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Comments
Possible fixes...
Disconnect the battery overnight. Some claim this fixes the problem. It would make sense if there is some powered module that has tripped out with a software issue. Another poster recommended "shorting" the positive and negative cables (disconnected from the battery of course) to drain campasitors which resets whatever module is effected. Whether true or not, never tried this one. There definitely were some posts where disconnecting the battery fixed (at least temporarily) the problem.
Bad grounds. There were several posts about bad grounds in the truck causing current to backfeed through other components frying them.
Another thing that was kicked around is that the alternator is too small for the truck causing strains on the electrical system until something fries.
The door module. The actual door module may be bad. This is what it was the second time on my truck. I took it to a competent mechanic who trailed the wiring to the door modue. That was replaced and fixed the problem.
The first time around I read that if you disconnect the wiring bundles from the module that it sometimes fixed the problem. I'd jump the truck, disconnect and reconnect the door module and it would heal the window/fob problem. I've also read one post where the guy just shook the wiring bundle in the door and it fixed the problem. This appears to be only a temporary fix that would last for a couple of days.
BTW the first time this window/fob thing happened, I was ASSURED REPEATEDLY by the Chevy service rep NOT to believe anything I read on internet; that the door module has ABSOLUTELY NOTHING to do with the problem.
Well, the second time this happened I took the truck to a competent mechanic rather than to the Chevy dealer. He trailed the wiring and power to a dead door module. After that was replaced the truck has been fine.
The first time around the Chevy techs just started replacing stuff that would fix the problem for sure... and when it didn't, would take another stab at replacing something else and assuring me whatever they already replaced like the $400 BCM was "bad anyway". After $800 bucks of replacing this or that, they finally got the truck running again.
Was it the door module the first time? Who knows? They claim the didn't replace it, but it definitely was the problem the second time around.
There is no question that there is something seriously wrong with the electrical on the truck. Whether it be one of the computers is "locking up" and needs to be discharged to be reset, or whether there are bad grounds or voltage spikes that randomly fry the gear instead, something is definitely wrong with the truck and its wiring.
Also, if you are new to the Colorado/Canyon, don't forget to check into the head problem that requires the engine head to be replaced. Also don't forget the service bulletin on the fuse block that fries. Oh yeah and the latest service bulletin, the tail lights that may not operate correctly. You're not supposed to take it in for service unless "there is a problem". :lemon:
Thanks for taking the time. I will try disconnecting the battery cables over night and see if that works. I'm at 69,000 and have an extended out to 75,000 ($100 deductable) so I will probably just bring it in if the deep discharge doesn't fix it.
This 2004 (first year) truck has had serious electrical from day one. Every sopeaker has now been replaced (buzzing sounds), two BCM modules for the "other" horn relay (after horns did't work) twice! etc etc. I really like the Chevy trucks (switched from a Ford Ranger) but this one has been problematic since day one -- forced me to buy the extended warranty at 33,000 so I didn't have to pay. It was well worth it. Now I'm wonder whatt to do at 75,001 miles!!!
Thanks agin for your time today.
kcram - Pickups/Wagons Host
Have you spoke with your dealer?
Christina
GM Customer Service
As a sideline, I did notice the truck was idling rough and throwing a P506 code, "low idle". I got it in and the throddle body was carboned up and needed to be cleaned. That took care of the problem. I also had the plugs changed and it's running great. A couple other things on the "watch list", the rear shocks are leaking a little and the serpentine belt is still in good shape but starting to squeal a little. Other than that, I've had the brake and radiator fluid flushed back in January. The trans and transfer I did around 70K. I had the head job around then too. It needed U-joints once. Right now the truck has 136K and except for the weird electrical problems, it's still doing well.
This isn't a bad little truck from a usage standpoint. I'd drive it until it dies if it only needed routine maintenance, but it is just downright creepy not knowing when one of these little electrical surprises that cost a grand are going to crop up. There just doesn't appear to be any rhyme or reason. After following the 400+ posts here it's evident Chevy doesn't have a clue either, or a consistant and final fix. Perhaps it's just a weird combination of things or perhaps many sources like bad grounds, poor wiring harnesses etc. It would certainly be welcome to get some definitive answer from GM.
Thank you,
Caron, GM Customer Service
This is a joke, right? I didn't go to a dealership, I said I went to a COMPETENT mechanic. It probably helps to read a post completely.
And yes, I do have "other concerns". I mentioned it before, if you really are concerned with helping people stuck with these Colorado electrical problems, why don't you get someone from GM that may actually know something to post a solution here? I will assume if you can't do this, it is a pretty good indicator that after 6 years GM still doesn't have a clue as to what the problems actually is and that the dealerships are still basically shooting in the dark replacing expensive components and hoping the problem goes way along with the customer (after they pay their bill of course).
How about it? Get someone to post a solution to the problem rather than tring to drum up more business for the dealerships. Are you on commission or something?
Thank you,
Caron, GM Customer Service
The short drives to the transfer station on Saturdays with a few stops for groceries or coal for my stove, were probably not enough to keep the battery fully charged.
The first indication that something was wrong, came one Saturday morning in December. When I got into the truck and started the engine, I noticed the clock read 12:00. I thought this odd as the clock always read accurately before. It was when I cleared my throat and tried to put the window down that I discovered the next problem, then the door locks and key fob.
I put up with the problem for three months until last Saturday when everything started working again. It was also the first day above 50 degrees in months here in NH.
Earlier, sometime in January, I bought a C-TEK battery tender and let it bring the battery up to full charge and keep it there; hoping that a fully charged battery would solve the problem. It did not.
I was about to try a few of the tricks that worked for others; bad grounds, intermittant connections, etc., but, as I said, I did nothing, but everything started working again.
There are no electrical modules that heal themselves, so the problem has to be either intermittant connections at the BCM interface, drivers door harness connections or grounding issues that may be affected by expansion and contractions due to temperature extremes. I wonder how many perfectly good switches and BCM's were replaced at great expense when the real problem is at the connectors or grounds.
I expect my problem is not yet permanantly solved and hope to trade it in on a Toyota shortly.
My question is: Why on earth does my front passenger side turn signal light up when I hit the brakes? It happens about half of the time. It's driving me crazy. Does it have anything to do with the brake switch recall?
I know this topic has been discussed here before, but there are so many posts about Colorado electrical problems that it's hard to weed through them all. I was hoping someone could give me the definitive answer to save me all of the searching through posts.
Tricia, GM Customer Service.
When I spoke with a service manager his question was.. Did you have the radio proessionaly installed? No . Well that must be your problem,he responded. I said that the same radio,and antenna had been on both my ck1500 and my s-10 both set up the same way and with NO problems.. His response to that was.. "Well this is a colorado not a ck1500/s-10.
I must agree with you sir G.M. KNOWS what kind of P.O.S. they have out there but they just DON'T CARE!!
I apologize for your concerns, are you currently still experiencing issues with your vehicle?
Thank you and have a great weekend!
Caron, GM Customer Service
Welcome to the forum thread Caron, perhaps you can offer some help to the folks in this thread and post some actual answers and solutions to the numerous problems that GM dealerships have never heard of and just guess at by replacing random and expensive parts.
Boy these trucks have really been a money maker for GM! It's got to be "the gift that keeps on giving" for their service departments. And it keeps on giving, and giving... BCMs, blower resistors, batteries, instrument panels, brake lights, cylinder heads, fuse blocks, door locks, cruise control, radio, fobs, wiper motors... did I forget anything? Just keeps giving and giving... to the service departments.... $... $$$$...... $$$$$$........ $$$$$$$$$$.
Is there anyone reading this thread that would actually buy another GM product given the experiences they've had with their Colorado or Canyon?
GM= :lemon:
As I recall the replacement for the fuse block was required by that service bulletin. It might be worthwhile to see if you can still get it replaced.
I am still right here working next to Caron to assist customers. I apologize that we are not able to answer all questions; however, we are working to get cases for customers with these different issues. These issues need to be reported to GM which is what I do when I set up cases for you. This also gets Customer Assistance involved to help the dealer, as well as involve Technical Assistance as needed. My soul purpose here is to help direct customers to the appropriate departments as well as assist them through the process. I apologize you do not want to take the vehicle to the dealer; however that is a standard operating procedure that must first be met before your case can be evaluated.
Christina
GM Customer Service
Glad to hear your repairs seem to have fixed your concerns.
Christina
GM Customer Service
Thanks for replying!
Christina
GM Customer Service"
Christina, my "case" was evaluated in 2007 when I took the truck in to a dealer for service. The dealer didn't have a clue. I don't mind paying for competent work. I don't even mind if a mechanic makes a bad call on replacing something as long as the call was a logical one. I do have a problem though paying for someone else's "education", especially when it is on their own product.
I took it to the "GM Customer Quality Care" rep and they offered me four oil changes and a tire rotation.
One evening about a month later, I went to unlock my 2007 Chevy Dually with my remote, and our Colorado's horn beeped. I had to make sure I had the right remote. It WAS for the Dually. We got in the Colorado and drove to our destination, put it in park and the door locks "UNLOCKED". The drivers window also went up and down fine. A MIRACLE!! These all worked fine until this weekend when I went to clean the battery terminals. I had all the windows down (it's a crew-cab) and didn't think anything about it until I was finished and went to back out of my shop. The door locks didn't work and the window wouldn't roll up AGAIN!! I found some activity on the net on fixes for this, but they did not work. I have to wonder why a part of the electrical is hooked in a way so it screws-up when you unhook the battery and re-connect it? The truck has over 128,000 miles on it and runs SUPER. My wife wouldn't trade it except for another one. BUT!! It appears to me reading the net chats that there needs to be a "re-call" on this problem. I have been in mechanics since the early 70's, both automotive and HD diesel, and have not ran across anything like this from just unhooking the battery. At first I was mad at the dealership maintenance people for causing this problem, now I'm upset with GM for having a simple PM project like cleaning the battery terminals turn into a major problem where we can't even drive our truck. What part is actually messing up?? The horn still beeps to lock and unlock, but the locks don't work with it and the passenger switch won't work them either. I am open for a reasonable cure for this so I can get my wife back on the road.
Looking for a CURE!! Ray
If you take your truck to a dealer they will shoot in the dark and replace components like the BCM until the problem resolves itself until the next time it happens.
I've been following these posts since the problem happened to my truck (twice) since 2007.
It has to be an electrical/computer glitch. The fact that your dually remote solved it initially really backs this up. There have been enough posts on the weird habits of this truck to confirm this. This problem with the windows and FOB usually starts with the truck battery being dead. After a jump start the windows and FOB doesn't work and the truck batter will be dead again in a couple of days. Here are some possible fixes if you haven't had time to go through the 400+ posts in it.
1) Disconnect the window door module and reconnect it. This worked for me the first time for a few days. There are three connectors on the door module. It's an easy test and may fix your problem. Apparently it resets something in the electrical system. I took the truck to a GM dealer and they replaced the $400 BCM but that did not fix the problem. They replaced the battery, burned up the blower resistor while they were testing and said it was fixed (until it happened again). Even though disconnecting the door module fixed the problem the chevy dealer said it had nothing to do with the problem. Disconnect and reconnect the door module and see if it fixes your problem.
2) Replace the door module. This is an expensive fix but what it took the second time around. It's an expensive fix, but worked the second time around. (By the way the Chevy dealer swore up and down that the door module has nothing to do with the problem). Since the door module ($350) has been replaced things are fine.
3) Another inexpensive fix to try is to disconnect the battery overnight. I've heard this will heal the problem by allowing capacitors to discharge that may be holding some computer code in memory that is causing the problem. Never tried that one so I don't know. There is an extended thing to try if you want and that is to short out the battery leads (after disconnecting from the battery of course) to quickly drain any left over stored electrical in the system. Sometimes this has appeard to work but if it is a long term solution like disconnecting and reconnecting the window module is unknown.
4) Another "fix" talked about is that the truck has really poor grounds. The thought is that electrical current backflows through some of the sensitive components and fries them because the current can't find a good ground.
5) Wiggling the door module cables. Probably tied in with replacing or disconnecting the door module. This fix worked for one guy.
6) Bad fuse block. There was a sirvice bulletin on the fuse block and it was replaced on my truck when it had the initial problem. The tech mentioned that there were "scorch marks" on the fuse block. I assumed this was the initial problem that caused the deal with the door locks and fob, until it happened a couple years after.
7) The dealers shooting in the dark replacing BCMs and batteries until the problem goes away for a while.
It is definitely related to the computers the electrical system and low voltage in the system.
One other thing with the Colorado you may or may not be aware of. Theew is a problem with the head (I5) for the truck. It wasn't hardened enough around the valve seats and the cylinders go flat. This one was a service recall to replace the head (up to 100K miles). The head replacement takes about 3 weeks and if not covered under the warranty will run about $3500 bucks. The trucks also have some problem with the tail lights going out or staying on. I got a service letter on that. "Unless you experience this problem do not contact your GM dealership". Um? Yeah, right. Probably the first I would notice it would be getting rear ended. Of course it is only covered up to 100K miles. Why the wiring would wear out over 100K miles would be a mystery to me.
On the initial issue it is evident that GM ignores the problem and doesn't have a clue how to actually fix it. Apparently they were never a great seller so I'm thinking it probably isn't worth the bother for them to figure out and fix, just more economical to quietly let them end up in the junk yard.
The concept of the truck is a really good one. If your wife loves the truck, just be aware that these problems can occur and reoccur at any time for no apparent reason and without any apparent fix and no definitive dealer solution. In short the Colorado is a :lemon:
If she likes the size etc then get a Toyota Tacoma or something while the Colorado is still running. Otherwise you'll end up like me with these $1000 dollar repair bills. While it's broken you swear you're going to sell the truck. Then $1000 dollars later you think that maybe this will be the last weird problem so you don't sell it, then some other weird $1000 dollar problem crops up and you wish you would have sold it while it was running. Tell your wife she can learn to love a Toyota and your pocket book will be much better off.
I would like to set up a case with GM Customer Assistance. In order to set up the case I will need your complete contact information (including full name, mailing address and phone number), VIN, current mileage and involved dealership sent to me in an email. Also, could you please provide a brief description of the problems you are experiencing?
Thank you,
Caron, GM Customer Service
Randy Wise Chevrolet. Milan Mi. "The worst Dealer On The Planet!!!"
When 99.9% of these posts with almost all the same problems point to the??? anyone..?anyone..? Buhler..? Buhler..?? THE WIRING HARNESS!!!!!! BUT the good 'ol boys down at Govt. Motors just won't admit it!!!!
Randy Wise Chevrolet Milan mi. The Worst Dealer On The Planet!!!!!!
I only mention this so that you might direct your justifiable annoyance in the proper direction :P
I would like to set up a case with GM Customer Assistance. In order to start the process I will need your complete contact information (including full name, mailing address and phone number), VIN, current mileage and involved dealership sent to me in an email. Also, could you please provide a brief description of the problems you are experiencing?
Thank you,
Caron, GM Customer Service
I apologize for your frustrations. Have you spoke with your dealer? Can you please send me your VIN? I look forward to your response.
Christina
GM Customer Service
Christina
GM Customer Service"
Just curious, are you guys on commission? Do you get some kind of perk for every Colorado and Canyon owner that you can steer towards a dealer? If you care about your (former) customers, why not post a solution to this ongoing and reoccuring problem?
We do not get paid based on comission. I cannot post technical information because I am not a mechanic. I understand that your experiences are simular; however, it doesn't mean the same thing will fix your concerns. I cannot tell you "X" will fix your vehicle with out looking at the vehicle. This is why I recommend "at least" having the vehicle diagnoised by a dealer.
Christina
GM Customer Service
After 450+ posts and 5 years it's pretty obvious there is some basic flaw with the design of the Colorado/Canyon wiring and/or computers. It really would be nice if Chevy would admit to this ongoing problem, address it and find a real fix.
I apologize but that was in 2007 and the vehicle has to be diagnosed in the last 30 days. If you dealer has trouble diagnosing the vehicle or fixing it, I can assist with getting technical assistance involved. You always have the option to go to a different dealer for a second opinion. I apologize for your frustration but this is our standard operating procedures.
Christina
GM Customer Service