[Tempuser1234]

Hi all, I have a 2019 Camaro Convertible LT 4 cylinder. I'm boring, I know :P

Recently I've been having various issues that all seem to be electronic related and I just want to see if anyone has any thoughts other than "pay the dealer lots of money".

Issues in order of discovery:

• When putting the car in park and turning it off, it says "shift to park" and I have to jiggle the shifter until it registers that it's in park. It says it's in park before I turn off the car but after I hit the start button it gives the warning on the dash board. Seems to be worse when parked on a hill but that might be correlation not causation.
• Infotainment won't go into "dark mode" unless I adjust the dashboard light brightness. I'm not talking dusk here, it will be full dark and the system will go "oh, have ALL the lights" until I click the knob one way or the other and then it recognizes that it's night out.
• This is the big one, my car doesn't detect the key fob unless the fob is in the transmitter pocket. I have 2 fobs and both are having this issue even after replacing the batteries. Sometimes even with the fob in the pocket it takes a minute for the car to recognize that it's there.

Every local mechanic I've called has said I need to talk to the dealership, which I believe. I just don't know if it's these sensors that need replaced or something more systemic.

Thanks!

[arpad_m]

to the forums, and no, you're not boring at all


I'm not a mechanic, but the first thing to check is proper voltage, ie the battery and ground cables. The computer modules in your car are very sensitive to intermittent low voltage conditions and can produce any spurious errors.

If that is ruled out, it's still very unlikely that completely unrelated parts would go bad at the same time. Or did you just buy the vehicle used and are now discovering its issues? Any further diagnostics will require a proper scan tool and/or the service manual, which is a decision point for you, ie it's matter of whether to invest and try to fix it yourself, or throw in the towel and take the car to a proper mechanic, be they at the dealership or elsewhere.

Re the key fob, its CR2032 battery could also be on its way out, it's very cheap and easy to replace and check if fob recognition improves. The cupholder "trick" (guess that's what you refer to by "transmitter pocket") is meant to allow you a few more starts when the fob battery is nearly dead and is basically a gentle nudge to replace it.

[Tempuser1234]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

I'm not a mechanic, but the first thing to check is proper voltage, ie the battery and ground cables. The computer modules in your car are very sensitive to intermittent low voltage conditions and can produce any spurious errors.

If that is ruled out, it's still very unlikely that completely unrelated parts would go bad at the same time. Or did you just buy the vehicle used and are now discovering its issues? Any further diagnostics will require a proper scan tool and/or the service manual, which is a decision point for you, ie it's matter of whether to invest and try to fix it yourself, or throw in the towel and take the car to a proper mechanic, be they at the dealership or elsewhere.

Re the key fob, its CR2032 battery could also be on its way out, it's very cheap and easy to replace and check if fob recognition improves. The cupholder "trick" (guess that's what you refer to by "transmitter pocket") is meant to allow you a few more starts when the fob battery is nearly dead and is basically a gentle nudge to replace it.

Thanks! I bought the car used back in 2019, it was a rental that crashed and was rebuilt but had less than 3k miles on it. I thought it was worth the gamble and it's behaved for 70k miles for me so that's nice.

The issues all started happening recently, in the past 6 months, but not all together.

I have replaced the battery of both key fobs twice. According to what I read elsewhere (and have done myself) the cupholder trick will work even without a battery in the fob. It seems statistically anomalous that both fobs would die at the same time, but weirder things have happened.

I don't have any of the proper tools, so I guess it's off to the mechanic for me.

[Tempuser1234]

Originally Posted by arpad_m

I'm not a mechanic, but the first thing to check is proper voltage, ie the battery and ground cables. The computer modules in your car are very sensitive to intermittent low voltage conditions and can produce any spurious errors.

Looks like the voltage is hovering between 12-14 volts. I assume that means the battery is on its way out. But I'm not sure if that would cause any of these other issues.

[arpad_m]

Originally Posted by Tempuser1234

Looks like the voltage is hovering between 12-14 volts. I assume that means the battery is on its way out. But I'm not sure if that would cause any of these other issues.

Nah, that's actually the Camaro's dynamic battery voltage display. When the alternator is charging, the gauge shows the charging voltage (13.5-14.5 V), and when it isn't, the gauge displays the battery voltage (11.5-12.75 V), so that looks normal. If the starter doesn't struggle, your battery should be okay.

I bought a midrange scan tool and a battery tester for myself, but they're probably not worth getting in your situation. Good luck with the professionals, hope they'll be able to figure it out, and please post up the outcome, if only for our information

[Gunkk]

Originally Posted by Tempuser1234

When putting the car in park and turning it off, it says "shift to park" and I have to jiggle the shifter until it registers that it's in park. It says it's in park before I turn off the car but after I hit the start button it gives the warning on the dash board. Seems to be worse when parked on a hill but that might be correlation not causation.

The "shift to park" gear selector issue is often caused by a faulty internal switch and is common on mid-teens GM vehicles of all flavors. It can be a royal pain in the ass when your car is already in park and won't shut off.

That being said, I have seen this error in my car (along with several other random CEL codes: service stabilitrack, etc.) at the first restart after the battery died. Clearing the codes with a cheapo OBD2 scanner resets the error. Have not seen it come up on its own in my car (yet), so in my case I believe it to be a faux-fault and random module glitch due to the low battery voltage -- also common on our cars.

Since your issue is recurring, you may need to have the gear selector assembly repaired (faulty internal switch identified and replaced), or entire assembly replaced.

Might be worthwhile to have an automotive electrician who is familiar with GM "shift to park" issues check the relevant circuits of your faults ... in case they happen to share a common wiring. Gear selector work ain't cheap (IIRC the trans has to come out), so it might be worth a couple hundred bucks for a complete diagnosis.