pscott

My 2011 GS has 15,200 miles on it. I was driving the other day and all of a sudden the car wouldn't go and acted like my foot was on the brake. The ABS, Active Handling and the Traction warning came on and I turned off the Active Handling. The car would go again, but it was like driving a bathtub. I took it into the dealer and they couldn't find the problem but they said they thought the BCM was bad and they replaced that. It didn't fix the problem. Another of the problems they said was that the both of the front tire sensors were out but the back tire sensors worked and the computers were putting on the brakes because it thought that the car was out of control. They called GM and GM told them that there were 6 (SIX) other corvettes in the entire United States that had had this problem and that the problem was static electricty shorting out the computors. They said the fix was to rewire some wires and that should fix the problem. Well, I picked up the car and made it about a quarter of a mile from the dealer and the car went crazy again. But, this time every warning and light possible came on. Things I had never seen before. I took it back to the dealer and today they called and asked about the M2W device. They said it was causing all the problems because when they removed it and put a new fuse in, they had communications with the computers again. They said the new BCM is bad again. First they tried to tell me that the ground of the M2W was wired directly to the BCM. I argued that. It was grounded directly to the attachment screw at the bottom left of the fuse box. They claim that since the computers are now communicating with the scanners, that this is what has caused all the problems. I can see them trying to put this off on the M2W and the cost of repair on me. I think that whatever is shorting out my computers has also shorted out the M2W. It is just basicly a fuse itself right? They were able to communicate with the computers when they called me to come get it the first time and said they had fixed it. This makes me think that the M2W wasn't blown the first time it went in, but whatever is shorting out my car, also shorted out the M2W. Any ideas or help would really be appreciated.

Brockman66

Man, this really sucks. This sounds like the dealer is trying to push the blame onto you. Contact the manufacturer of the M2W switch and see what they say.

pscott

Thanks, I plan on doing that. I just got the phone call and I can see the writing on the wall. I really don't think that the M2W has anything to do with this. I think that the reason the second time the car went in, that the fuse in the M2W was blown also and that is the reason when they put in a new fuse, they could talk to the car again. Telling me that it was grounded to the BCM when I know it was grounded to the attachment screw has given me the feeling that they are going to give me the run around. When I said that the M2W most certainly wasn't grounded to the BCM, they changed the argument that using the attachment screw as a ground would indirectly wire it to the BCM. I need some knowlege from you guys to use for a defense.

plasboy

Keep us informed. Have one on mine so I would like to know the outcome.

JKbride

IMO many of the dealers that work on these cars don't know what they are doing. It's just not Corvettes either. As these cars have more technology embedded into them working on them takes different skills than just a few years ago. Today, many mechanics do not have the training, skills or desire to work on them.

I love working on the mechanical aspects of my car, but have no desire to be an IT Tech to fix it and I suppose many good mechanics feel this way.

Unless you have a tech savvy wrench turner working on your Corvette, it is going to be a hit or miss proprosition when you go to the dealer.

pscott

Will do.

pscott

The car is under warranty and there really isn't any other place to take it.

JKbride

Ask them to show you on a wiring schematic how your ground for the M2W interfaced with the computer. Do they share a common ground? I bet they are just guessing because they really don't know what the problem is.

Revette

This is just a thought, but if the M2W failed could it have allowed a current path to ground? Something evidentally fried the M2W fuse which would indicate that an abnormal incident had occurred with the M2W circuit.

pscott

Good idea. I will do that too. I don't think that they have a clue. It's also hard to believe that my car and only 6 others ever are having static electricty problems when the cars are all wired the same.

Jeff-Ford

Maybe the Wild 2 Mild unit itself went bad. Even though its a pretty simple design. Im sure if it goes bad it could cause some chaos being that its wired into the fuse box.

pscott

I'm thinking (and I know nothing about electricty) that whatever fried my M2W is also what is causing the computers to fail. The reason I am thinking this is because the first time it went in, after they did whatever they did, they could talk to the car. The second time they were unable to talk to the car and went to the fuse box and replaced the fuse that the M2W was plugged into and they could talk to it. So now they are saying this is what the problem is. If it was, how come they could talk to it the first time the car went in? I think it was because the M2W was still working at this point. It went out whenever I picked it up the car the second time and drove it and everything went crazy. They said they had test driven it 14 miles before they called me to come get it after the first repair. Isn't the M2W basicly a fuse?

Revette

I think the M2W would be more of a switch than a fuse. A fuse is designed to break when a higher than normal current passes through it. A closed switch (the M2W) would create that situation when, whatever is being switched to on, fails and takes the current path to ground rather than through the designed circuit.

pscott

So would this mean that just the M2W would fail or could it cause things to go haywire when the M2W is grounded to the correct screw? Does it sound like the M2W may have failed due to whatever else is shorting out my computers since the first time things when bad, the M2W was still working? And I know that it was still working because at the service department, I checked it out while waiting on the service manager to come out.

Revette

I am by no means, familiar with either the M2W circuit or the Corvette's wiring harness; I am just throwing some thoughts out there. I am really curious about the role the M2W plays in this as I had it in our '08 with no issues and presently have it in our '13 427 vert.

Hameister

LSI circuits, and sealed computer modules in today's cars, are so complex that nothing less than an electronics engineering degree is required to theorize what happened to this car.

While the change of a particular component, will eventually arrest the issue, it's unlikely that this dealership, or the OP, will ever know for sure what caused that part to fail.

Dealers will inevitably attempt to blame anything they don't understand, on anything done by the owner, and/or any non-O.E.M. component. It seems the me, that there are just too many M2W units in use, for this scenario not to have been reported before, and therefore, it's not likely to be the culprit.

Anyone who is familiar with electronic circuits knows that "floating grounds", can cause a multitude of issues not unlike the OP's.

I realized when I installed my M2W mod, that securing the ground wire to the Body Control Module frame, per the instructions, was an invitation to a floating ground issue. However, I followed the instructions, because I felt that the M2W manufacturer would have already tested for this scenario, and knew better than I, where to ground the unit. So far, there have been no issues.

I wish the OP the very best in getting this resolved at the least possible cost. I understand how frustrating something like this can be.

Landru

Don't blame anyone for feeling vulnerable at times like this.
Still, unless you were already told repair(s) won't be covered?
Take a deep breath and see what they do.

Their claim is baloney, they know it too.

Homer3D

easyrider13

I had a similar problem recently with my 2005 C6.
I didn't have TPMS front sensor issues, but the engine died on the highway.

It turned out to be a defective Powertrain Control Module.

After replacing the module (actually it was replaced twice because the first replacement module GM sent was defective) the car has run as before the issue. No NPP in '05, so no Mild2Wild.

pscott

Thank you for your response Hameister. I did have the M2W connected to the correct screw as per instructions. I had no idea that it could cause issues grounding to this screw if the unit were to fail. If I had, I wouldn't have put it on my car. However, since the first time it went in, this didn't even come up as an issue, I really feel that the dealer has no idea what is going on and this looks like an easy out for them. They called GM and GM told them that 6 other corvettes had had this exact issue and told them it was caused by static electricty and to rerun some wires. When they did, after they replaced the bad parts, the car ran fine for 14 miles and they told me to come get it. When I did, I got about a quarter of a mile from the dealer and the same thing happened as before, times 10. Warnings and lights I had never even seen before came on. This is why I feel like the orginal problem wasn't with the M2W. I think the orginal problem shorted out the M2W the second time around along with the other componets again. I may be totally off base, but I really feel like this is what is going on. I am looking for a wiring diagram if anyone has one.