2015 Canyon OnStar moduel failed at under 30,000 miles

[Daniel Duteil]

New to Forum, Recently the red light on my mirror came on and the compass no longer functioned. Took it to the dealer several times and got the same run around about "calibrating" it. Finally had to get pissed to get them to actually check it out, when they did it was a failed module and required a week to order it. Took it in this morning at 7:30 am, is now 4:30 pm and still no call to pick it up. While waiting I found a video showing the replacement of a module on a truck identical to mine and it took less than ten minutes. I went to the dealer and asked about that at 2:pm and got excuses again. I informed the service clerk that I was aware it should have been finished hours ago and he made more excuses but did go talk to the mechanic supposedly working on it. When he came out he walked right past me and went back down a hallway and whispered to the service clerk. I have a rel bad feeling about this! One of the excuses was the module needed to be programmed, not sure I buy that as this is warranty work and the unit should have been factory programmed. 

Any thoughts on this?

[Doug_Scott]

When I was working as a mechanic in a dealership jobs that took very little time were often used to fill in those times that the mechanic was between bigger jobs.

 

Don't know this dealership, but in my experience we had dedicated mechanics for certain types of jobs.  For example, driveline mechanic that would only do transmission, transfer case, differential and when no work in those areas, brakes and front end.  Brake and front end mechanic.  Tune up mechanic.  Electrical mechanic. And so on. The mechanics that worked under the car are the last ones to be given interior/dash work.  The majority of the mechanics did under the carr work.  

 

Chances are what has happened here is that the service writer gave the mechanic the job right after you dropped the car off and asked the mechanic to do your car when he had the time, thinking the mechanic would have some down time. 

 

I changed my onstar box 8 years ago for some reason that I cannot remember I had to contact onstar to connect the box to my vehicle. Seems to me it was not a quick job dealing with onstar. 

[OldChevyNut]

If it says "CAL" in the far lower-left of the DIC, find a large flat area where you can slowly drive in circles without interruption, at least 3 full circles, so the vehicle faces every compass direction. After driving, if you have the compass back, great.

 

If it still says "CAL", or you just see 3 horizontal small lines (---), you've either damaged the antenna mast, the antenna base, or somewhere in-between the antenna group and the DIC you've developed an electrical-open or signal-open condition.

 

From the truck bed, check the antenna mast, see if it feels broken or otherwise damaged. If it seems OK, remove it.

It unscrews from the base counter-clockwise.

 

The mast can normally defect about 70 degrees in any direction without breaking internally or causing an electrical open in the sensing lead, but about .75 - 1.5 inches from the threaded portion, if you feel or hear a "snapping" when you deflect it, it's broken.

 

If that's OK, look at the rubberized coating to make sure you haven't penetrated the coating and damaged the lead.

 

The antenna mast is fairly cheap, about $35.00 from various online sources. If yours feel broken/damaged, you might want to get a replacement and install. Then recheck the DIC. If it still says "---" (3 dotted lines) with the new mast, the mast isn't the problem.

If it says "CAL" try the driving in circles in a flat area again. If it still says "CAL", the mast isn't the problem.

 

Next is replacing the base, which at this stage would then fix 98% of the problems.

 

The base costs more, about $135.00, but the big issue is replacement labor, which requires special tools and 3-5 hours (if you know what you're doing) to remove/drop enough of the panels and headliner to get to the single nut that holds the antenna base.

Then replace the antenna base, reconnect the wiring.

 

(At this point, I leave the headliner down, drive in circles to make sure it's fixed, the back in the shop to put the inside of the truck back together. But for do-it-yourself, put the headline back to be sure it's safe to drive.)

 

After the base replacement, it should say "CAL", and you get to drive in circles again. After circles, you would have the compass back. But if not, you have wiring issues and that can be anybody's guess as to what it would be.

 

Taking it a good, reliable, honest, highly rated repair shop is probably your best bet. They would have known-good test components, so you wouldn't have to buy anything to do fault testing. And they would have the tools and know-how to properly deal with taking apart the cab interior.

 

A warning about the antenna base: It's much more complex than people think. It has 2 different computer systems inside it, is very ESD sensitive, and the outputs for compass and radio reception can be easily damaged/destroyed. If you're sure you don't want to outright replace it, I highly recommend that the base should only be opened/examined by very skilled personnel in an ESD-protected electronic service work environment.

 

The above are pretty much the processes I've been using for years, and they work. So I hope the above helps ...