BCM Headaches

[Linson]

about 8 years ago, right after i bought my '96 Z28, it kept blowing a fuse that was causing the keyless entry not to work. so like an idiot i eventually replaced it with a bigger fuse. the keyless entry worked but the courtesy lights stopped working. eventually i put in the right size fuse but the courtesy lights never worked again. all the shops kept telling me that it wouldnt be a cost effective fix because of the man hours that it would take to diagnose the problem.

fast forward 8 years, and some guy opens up a little shop in my isolated, small town. he says he specializes in automotive electric systems. he isolates the problem in about an hour as the BCM (body control module).

so i order a new one($220) from El Paso (260 miles away, so i paid another 60 in shipping - beats driving all the way up there). i install the new one and the courtesy lights came on, but the theatre dimming didnt work. also, the keyless entry, door locks, alarm, ect. didnt work with the new one.

i call up the dealership and they tell me that i need to drive up to El Paso and pay them an additional $120 for them to program the new BCM :mad: .
forunately, i was able to locate a dealer only 90 miles away who would program my BCM for only $44. the scanner type tool that they use is called a tek II. when i got there they said that they new what they were doing, but after spending about 5 hours trying to do a 15 minute job, they were unable to program my new BCM. also, a few days after i installed the new BCM the courtesy lights stopped working. so when i got home from the dealership, i installed the old BCM, and everything worked except for the courtesy lights. within a couple of days the keyless entry stopped working, along with the alarm.

right now my plan is to find a more competent shop.

anybody ever dealt with something like this?

anyone know why things that were working, have stopped working?

any idea why the dealer was unable to program the new BCM? could the Hypertech programming have caused the failure of their Tek II to do it's job?

[razorguy]

Electrical sucks. My courtesy lights were blowing the 15 amp fuse time after time after time. However, I tried a 20 amp in it and it's been working perfect ever since. Not exactly the greatest idea, but I can't afford to have a shop hunt down an electrical problem in my car :no:

[Stroker396]

Question I have for you is do you want to solve the problem yourself?

You already know where it is, you just have to isolate it.

Electrical can be a pain, but if you know how to isolate, you can quickly find the source of your problems at almost no cost. Just a multimeter.

[Linson]

it's the BCM. i am 99% certain that the problem is that the BCM has to be programmed.

cause check it out: with the old one, the only thing that didnt work was the courtesy lights. with the new one, nothing worked. so i put the old one back and it worked like normal for a while, but now practically nothing works with the old one either.

so if it isnt the BCM, i honestly wouldnt know where to begin.

i'm gonna take it to another dealer in a couple weeks.