|
Both methods of repair appear to have potential pitfalls and require some care and dexterity that the average DIY guy shouldn't have a problem with.
Looking at the instructions for both, if I ever decide to tackle it myself, I think I'll go with the DIY wire replacement method rather than the GM jumper wire method. |
I did the wire replacement and still have the problem. I may have to go to the jumper.
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It’s just a thought
In having read the entire thread, unquestionably the proper remedy is along design measures by "replacing" the trace on either one or both sides of the block as illustrated herein this thread
However, rather than performing the more invasive method, or reluctantly surrendering your Corvette to the unknown (dealership), perhaps the lesser approach is to order the jumper (bypass), follow the proposed procedure provided by GM, and keep/make a photo documentation illustrating the fix either by yourself or a trusted party if ever it’s needed to satisfy any future inquiry. Choosing simplicity as well the road of least resistance seems best in this case as the end results in equal measure, imo. PS: Thanks go out to TEXHAWK0 for the Recall Bulletin/.PDF |
1 Attachment(s)
I tried to get these sleeves out but I think it's impossible
Any suggestions?! |
Originally Posted by ZHZ-416ci
(Post 1589394838)
I tried to get these sleeves out but I think it's impossible
Any suggestions?! |
Originally Posted by doje
(Post 1589396242)
You just need to use needle nose and pinch it closed a tiny bit at a time. It takes lots of TIME and PATIENCE.
I think I missed it up :( didn't get any one out |
Originally Posted by ZHZ-416ci
(Post 1589397193)
Should I take of all th 4 bolts out?
I think I missed it up :( didn't get any one out |
help with un swedging
Originally Posted by racerxr
(Post 1581203521)
Gentleman don't be scared you don't need a fuse box. you will need to removed the box in the car put it on a bench. The problem is that GM bent a .030 copper wire almost 90 degrees in order to get it to where it needed to be You will have to un- swedge the 4 bolts that run through the fuse box and remove all the fuses and relays. just take a picture or make a chart and even if you don't no biggie the relays will only go in one way and the fuse amperage and location are inside of the cover or in your owners manual. The un-swedging of the captive part of the bolts is the hardest part. I'm all about things being perfect but unless t you can get your hands on 4 more of these bolts this part won't be perfect. I took a pair if vise grips and caught the edge with the first groove in the Jaws and adjusted them so it stopp before destrying everything. just work your way around and when your close they will slip through with a little force. them tips that you are unable to get up against the threads wont hurt anything. Just do it. Once you have it apart its a piece of cake. there is a copper wire .030 in diameter running from the terminal that grounds the relay for the low beams to the terminal in the corner of the C3 purple cover plug. You will see it it is the pink with a white tracer Look carefully at the .030 copper wire running between the two. it has a couple bends in that follow a groove in the plastic. just about half way between there is a bend thats almost 90 degrees. the wire is broken right there. go rip about 10 inches of wire from the garage door opener button on the wall in your garage Most of them use .030 solid copper wire or check the reversing lights they use it to. Or go to home depot and buy the right size . IT MUST BE .030-.031 Remove Carefully loosen the crimp at each of the broken wire in your fuse box so the broken wire can be removed. strip the insulation off the wire you just rip of the wall AFTER YOU ACCURATELY MEASURED IT AND FOUND IT TO BE IDENTICAL TO THE ONE GM PUT IN. and install it in place of the broken one carefully getting it seated in the groove use a small pair of needle nose to recrimp at each end and you are done except for putting it back together. Note I noticed that on the other side I could run another copper wire to the same two terminals so as to give the gound signal two paths to take, just in case it breaks I did this and I suggest you do to. To the guys who bought a new fuse box it will happen again unless they changed the design. When you get the broken wire out you can take a scribe or anything small and pointed to pluck one of the guide corners off on the plastic so the bend is not so severe. that will make it a lifetime repair. when swedging the bolts again just use a small screwdriver to get it way from the bolt. then what I did was I happened to have a cheap set of hole punches for gaskets that had a center hole that fit the bolts real close and the outer tip was tapered so I put a sockey on the head of the bolt so when you hit it with a hammer you don't break any plastic then grab a 3/16 1/4 drive deep socket slide that on the bolt and hit it again "carefully " and that for me it worked out fine and looked pretty good too. This is the final word on the mystery low beam issue. Its only about a six pack worth of work and the parts are free. Im slow as hell and once I accidentaly found the problem after 2 days of looking I was done in two hours but my garage door doesn't work anymore and my girlfriend is pissed.. If you need pictures call or email me. Tom (916) 474-5769
One more thing. I thought I would have to split the inner part of the fuse box because it appeared that the copper wire turned down into the inside of it. It doesn't do that. There is a hole for the tip of the wire to sit into but thats as far as either side of the wire goes. It's a piece of cake Its starting to get dark here in california and Im going to go melt my new nitto NTO5's If you do not have a set of these on your C6 ZO6 you are a fool. they eliminated any wheel hop and you can actually stand on the gas in first and second. It's a night and day difference from the Goodyears as long as you don't mind calling a tow truck if you get a flat |
How many other people have denied this recall/campaign? If they aren't going to replace hardware then I'm not participating. Running a jumper wire is just a BoBo Mickey Mouse repair by GM
|
Here is a quick dirty fix for the low beam out problem discussed here
I came across this thread while researching a dealer caused problem with the UBEC (fusebox).
Here is a quick easy fix for the problem, it can be done in less time than it will take to read this post. It can be undone at any time and even a non mechanic can do it. It is much easier than other fixes I have seen in this thread , and the only tools required are a piece of wire, and needle nose pliers. I have had this fix in place for years now and it has worked perfectly. I came across this by experimentation years before the recall was done. Anyway, here it is: You will need a 6 inch piece of insulated solid core insulated wire about 26 gauge. I used one of the 4 wires from an old land line phone jack. Step 1: Open the cover to the fusebox Step 2: Strip about an inch of insulation off of each end of the 6 inch wire Step 3: Connect each bare end of the wire to the relay pin below the red dots of the image below. Do this by removing the relay and wrapping each end to the base of the relay pins under the shown red dots. The needle nose pliers make this much easier but in an emergency you can do it by hand. Step 4: Route the insulated part of the wire between the other relays so you can cleanly close the cover: Step 5: Close the cover. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...23e2e97d98.jpg That is it you are done. Now perhaps you want an explanation of what you just did and why it works. If not you are done. The low beam out/recall problem is caused by a breakage of the wire that comes from the computer that tells the low beam relay to activate. What I found from experimentation is that the side markers are almost always on whenever the low beams are on. The computer sends a different signal to the relay to activate the side markers. What this modification does is use computers signal for the side markers to control the low beams. Think about it, is there any time when the side markers are on/off when you would not want the low beams on/off ? Maybe when you hit the lock remote button, but that is all I can come up with. Some owners might want to use this as a temporary fix, but for me it has worked perfectly. Thanks |
Side markers are on when the fog lights are on.
Don't always want the low beams on with the fog lights. Good/easy emergency repair though. |
Originally Posted by ron1day
I came across this thread while researching a dealer caused problem with the UBEC (fusebox).
Here is a quick easy fix for the problem, it can be done in less time than it will take to read this post. It can be undone at any time and even a non mechanic can do it. It is much easier than other fixes I have seen in this thread , and the only tools required are a piece of wire, and needle nose pliers. I have had this fix in place for years now and it has worked perfectly. I came across this by experimentation years before the recall was done. Anyway, here it is: You will need a 6 inch piece of insulated solid core insulated wire about 26 gauge. I used one of the 4 wires from an old land line phone jack. Step 1: Open the cover to the fusebox Step 2: Strip about an inch of insulation off of each end of the 6 inch wire Step 3: Connect each bare end of the wire to the relay pin below the red dots of the image below. Do this by removing the relay and wrapping each end to the base of the relay pins under the shown red dots. The needle nose pliers make this much easier but in an emergency you can do it by hand. Step 4: Route the insulated part of the wire between the other relays so you can cleanly close the cover: Step 5: Close the cover. https://cimg9.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...23e2e97d98.jpg That is it you are done. Now perhaps you want an explanation of what you just did and why it works. If not you are done. The low beam out/recall problem is caused by a breakage of the wire that comes from the computer that tells the low beam relay to activate. What I found from experimentation is that the side markers are almost always on whenever the low beams are on. The computer sends a different signal to the relay to activate the side markers. What this modification does is use computers signal for the side markers to control the low beams. Think about it, is there any time when the side markers are on/off when you would not want the low beams on/off ? Maybe when you hit the lock remote button, but that is all I can come up with. Some owners might want to use this as a temporary fix, but for me it has worked perfectly. Thanks |
This didn't work. Something else is wrong. I bought a new relay too, nothing.
|
Well tonight my 2009 C6 Base low beam headlights went out. I guess I have some work to do this week. Thanks everyone for your great work. I think I will try the "easy" fix first, if that does not work then it is on to dissecting the fuse box and installing new wire.
|
Granted I'm answering your post from today only, but why the heck won't you just take it it and have the recall done?
Easy peasy. The hard part is if you have paid for this when your low beams failed (like I have) and want your money back. |
Originally Posted by owc6
(Post 1592285024)
Granted I'm answering your post from today only, but why the heck won't you just take it it and have the recall done?
Easy peasy. The hard part is if you have paid for this when your low beams failed (like I have) and want your money back. Just dont want to deal with a dealer to do a job I can handle in the time it would take to drive and drop the car, wait, wait some more, wait a little more, and then wait some more. Did you have the dealer repair yours? |
Originally Posted by Enterprisehunter
(Post 1592285059)
As other have opined, dealers SUCK! They put glue inside your car to hold a piece of paper with your work order number, they do not care for the car, I have many, many mods, no onstar, no GM modem, jumped CAN bus etc etc.
Just dont want to deal with a dealer to do a job I can handle in the time it would take to drive and drop the car, wait, wait some more, wait a little more, and then wait some more. Did you have the dealer repair yours? Yup. Do it yourself just as fast and probably better. No idiot messing up your car. Now, if you have a great dealer like Abel Chevrolet... |
Originally Posted by Enterprisehunter
(Post 1592285059)
As other have opined, dealers SUCK! They put glue inside your car to hold a piece of paper with your work order number, they do not care for the car, I have many, many mods, no onstar, no GM modem, jumped CAN bus etc etc.
Just dont want to deal with a dealer to do a job I can handle in the time it would take to drive and drop the car, wait, wait some more, wait a little more, and then wait some more. Did you have the dealer repair yours? I took it in for the recall to be performed, and the recall took all of an hour. |
Not all dealers suck.
Just a few really badly. |
Originally Posted by owc6
(Post 1592285142)
Not all dealers suck.
Just a few really badly. I LOVE THIS FORUM! Thanks guys! |
Does anyone know the differences in the 2005 and 2009 fuse box layouts?
|
Originally Posted by Enterprisehunter
(Post 1592285160)
Does anyone know the differences in the 2005 and 2009 fuse box layouts?
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...9a7c5e4106.jpg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...5da7698c57.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...bf408be6c9.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...066a0d7a7a.jpg |
Is there any consensus on this fix yet? Doesn't seem like it.
I have not taken mine in to the dealer (yet) because there seems to be so many varied opinions about what to do. I really don't have the mental energy to take the fuse box apart, and I rarely drive at night, so I'm at a loss. :( |
Originally Posted by Bruze
(Post 1592285259)
Is there any consensus on this fix yet? Doesn't seem like it.
I have not taken mine in to the dealer (yet) because there seems to be so many varied opinions about what to do. I really don't have the mental energy to take the fuse box apart, and I rarely drive at night, so I'm at a loss. :( I'll do the fix myself, rather than have the dealer do it. They seem to fix one thing, and break something else :ack: Post 85 seems to be the ticket to fix it. I have made a PDF of that, just in case the pics disappear down the road. |
Originally Posted by Bruze
(Post 1592285259)
Is there any consensus on this fix yet? Doesn't seem like it.
I have not taken mine in to the dealer (yet) because there seems to be so many varied opinions about what to do. I really don't have the mental energy to take the fuse box apart, and I rarely drive at night, so I'm at a loss. :( Take it in and have it done or not. If you never drive at night, it's a non-issue to you. If you do drive at night, and it fails, you can drive home with the brights. If you want to sell your car, the polite thing to do is have the recall done. |
Originally Posted by LV2TOUR
(Post 1592285274)
I have the recall letter in hand, but have had no issues yet, so I'm not having it done at the dealer, unless it's a last resort.
I'll do the fix myself, rather than have the dealer do it. They seem to fix one thing, and break something else :ack: Post 85 seems to be the ticket to fix it. I have made a PDF of that, just in case the pics disappear down the road. :confused: And do what? Throw them in a pile? I'm assuming they are not all the same. But I agree about dealers usually causing more harm than good, and have resisted taking it to them because I simply don't trust them. Or anyone else, really. So, Mrs. Ow, Imma take my chances I guess. :( The only time in my 49 years of car ownership that my headlights didn't work was with a beater '66 Chev panel truck, and the foot dimmer switch rotted out. Replaced it for probably $5 and all was good. Why is this even an issue in the second century of auto manufacturing? -- too much sensitive electronic gadgetry. What's the upside? None that I see. Oh well. |
Low beam problem recall
There is an old recall still open on this problem. The small ground wire built into the fuse block flexes with under hood heat up and cooling causing the low beams to sometimes fail when under hood heats up and then usually start working again when fuse box cools down. This is an easy fix by the dealer where it takes longer to drive there and back than it does to complete the running of a new ground wire under the fuse box. Check the old threads for this as a "book" of comments has been written about this topic.
|
Originally Posted by Bruze
(Post 1592285347)
I read that before posting, but when I got to the "pull out all fuses and relays . . . "
:confused: And do what? Throw them in a pile? I'm assuming they are not all the same. But I agree about dealers usually causing more harm than good, and have resisted taking it to them because I simply don't trust them. Or anyone else, really. So, Mrs. Ow, Imma take my chances I guess. :( The only time in my 49 years of car ownership that my headlights didn't work was with a beater '66 Chev panel truck, and the foot dimmer switch rotted out. Replaced it for probably $5 and all was good. Why is this even an issue in the second century of auto manufacturing? -- too much sensitive electronic gadgetry. What's the upside? None that I see. Oh well. |
Originally Posted by doje
(Post 1592286384)
I just took a photo of the block before pulling fuses. With the reference photo I was able to put them all back in under 3 minutes.
|
It suks having no headlights!
Gm what has become of you? |
Originally Posted by Bruze
(Post 1592287345)
Assuming they are not all the same, they are recognizable with just a photo?
|
3 Attachment(s)
Originally Posted by LV2TOUR
(Post 1592285256)
There shouldn't be any at all. They should have the exact same components.
https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...9a7c5e4106.jpg https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...5da7698c57.jpg https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...bf408be6c9.jpg https://cimg1.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...066a0d7a7a.jpg Attachment 48180856 As you can see there is NO SPACE for a backup wire. While I did repair the wire that was obviously broken, there was absolutely NO WAY to place a back up wire either on the front or the backside of the inner fuse box wiring tunnel scheme. Here is the photo from senseoftouch post#85 from his 2005 C6 headlight fuse box wiring repair BACKSIDE BACKUP WIRE: Attachment 48180857 NEEDLESS TO SAY, MY HEADLIGHTS ARE NOW WORKING AND I WAS ABLE SO SWEDGE THE INSIDE METAL SLEEVES AND REUSE THEM TO REASSEMBLE THE FUSE BOX. Attachment 48180858 A SIDE NOTE, IT WAS VERY DIFFICULT TO SEPARATE THE FUSE BOX FROM THE BOTTOM INSERTS WHILE STILL ATTACHED TO THE FUSE BOX IN THE CAR. i NEEDED A SMALL SCREW DRIVER TO SEPARATE THE BOTTOM PORTION OF THE FUSE BOX THAT REMAIN IN THE CAR WHILE YOU REPAIR THE UPPER FUSE BOX WITH THE WIRING TUNNELS. THIS JOB IS SOOOO EASY, TOOK ALL OF 1 HOUR TO COMPLETE THE WHOLE THING. THANKS TO THIS GREAT FORUM FOR HELPING US SCHLUBS REPAIR OUR GREAT CARS WITHOUT THE NEED FOR DEALER CRAP AND DEALER DESTRUCTION OF OUR CARS WHILE IN THEIR POSSESSION. I AM STOKED!!!!!!!:woohoo::rock::thumbs::flag : |
Originally Posted by doje
(Post 1586685955)
All done with the re-wire. followed an easier path. I even completely removed the shoulders at the corners to make lazy bends in the wires. You can see it better on the second photo where I actually did it at both bends. Much easier and (IMHO) less stress on the wires. Next step is putting it back together and putting it in the car. Reporting back soon....
Original side: http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/...o/fusebox1.jpg Back(up) side http://i1180.photobucket.com/albums/...o/fusebox2.jpg |
Originally Posted by slickstick
(Post 1586821599)
Well I completed the repair and everything seems to be working... Time will tell if its the long term solution! The wire wasn't visibly broken, but it did break easily near one of the connectors when I was removing it.
Also for those interested on my 2008 the "backup" wire is not possible, due to other wires running through that same line. overall easy fix. Take a picture of the fuse box to see where all the fuses and relays go. :rock: |
Originally Posted by Enterprisehunter
(Post 1592299047)
It suks having no headlights!
Gm what has become of you? |
Originally Posted by MSTROBES
(Post 1587927069)
2007 Z51 headlights went out 8/16/14. GM has a recall but no solution. Did the fix yesterday (broken wire).Thank you Tom. Wired both sides. You think GM would figure it out. I just hope this doesn't happen to anyone it night and on a mountain road. Mine when out on my way to work in the morning. Thanks all you guys that posted.
Mark |
Originally Posted by Rogers 07
(Post 1594021979)
Just fixed mine today. Very helpful post. Took about and hour. :thumbs:
|
Yes, the official fix is a jumper wire that leaves the guts untouched.
|
This forum is great. Thanks for the great write-up and pictures.
I got my recall notice a long time ago but never wanted to take it to the dealer. Decided to take a look at the wiring today to see the condition. The original wire was fine and had normal resistance. My car is an '07 so I was able to add an additional wire on the back. 20 gauge Bell wire (solid copper core) is 22 cents a foot at Home Depot. The bolt collars were a pain. I crushed them enough to be able to hammer them out. To remove sharp edges and allow easy reassembly I used a grinding wheel to clean up the sleeves. Also used channel locks to press the wire into the channel on the board, couldn't do it any other way, 20 gauge is a tight fit. Remember to re-index both windows when you reconnect the battery- roll window down some then close and hold for about 5 seconds. |
Thanks for the kind words
Originally Posted by gayleegirl
(Post 1584800764)
WHAT A GUY! And he really knows his stuff. and I can personally vouch for that. Actually I called him about my 'No low beams' as coincidentally we live in the same town. After chatting for a few minutes HE volunteered to fix mine, for a neighborly tip, and the same day too! Well it was an impressive sight to watch, and despite my gift of gab, I was driving off into the sunset in under 2 hours. Move over Iron-man and Captain America, there's a new guy in town! Thanx again Tom, YOU ROCK!
|
Thanks!!! Great info.
Originally Posted by racerxr
(Post 1581203521)
Gentleman don't be scared you don't need a fuse box. you will need to removed the box in the car put it on a bench. The problem is that GM bent a .030 copper wire almost 90 degrees in order to get it to where it needed to be You will have to un- swedge the 4 bolts that run through the fuse box and remove all the fuses and relays. just take a picture or make a chart and even if you don't no biggie the relays will only go in one way and the fuse amperage and location are inside of the cover or in your owners manual. The un-swedging of the captive part of the bolts is the hardest part. I'm all about things being perfect but unless t you can get your hands on 4 more of these bolts this part won't be perfect. I took a pair if vise grips and caught the edge with the first groove in the Jaws and adjusted them so it stopp before destrying everything. just work your way around and when your close they will slip through with a little force. them tips that you are unable to get up against the threads wont hurt anything. Just do it. Once you have it apart its a piece of cake. there is a copper wire .030 in diameter running from the terminal that grounds the relay for the low beams to the terminal in the corner of the C3 purple cover plug. You will see it it is the pink with a white tracer Look carefully at the .030 copper wire running between the two. it has a couple bends in that follow a groove in the plastic. just about half way between there is a bend thats almost 90 degrees. the wire is broken right there. go rip about 10 inches of wire from the garage door opener button on the wall in your garage Most of them use .030 solid copper wire or check the reversing lights they use it to. Or go to home depot and buy the right size . IT MUST BE .030-.031 Remove Carefully loosen the crimp at each of the broken wire in your fuse box so the broken wire can be removed. strip the insulation off the wire you just rip of the wall AFTER YOU ACCURATELY MEASURED IT AND FOUND IT TO BE IDENTICAL TO THE ONE GM PUT IN. and install it in place of the broken one carefully getting it seated in the groove use a small pair of needle nose to recrimp at each end and you are done except for putting it back together. Note I noticed that on the other side I could run another copper wire to the same two terminals so as to give the gound signal two paths to take, just in case it breaks I did this and I suggest you do to. To the guys who bought a new fuse box it will happen again unless they changed the design. When you get the broken wire out you can take a scribe or anything small and pointed to pluck one of the guide corners off on the plastic so the bend is not so severe. that will make it a lifetime repair. when swedging the bolts again just use a small screwdriver to get it way from the bolt. then what I did was I happened to have a cheap set of hole punches for gaskets that had a center hole that fit the bolts real close and the outer tip was tapered so I put a sockey on the head of the bolt so when you hit it with a hammer you don't break any plastic then grab a 3/16 1/4 drive deep socket slide that on the bolt and hit it again "carefully " and that for me it worked out fine and looked pretty good too. This is the final word on the mystery low beam issue. Its only about a six pack worth of work and the parts are free. Im slow as hell and once I accidentaly found the problem after 2 days of looking I was done in two hours but my garage door doesn't work anymore and my girlfriend is pissed.. If you need pictures call or email me. Tom (916) 474-5769
One more thing. I thought I would have to split the inner part of the fuse box because it appeared that the copper wire turned down into the inside of it. It doesn't do that. There is a hole for the tip of the wire to sit into but thats as far as either side of the wire goes. It's a piece of cake Its starting to get dark here in california and Im going to go melt my new nitto NTO5's If you do not have a set of these on your C6 ZO6 you are a fool. they eliminated any wheel hop and you can actually stand on the gas in first and second. It's a night and day difference from the Goodyears as long as you don't mind calling a tow truck if you get a flat |
I had a dealership sell me a recall kit for 11.50 and I had the lights working in an hour. They often insist to do the recall themselves but...I prefer to keep my car in my personal shop.
|
I was surprised to find my '05 had no low beams when driving home from Ruby's Redondo Cruise-In in the dark but the lights would work in the dark of the garage. So I noticed a pattern: car cold - lights on, car warmed - lights off. I figured the problem could be due to thermal expansion of something or a problem with one of the computer modules.
Then I searched the CF and, lo and behold, found this thread with the answer and the awesome fix thanks to the pictorial essay of SenseofTouch and the description of racerxr. Sure enough I found my problem exactly as shown where SenseofTouch showed it would be. My ohmmeter showed the proof in ambient and heated conditions. The rest of the fix was easy and straightforward with the result of low beam headlights now. https://cimg6.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...ec54df9083.jpg Ambient test https://cimg7.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...d850b10cdb.jpg Heated test https://cimg8.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...493b270286.jpg The actual wire cut |
Nice pic of the broken wire, ReVetter, and good job on the warm/cool test!
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Originally Posted by TOCHOFGOLD
(Post 1587311299)
How do you take off the bolts i cant seem to get the washer off and i feel like i am messing up the box
|
I've gone through this thread, took everything apart, tested with a multimeter and can't find a bad break in anything. I replaced the relay and fuses, too.
Any ideas what might be causing my low beams to go out? NM: Pulled the wire and replaced it. Issue seems to be fixed. :cheers: |
I wish I would have found this thread earlier. My fuel pump relay is not engaging at startup. It happened as I was on a 12 hour trip, I tightened the front two bolts and was able to get the car started. As it would happen again after the car would warm up (also high beams worked when engine was cold, but not after the car warmed up) My car already had the low beam recall repair done with previous owner.
My issue is: after repeated tightening of the front two bolts, they will not disengage from the lower wire looms/harness. Any suggestions? |
Originally Posted by SenseofTouch
(Post 1582973586)
Hi everyone!
I have had a low beam problem on my car since I bought it. Dealer tried to fix it before shipping it to me (by replacing a relay) and that did of course not work. After much back and forth arguing who's paying for what I decided to fix it myself. First, a huuuuuge thank you to racerxr (Tom) here on the forum. Thanks for locating the problem and figuring out how to fix it as well as providing excellent descriptions and pictures via email! The wire was broken in EXACTLY the spot that you pointed out! Yesterday me and my awesome girlfriend set out to fix the fuse box! We ended up following Tom's instructions for the most part with a few modifications. I have written a short step-by-step guide for how we fixed the problem. This is to further clarify how this CAN be done (this is by NO means the perfect solution) to those who are still wondering to fix it yourself or not. It was a pretty straight forward job, and absolutely well worth 1000 $ ;) Take the fuse box out of the car. Very simple: 1. Disconnect the battery and the power cable that connects to the fuse box 2. Press the plastic clips that attaches the main part of the fuse box and pop it out 3. Unscrew the four metal bolts and knock on them so that each of the four blocks fall out 4. You're DONE Disassemble the fuse box 1. Pull out all fuses and relays 2. Use a needle nose plier and un-swedge the metal sleeves that hold the two layers together. https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-T...2017.45.17.jpg https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-3...2017.45.28.jpg 3. When un-swedged enoug, knock the bolts through the box so that it can be disassembled. I messed up the bolts so badly (bad needle nose pliers) during the un-swedging that I decided to cut the metal sleeves surrounding the bolts (see picture) so that they don't interfere. The sleeves are not needed as their only purpose is to keep you from opening the fusebox. When the box is in the car, it is held in place by the four bolts and the four block modules. https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-m...2019.32.40.jpg Replacing the broken wire 1. Get some 20 gauge copper wire. I bought some at Homedepot for 7 $ https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-r...2020.46.02.jpg 2. Find the broken broken wire and remove it. When you manage to open the fusebox, the broken wire is on the other side. https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-Z...2019.53.18.jpg Very bad conductivity. https://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-7...2020.04.01.jpg 3. Replace the wire. As Tom suggested, I added a backup wire on the other side as well. So in case the wire breaks again there is a backup on the other side. I also removed some of the plastic guiding with a razor so that the copper wire can have nicer bends. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-q...2023.06.31.jpg Backup wire on the back side https://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-2...2013.42.58.jpg Put everything back together and drive after dark! When putting the fusebox back together, simply align the four block modules and place the box on top of them (without the bolts in place). Then see through the bolt holes so that you make sure that they are sentered. Enter the bolts and screw in place each of the modules till each bolt is tightened. Check visually afterwards if all the blocks are in place. https://lh3.googleusercontent.com/-h...2016.09.52.jpg edit: Link to the picasa album: https://picasaweb.google.com/1062290...FixCorvetteC6# Thanks Tom! A buddy of mine happened to have some 20ga solid in his bins and we knocked it out in about an hour. Deswaging the sleeves is, by far, the hardest part. Mine had been doing the bump-flicker for a while but I was just ignoring it. Another indicator might be a slight greenish cast to the lights. Mine are noticeably whiter post-repair. |
The recall was supposedly done on my 06 some years ago, but I am experiencing the now "classic" symptoms for this. Morning beams works, hot engine later.. nope. Relay replaced in vain. So I'll get in there, see if they really did do the recall I guess, look for the issue, but it's not working anymore if they did do it.
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low beam headlight fix
This is the bottom of the top level of the fuse box........had the same problem in my C6 (low beams would not work after engine compartment heated up.....they were fine in the AM........once you get the fuse box apart (it is a pain), replace the burnt wire with a a copper door bell wire.........take your time and it will fix the problem......
https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...027b7ca5d.jpeg After opening" the fuse box (it's a pain), (C6) I found a broken wire (see pointer), and used a door bell wire to repalce this wire https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...f5e8dba02.jpeg This solved the problem........ |
Well the recall was done for sure on mine, I could see that extra wire they added,(orange) and it actually was visible outside the fusebox coming out and going back in again, but obviously it didn't stop this problem from happening. :( So just because you had the recall you still may not be in the clear.
So either it didn't hold up over time or they didn't do it right. I didn't mess with it and left it. Anyways replaced the copper wire (which WAS broken in the expected spot) and added the back up. So far so good. Those swedge things suck! I had two that were fairly easy but two that were pretty tight to the plastic. I found that a Milwaukee long reach 48-22-6101 needle nose had the bite needed at the tip to get at them better than vice grips. |
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this is the answer i was looking for. My vette loses fog lights and left turn signal when the engine warms up... Based on this information, I would like to replace the wire and see how it goes.
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I too had the loss of the low beams after a car show ended at 8:00 PM one night (March 2021) and had to drive home on the high beams. I got on this forum and found the answer was to open up the fuse box and do the wire replacement. I wasn't about to pay someone to do the job for $300+ when I could do it myself. It actually cost me nothing but my time as I went to Home Depot to get the door bell wire, and the guy in the electrical department gave me 2' for free! While I had the fuse box open, I decided to do the jumper wire on the opposite side too. Fixed the problem! This spring I went with the Morimoto LS7 style head lights. Was curious and looked up the history on the car and it had the "outer" jumper wire service bulletin "fix" in 2014. Obviously it wasn't a forever fix ! I am of the opinion that you should get into the fuse box and do the jumper wire replacement.
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hello, unfortunately for me it was difficult to see where is the wire damaged, when testing it by tester I think it is already cold. Can you tell me how ca be the the problem solved in this case?
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Finally the answer. Thank you.
Originally Posted by torquetube
(Post 1581223657)
I want to thank racerxr for this contribution. Based on his post, I went out to my parts bin and re-examined my old fusebox.
When mine failed a year ago, I took the thing apart like he did, un-swaged the four metal sleeves that hold the thing together, and noted that inside was a multi-layer punchdown block with copper wires routed around a plastic grid. Unfortunately, the wire to the low-beam relay was not on the bottom layer, and it appeared that a lot of disassembly would be required to reach the upper layer(s), so I called it a day. I shouldn't have. As racerxr points out - once the four sleeves are out, the backplane is held against the top half of the fusebox case by the fuses and relays themselves. I just now unplugged everything, and sure enough, the entire backplane fell out the bottom, revealing the top layer and the broken wire of circuit 1970 (low-beam relay). With the top layer visible, it became apparent why circuit 1970 fails all the time but the other circuits don't. It has the longest straight section of any wire in the box, with a jog in the middle probably intended for strain relief. It appears what happens is that as the fusebox heats up, the plastic grid expands faster than the copper wires do. This puts the long wire in tension, stretching the jog section tightly around the plastic guides, where eventually it fractures. This looks to be a fairly straightforward repair. I agree that matching the wire gauge is essential, and that removing material from the guide corners would help prevent it happening again. https://cimg0.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...0454d171dd.png |
Thanks to SenseofTouch for posting the step-by-step.
Quick note.....I also had a break in the wire at the same place, but you could not see it until you removed the wire from the track. Even the resistance checked OK. After I pulled up on one end of the wire, it came right out showing the break. On a related note...I checked with the dealer and they said that the recall service was complete in Feb 2018. After looking in the fuse bay under the wiring busses, it was clear that the real was never performed. Now they're tap dancing! Thanks again to SenseofTouch and Tom for sharing this with the group. https://cimg3.ibsrv.net/gimg/www.cor...33f2d213b.jpeg |
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