Column Lock Problem

[rocket8189]

I regularly hit this site for wonderful info, I own a '04 C5 Z06. My friend has a '03 C5 Z06 and he is having battery charging/column lock message problems. The story as I understand it:
His car sits for weeks, thus the battery runs down frequently. He has a Optima Redtop, a replacement for a previous Redtop that had a dead cell. The first replaced the original battery in the unit. The last time he jump started his unit and charged the battery, when he started the car, he received a message that the column lock would engage within so many miles, the message continues to display, though he has driven the unit 800 miles and back on a business trip, no lock issues, just continual display of message. He is headed to the dealer. I suggested he replace the Redtop with a stock AC/Delco per spec, start car and let battery freshen, kill the car, disconnect the battery, n-1st, p-2nd, let sit for an hour, reconnect the battery, reverse of disconnect and start the unit to see if the DIC has reset and message has disappeared. Will this work or where do we go? I believe the dealer will misdiagnos the problem, hit him with a big bill and he'll be right back once he lets the unit sit. He now has a maintenance charger for when it sits. This looks like one of C4C5's 88% column lock problems to me due to gell battery w/multiple charge/discharge, thus low electrics and column is reading that message and acting accordingly. Let me hear from you.

Thanks, Ken

[LLC5]

Originally Posted by rocket8189

I regularly hit this site for wonderful info, I own a '04 C5 Z06. My friend has a '03 C5 Z06 and he is having battery charging/column lock message problems. The story as I understand it:
His car sits for weeks, thus the battery runs down frequently. He has a Optima Redtop, a replacement for a previous Redtop that had a dead cell. The first replaced the original battery in the unit. The last time he jump started his unit and charged the battery, when he started the car, he received a message that the column lock would engage within so many miles, the message continues to display, though he has driven the unit 800 miles and back on a business trip, no lock issues, just continual display of message. He is headed to the dealer. I suggested he replace the Redtop with a stock AC/Delco per spec, start car and let battery freshen, kill the car, disconnect the battery, n-1st, p-2nd, let sit for an hour, reconnect the battery, reverse of disconnect and start the unit to see if the DIC has reset and message has disappeared. Will this work or where do we go? I believe the dealer will misdiagnos the problem, hit him with a big bill and he'll be right back once he lets the unit sit. He now has a maintenance charger for when it sits. This looks like one of C4C5's 88% column lock problems to me due to gell battery w/multiple charge/discharge, thus low electrics and column is reading that message and acting accordingly. Let me hear from you.

Thanks, Ken

I think that you are on the right track. Before taking it in for any diagnosis make sure that the vehicle has a proper sized battery in it with a minimum 500 CCA, and more importantly a RC of 120. If the Optima meets those requirements then have it properly load tested with a carbon pile load tester, if the Optima battery doesn't meet those spec's then replace it with one that does. It very possible that the problem is battery related. Good luck with it.

[rocket8189]

What is the correct AC/Delco Professional battery for the unit sited in this thread?

[aquaholic]

optima batteries are not gel batteries. they are regular old lead acid. not that this is any help for your column lock issue.

[froggy47]

Originally Posted by aquaholic

optima batteries are not gel batteries. they are regular old lead acid. not that this is any help for your column lock issue.

True,

I have one, lead acid, but modified so that the acid is contained in some absorbant mat design.

If you want to read.

http://www.optimabatteries.com/product_support/faqs.php

Anyway, a red top is NOT the best battery for a car that sits a lot, I think the reserve is 90 IIRC which is 75% of the recommended.

Red top is very good for a DD and/or is also used in a rough vibration/heat (racing) environment.

Put in a proper battery designed for the use the car sees. Run it a few days, if the message does not clear by itself in a few days, disconnect the batt for 20 min or so & reconnect.

The ONLY time my 04z had CL issues was due to the voltage of the original batt getting low after 5 or 6 years. My new red top fixed all (but it's a DD&track car).

I have never heard of a CL warning you that it's GOING TO lock in xxx miles, if I am understanding correctly. It's either locked or the msg goes away so far as I recall.

[sodian]

Here's what I did. My dealship removed the lockplate on the column and I had a tuner reprogram the fuel cutoff to the highest setting (255). So when the battery goes low again I won't get stranded somewhere. (Maybe I should have asked the tuner change the service column lock message to low battery volts)

[rocket8189]

Friend put AC/Delco as recemmended in his Z06. To date, all problems cured--hot start, no codes, column lock message gone. This was an easy C4C5 fix; he's got game.

[TheoZ]

Well ... here is my Column Lock story.

Chrismas eve morning I pull the Z out of the carport for a bath. When I pull it back in an hour later I notice "Service Column Lock" on the DIC. I pulled the owner manual out and it says to have the car towed to the dealer. Merry freakin' Christmas, huh?

So, I spent the next few hours reading everything I could find on the issue which led me to the Paul's videos. The column was not locked, but the message came up everytime I started the car. So it appeared that the BCM had lost track of the position of the column lock. I removed the neg lead of the battery for about an hour and hooked it back up. The "Service Column Lock" was gone, so I took a short drive and came back to the house and shut down. Upon restart everything seemed ok, but by now I was very spooked. Checking the battery with my DMV showed 12.39 volts. It was the original Delco that came with the car in 2004 (actually Oct 2003).

The day after Christmas I replaced the battery with a brand new Delco rated at RC120 and life returned to normal.

Thanks to the sound advice from Paul and others for making my Christmas educational and less traumatic that it otherwise might have been. It certainly seems that the proper battery, properly installed, eliminated the need for after market prosthetic devices to deal with the issue.