. In some cases, theBCM timing is off just enough to cause some issues. They make several versionsand they can swap out/provide one of these if you have any issues. Theircustomer support is as good as it gets. <o></o>
Not uncommon for people to "put the column in a pre-lockcondition" and not know it and then start with the install. In otherwords, they started with the column lock “energized’ even if it was not actuallylocked yet. If not actually locked yet, it will be as soon as you turn thesteering wheel after the LMC5 install. It will then remain in the lockedcondition until you cause the motor to unlock. It will then remain in theunlocked condition since the motor is then unpowered with the circuitsdisconnected.<o></o>
Here is one way to prevent that if your column locks andunlocks normally:<o></o>
If the CL isfunctioning normally you don't not need the Unlocker, merely turn the ignitionON, pull fuse #23 in the I/P fuse box, turn ignition OFF, turn the steeringwheel (left and right) and verify it is unlocked. Next, disconnect the negative battery terminal,re-insert fuse #23 and continue with the install.<o></o>
Also the 1999 and later C5's have a column lock relay thatcan be unplugged or else it will be powered and could fail and drain thebattery. The LMC5 written guidance provides this info. This relay is above theBCM.<o></o>
They also have a great install video in their eBay ads youneed to watch.<o></o>
Compliance Parts website: http://complianceparts.com/index.html<o></o>