Everyone Should Read
05-12-2005, 05:08 AM
#1
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Everyone Should Read
The other night while driving around town, the car started acting funny. Traction control warning, active handling warning, car started missing, cruise control inop and when I got home security light flashing on the dash.
Next day I took it to work - Chevrolet dealership - and let the guys who work on my car look at it. They check all the grounds and of course as everyone knows they were very corroded. They cleaned all grounds and then started reading voltages coming from the PCM. Since the voltages were bad they decided to pull the PCM and this is where the nitemare was discoverd.
In all my years ( 15 ) of selling GM parts I have never seen and they have not seen a computer so corroded. The PCM acutally looked like a block of ice with snow on it. The aluminum body of the PCM had turned from silver to white and the corrosion was falling off everywhere. The connectors on top had even cracked and starting coming apart. The pins on the wires were starting to have a build up of brown rust. When we moved the wiring harness ( which was pinched also) sand came pouring out of the harness.
The good thing is GM does offer repair connectors ( atleast I do not have to buy a engine wiring harness ) for the PCM and we are going to re-pin them this weekend and flash a new computer. Even though we did clean the PCM, we were still receiving bad voltages. Once I saw all that corrision I had decided there was no way I could keep that in the car even if it did work.
Putting the PCM behind the right front tire in the rear skirt area was not one of the GM's better ideas. Especially in a area that is not sealed from outside elements.
I am sure this subject has been covered before. But a little refresher never hurts. Hopefully this will help some of you and you can catch it before it happens.
Next day I took it to work - Chevrolet dealership - and let the guys who work on my car look at it. They check all the grounds and of course as everyone knows they were very corroded. They cleaned all grounds and then started reading voltages coming from the PCM. Since the voltages were bad they decided to pull the PCM and this is where the nitemare was discoverd.
In all my years ( 15 ) of selling GM parts I have never seen and they have not seen a computer so corroded. The PCM acutally looked like a block of ice with snow on it. The aluminum body of the PCM had turned from silver to white and the corrosion was falling off everywhere. The connectors on top had even cracked and starting coming apart. The pins on the wires were starting to have a build up of brown rust. When we moved the wiring harness ( which was pinched also) sand came pouring out of the harness.
The good thing is GM does offer repair connectors ( atleast I do not have to buy a engine wiring harness ) for the PCM and we are going to re-pin them this weekend and flash a new computer. Even though we did clean the PCM, we were still receiving bad voltages. Once I saw all that corrision I had decided there was no way I could keep that in the car even if it did work.
Putting the PCM behind the right front tire in the rear skirt area was not one of the GM's better ideas. Especially in a area that is not sealed from outside elements.
I am sure this subject has been covered before. But a little refresher never hurts. Hopefully this will help some of you and you can catch it before it happens.
05-12-2005, 05:14 AM
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I agree its about the dumbest location for an ECM ever. GM better start getting its crap together, theya re already on the verge of going bust. Someone should make a weather shield to wrap the ECM in....suprised there is no aftermarket protection, is there?
Good for me that I live in the desert!
Good for me that I live in the desert!
05-12-2005, 05:21 AM
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I was thinking how to seal that area myself. There are two shields that cover that area. You have the main one right behind the tire and you have one that runs underneath. I am thinking of getting some very thin weather strip with the glue on the back. Peel and stick. Try putting that around all the outer edeges of the shields. When we bolt everything back up it should seal tightly.
05-12-2005, 08:17 AM
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AWW2BAD, thanks for posting your findings. Something I thought was particularly interesting was the reaction you and your Chevy mechanics had to the corrosion on so many vital components and connections. This corrosion has been a recurring topic on the Forum and, while it's unfortunate that this happened to you, perhaps, with your position at a dealership, you might be more able to do something about this problem.
Do you have access to a quality deficiency report (or some similar report) that you can complete and send to Chevy?
We're on the outside of this issue looking in. You're on the inside. Your report would likely carry much more influence than ours.
Do you have access to a quality deficiency report (or some similar report) that you can complete and send to Chevy?
We're on the outside of this issue looking in. You're on the inside. Your report would likely carry much more influence than ours.
05-12-2005, 10:53 AM
#5
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Originally Posted by TexCorvette
I agree its about the dumbest location for an ECM ever. GM better start getting its crap together, theya re already on the verge of going bust. Someone should make a weather shield to wrap the ECM in....suprised there is no aftermarket protection, is there?
Good for me that I live in the desert!
Good for me that I live in the desert!
I sealed that splash guard with RTV when I replaced my TAC module. It was hideous in there.
05-12-2005, 01:05 PM
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I have a answer for you ARMYVETTE. I wanted to make sure I have my information correct before I replied. Did not want to put the wrong info down because I know how many people would enjoy taking a shot at me since I work at a Chevrolet dealership.
Whenever we have a problem with our parts catalog, we do have a parts rep we can call to help us. If there is a error they will log it and try to get it fixed before the release of the next monthly update. I did have a rep tell me there are currently trying to fix over a 1000 errors a month in our catalogs. GM is transfering so much information from paper to disk that some things get left out.
Now on the service side of the question. We can log into GM's computer to write down any problems we see that keep coming back or quality problems. That is pretty much the last we hear about it. I know they keep track of these problems at GM.
Now when a part fails under warranty, that information is sent to GM so they can see what the failure of the part is. We also have to keep the part on hand at the dealership for 30 days incase GM wants the part back. Which we have had to do.
That is pretty much all we can do. We do have a "zone rep" from GM that comes in and inspects our paperwork, our warranty claims and will come by the parts department to look at the parts we have to make sure we are not making any false warranty claims. ( just had a dodge dealer lose his franchise for doing that
Hopefully that will answer any questions you have.
Whenever we have a problem with our parts catalog, we do have a parts rep we can call to help us. If there is a error they will log it and try to get it fixed before the release of the next monthly update. I did have a rep tell me there are currently trying to fix over a 1000 errors a month in our catalogs. GM is transfering so much information from paper to disk that some things get left out.
Now on the service side of the question. We can log into GM's computer to write down any problems we see that keep coming back or quality problems. That is pretty much the last we hear about it. I know they keep track of these problems at GM.
Now when a part fails under warranty, that information is sent to GM so they can see what the failure of the part is. We also have to keep the part on hand at the dealership for 30 days incase GM wants the part back. Which we have had to do.
That is pretty much all we can do. We do have a "zone rep" from GM that comes in and inspects our paperwork, our warranty claims and will come by the parts department to look at the parts we have to make sure we are not making any false warranty claims. ( just had a dodge dealer lose his franchise for doing that
Hopefully that will answer any questions you have.
05-12-2005, 01:18 PM
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Originally Posted by AWW2BAD
I have a answer for you ARMYVETTE. I wanted to make sure I have my information correct before I replied. Did not want to put the wrong info down because I know how many people would enjoy taking a shot at me since I work at a Chevrolet dealership.
Whenever we have a problem with our parts catalog, we do have a parts rep we can call to help us. If there is a error they will log it and try to get it fixed before the release of the next monthly update. I did have a rep tell me there are currently trying to fix over a 1000 errors a month in our catalogs. GM is transfering so much information from paper to disk that some things get left out.
Now on the service side of the question. We can log into GM's computer to write down any problems we see that keep coming back or quality problems. That is pretty much the last we hear about it. I know they keep track of these problems at GM.
Now when a part fails under warranty, that information is sent to GM so they can see what the failure of the part is. We also have to keep the part on hand at the dealership for 30 days incase GM wants the part back. Which we have had to do.
That is pretty much all we can do. We do have a "zone rep" from GM that comes in and inspects our paperwork, our warranty claims and will come by the parts department to look at the parts we have to make sure we are not making any false warranty claims. ( just had a dodge dealer lose his franchise for doing that
Hopefully that will answer any questions you have.
Whenever we have a problem with our parts catalog, we do have a parts rep we can call to help us. If there is a error they will log it and try to get it fixed before the release of the next monthly update. I did have a rep tell me there are currently trying to fix over a 1000 errors a month in our catalogs. GM is transfering so much information from paper to disk that some things get left out.
Now on the service side of the question. We can log into GM's computer to write down any problems we see that keep coming back or quality problems. That is pretty much the last we hear about it. I know they keep track of these problems at GM.
Now when a part fails under warranty, that information is sent to GM so they can see what the failure of the part is. We also have to keep the part on hand at the dealership for 30 days incase GM wants the part back. Which we have had to do.
That is pretty much all we can do. We do have a "zone rep" from GM that comes in and inspects our paperwork, our warranty claims and will come by the parts department to look at the parts we have to make sure we are not making any false warranty claims. ( just had a dodge dealer lose his franchise for doing that
Hopefully that will answer any questions you have.
Happens all the time on military projects I work on. Damn shame.
05-12-2005, 01:52 PM
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the ***** of the matter is that, sure GM knows about it, but big deal, they only to have the car last 5 years or 36K miles, whichever comes first. With that criteria, they probably have a miniscule failure rate.
05-12-2005, 03:07 PM
#9
Safety Car
Originally Posted by 2ndVette
the ***** of the matter is that, sure GM knows about it, but big deal, they only to have the car last 5 years or 36K miles, whichever comes first. With that criteria, they probably have a miniscule failure rate.
Even better than that, they have to wait only 3 years or 36K, whichever comes first. I know, I know..typo, but I just couldn't resist!
Ed
05-12-2005, 03:23 PM
#10
Le Mans Master
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ck the ground points too
nice find, if anyone is in CT and has this problem i can give the "bill curlee ground cleaning how-to" another common problem is the grounds on the left and right front frame rail and the 2 behind the lt rear wheel, also reach under the wiper motor area and pull the 3 "UTTERS" leafs can collect in this area filling w/ water and killing the wiper motor, also pull the a/c drain on the fire wall