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Ghost in the VE... solved and something to be aware of.

Tasmaniak

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Recently we had VE come in that had developed a ghost. Randomly various body functions stopped working and then start again.
Sometimes no left turn but right turn signal worked, sometimes swapped sometimes both.
Washer jets stopped
Boot release stopped
Alarm would randomly go off
Drivers door was always "open" even when firmly shut.
Headlights would come on and not shut off
AC would turn on full blast

The list went on...

The vehicle had been to the dealer and they diagnosed a faulty BCM. A fair thought. I tested the inputs and outputs of the bcm and sure enough could've easily drawn the same conclusion. The input to activate the various functions was certainly reaching the bcm but on the corresponding output pin there was no change. Yet if i a plied power directly to said wire then accessory would start to work.

I was still hesitant to swap the BCM as its a costly exercise and I couldn't confirm that it was definetly at fault. I pulled the bcm out and inspected the board for cracks and dry joints. Nothing. I have it to a mate who is a electronics engineer and he did whatever it is he does and gave it a thumbs up. It appeared the bcm was fine.

Reassembled the car and told the customer what I'd found and said I'd like to arrange a time to spend some more time with it. He left very frustrated, ranting and raving and how he was taking it back to Holden to get it fixed properly.

One week and $1600 for a new BCM the Customer calls me back apologetic saying the fault is still there.

This time around I'm the one that gets to pull the codes out of the bcm and it gives me a big arse list of body codes... but a couple that popped up were supply circuit issues.

Anyway, long story short... in the engine bay fuse box are two screws. These screws go all the way through to the two large wiring connectors underneath the fuse box. When I went to snug them up to make sure they were tight, I found that they just continued to rotate. When I reached underneath I could push the connectors home another 4-5mm. When doing this... everything magically worked.

The screws had been over tightened at some point and were jumping threads in their retaining nut.

I replaced the screws with some M6x75mm bolts and hey presto everything is running beautifully.

Note: those Screws are technically not replaceable. In removing them I had to completely disassemble le the fuse box and break part of it to remove them... not a fun job.
 

Tony310864

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Well done Tasmaniak.
The 2 bolts that You fitted ended up being very costly for the customer, I am sure the customer will not be in so much of a rush to get Holden to fix it properly next time there is a problem.

Tony.
 

Tasmaniak

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I understood his frustration and everything really did point to the bcm. I just wasn't prepared to pull the trigger on it. I always remember something that one of my old tutors used to drum into us... if you've done all the fault finding you can and you keep coming back to the computer... start again because you got it wrong. Lol
 

mummbles

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should the owner not be entitled to a refund from holden given you now proved the issue was not the bcm?
 

Tasmaniak

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Michael, Not sure what you mean mate?

Mumbles. Potentially I guess. Don't really know... not my area.
 

Benboy

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should the owner not be entitled to a refund from holden given you now proved the issue was not the bcm?

The owner should take all documentation to the Consumer Affairs Office (sometimes also called Office of Fair Trading) to enquire on the possibility of making a claim against the Dealer concerned.
 

Smashfist

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The owner should take all documentation to the Consumer Affairs Office (sometimes also called Office of Fair Trading) to enquire on the possibility of making a claim against the Dealer concerned.

Then the dealer will produce Holden's service information documentation that says "for this fault, test this, this and this, if all ok replace the BCM" and point out that it's a complex/uncommon fault and no action will be taken.

Even the OP came to the same conclusion and the owner refused additional time to correctly diagnose - that's his own bloody fault.
 

XUV

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same weird sh1t was happening to a mates daughter's cruise,

he had the car to take back to holden, he had stopped at the shops, went to start the car, nothing, but a strfobbing dash.

So being old school, he popped the bonnet, checked the battery terminals, the pos box, that fans out to 4 or 5 cables was loose as.

So he gave it a squeeze, pressed it back , and it started, took it back to holden, told them , they replaced the box, problem solved.

Get back to basics.
 

Michael-08-VE

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A bloke on Facebook had the exact same problem with the exact same solution only a day or so before you posted this. Haha coincidence or..?
 
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