Electrical Gremlins Appears dead

[Anthony Cundari]

A little humor on the issue

Phrede, I applaud what you are trying to do. This is meant as light humor and will be absolutely no help with your electrical problems but read on. I had and still have Lionel electric trains and what boy didn’t take them apart to see what made them go. Thin wires wired across the wiring posts on the transformer glowed red before they melted when the current was slowly turned on. On top of that you learned about electricity and wiring. I also had some HO trains and had one that didn’t run. After taking it apart, rivets and all, unlike the Lionel units, I finally discovered that DC motors didn’t run on AC current. Track wired to the wrong posts on the transformer. In high school I discovered cracked insulation on power window wires when my father pressed the front left window button and the right rear window went down. Cracked insulation on the wires in the wire bundle between the frame and the door. Fast forward to college and I’m using those electrical skills to reverse engineer a transistorized ignition system. Finally after the dyno runs in the lab and promise that this thing really did work, I hooked it into my ’70 Olds Toronado bypassing a wire here and there. Everything looking good until I turned the key off and the engine kept running! Panic time. ’79 Toronado, brand new and the A/C keeps popping the fuse and the dealership can’t find the problem. Elementary. A short in the wiring harness and I route a wire from the fuse block to the compressor clutch bypassing the wiring harness. No problems for 10 years. The chassis manual had a beautiful color foldout of the wiring circuits. It also helped me bypass the load level sensor when it failed until I found a replacement in a junkyard. $24 versus $250. 2 weeks ago the front side marker lamp on the XLR burns out. I look at the manual and it says remove headlamp assembly from body, etc, etc , etc. This one went to the dealership. My final comment, once upon a time with a meter and a wiring diagram you could do a lot of work on your car. Today, I’m not ready to risk shorting an expensive module to save a few bucks. The dealership can do it! I’ll just give them the symptoms to point them in the right direction!

 

[Phrede]

With a lot of other things happening right now I've had little time to investigate. I have done some checks there is nothing evident. I suspect that the RCDLR has lost it's knowledge of my fobs. So it goes off to the dealer. I only hope they do not get into the "lets keep changing modules until we get to the right one" mode.

Part of the problem is that the car is in my garage and there is not room in front of it to get a roll back.

The big issue right now is how to get the transmission out of park. Does anyone know of an emergency mechanical override? I suppose as a last resort I could tear into the console and supply the voltage to the solenoid connector. My service manual offers no help. Remember, the ignition will not come on nor will the Tech 2 communicate with anything other than the BCM.

 

[V Happy]

Electric Gremlins appears dead.

Pherbe
I was trying to find a solution to your problem as to how to get to neutral. I found this blog it may help or it may not. i also read a blog that said we have a shift cable that can be taken off at the trany and then you can put it in neutral. If you do this check the connection for ware. They have been noted to go bad !!!!!!!
V Happy
Shift Lever Release Button malfunction.

---

A couple of weeks ago, the shift lever release button in my 06 XLR started acting up. It would not depress to let me shift out of park until I kept giggeling the shift lever and squeezing the button.

Today I decided to find out what was going on as it seemed to be getting worse so I got out my Shop Manuals and thinking it was mechanical, I started with the Shift Lever assembly.
After studing the assembly it was quite apperent this was an Electrical/Mechanical problem.
There is a small solenoid in the base of the Shift Lever assembly under the console trim plate that controls the release button.
To gain access to this solenoid, you have to remove the Shift Knob and the Trim Plate.
BEFORE GOING ANY FURTHER, PLACE WHEEL CHOCKS UNDER THE WHEELS AND SET THE EMERGANCY BRAKE ON TO PREVENT THE VEHICLE FROM MOVING AS YOU WILL NEED TO MOVE THE SHIFT LEVER OUT OF PARK AND INTO NEUTRAL TO PERFORM THE FOLLOWING!
To remove the Shift Knob, use a putty knife and gently insert it between the black plastic piece at the base of the Knob and the Woodgrain moulding.
While squeezing the leather padded sides of the Knob as close to the black plastic ring as possible, gently lift the handle of the putty knife up and the black ring will drop down revealing a #15 TORX head fastener. (Set screw)
Unscrew this fastener to remove the Knob.
The trim plate is held in place by 4 spring clips, 1 in each corner.
To remove it, open the center console storage door/arm rest and gently lift the back of the trim plate with your fingers. It will just pop up.
This is where it got a little tricky for me as I could not move my Shift Lever out of Park. I had to lift the trim plate as high as I could and study the solenoid assembly and figure out how I could manually activate it so I could move the Shift Lever out of Park and into Neutral. Which I was able to do.

The solenoid is controlled by 2 micro-switches which must be closed to pass an electrical signal from 2 seperate sources before it will energize. These switches are mounted on the solenoid assembly and by giggling the wires connected to them, I could tell which switch was causing the problem as both switches would move in their mounts.

The solenoid assembly is held in place by 2 small Phillip screws and the assembly has to be removed from it's mounted posistion to get to the micro-switches.

My problem was 1 of these switch's lever was not closing the switch.

CURE/FIX; I physically bent the lever with a pair of needle nose pliers for positive switching of the micro-switch.

This whole process took me a little over 2 hours to research and fix and if I have to do it again, which I doubt, it will probably only take me less than a half hour as long as I had the 4 tools I used.

 

[Phrede]

Never a happy sight.

Watched my baby leave for the dealer on the back of a truck this morning. Hopefully the verdict is not so bad.

The truck driver mentioned he had seen this before (he did know what an XLR was and had carried a few before as well as doing roadside service). His thoughts were that if the battery goes too low for too long "a day or two" then the system needs a reset. He mentioned that there are terminals on the bottom of the fuse box that can be jumpered to supply temporary power to the needed modules.

Not sure how accurate this information is, but it is interesting and worth investigating. Sound familiar to anyone?

 

[V Happy]

Electric Gremlins appears dead.

Phrede
Hope things turn out well for you on the repair. I read your orginal post on this. I store my car in the winter in a heated garage. I keep a battery tender hooked up to a tender plug I installed which comes out under the back of the hood near the passengers wiper. When I came back from Fla. last year the tender light was not on or was showing red. (don't remember which) I thought the tender went bad. I even hooked the tender up direct after I got the hood open thinking it was my tender external hook up. I disconnected the battery and charged it for 3 hrs. Still nothing. Knowing the age of my battery I just went out and purchased a new one. I don't know how long the battery was dead but when I put the new one in everything worked. I only had to index the windows. That leads me to beleive you should not have to reset anything because of a battery running down. I have never heard of anything about a jumper in or near the fuse panel. In any case that car even looks stunning on a flatbed. Please let us know the outcome!!!
V Happy

 

[GizmoQ]

Never a happy sight.

Watched my baby leave for the dealer on the back of a truck this morning. Hopefully the verdict is not so bad.

The truck driver mentioned he had seen this before (he did know what an XLR was and had carried a few before as well as doing roadside service). His thoughts were that if the battery goes too low for too long "a day or two" then the system needs a reset. He mentioned that there are terminals on the bottom of the fuse box that can be jumpered to supply temporary power to the needed modules.

Not sure how accurate this information is, but it is interesting and worth investigating. Sound familiar to anyone?

Man, hate to see this.

Yes, there is a positive terminal on the side of the fusebox. I use it to run power to my refrigerator and CarPC and accessories. For safety, I added in-line fuses to the these external power lines because it's nothing more than the primary connection for the battery cable, i.e., no different than hooking jumper cables to the battery terminal.

 

[HOMEGAMEROOM]

Never a happy sight indeed.

FWIW, I had a semi-similar incident with my XLR. It turned out that the satellite radio module was putting voltage to the databus. I had forgotten about it until now.

I don't recall what was replaced- I should still have the service record on it - I'll see if I can dig it out just in case.

 

[MarkSki]

GizmoQ is correct about the positive post at the fuse box. My 2000 Jag had the same thing and the only way to open the doors or trunk was to apply power to this post. The battery weight in that car was 68 pounds and $259 bucks. I think it was the largest Interstate battery that they sell. It was the largest car battery that I ever saw. 90% of the fuses were in the trunk. It also had a lot of computers. To reset the computers and moduals, you disconnected the negative battery terminal for a couple of minutes then reconnected it then indexed the windows.

I'm not sure if removing power via the battery as above would reset anything in the XLR. I'm new to my Grey Jewel and as soon as I can, after installing a rear sway bar, I'm going to get a set of manuals and then a Tech 2. I keep cars for at least 20 years and I plan on keeping this XLR for as long as I can or until I can no longer buy or make needed parts for it.

I had a F SHO that was a 1995 and I could no longer buy parts or manufacture my own for this car so I sold it. It had a 6 cyl engine made by Yamaha. It really hauls butt for a 4 door. It gives the F's that have that snake a run! SHO stood for Super High Output. It was rated at 240 hp but on the dyno it came out to be 300. I have no plans on every selling my XLR unless I'm able to trade it for an XLR-V.

That Jag was just like our XLRs. If the battery went low your first indication was the windows needed to be indexed. After that all kinds of weird things would happen. All kinds of DIC messages, everything stating to fail one by one.

 

[CadillacCustomerService]

Never a happy sight.

Watched my baby leave for the dealer on the back of a truck this morning. Hopefully the verdict is not so bad.

The truck driver mentioned he had seen this before (he did know what an XLR was and had carried a few before as well as doing roadside service). His thoughts were that if the battery goes too low for too long "a day or two" then the system needs a reset. He mentioned that there are terminals on the bottom of the fuse box that can be jumpered to supply temporary power to the needed modules.

Not sure how accurate this information is, but it is interesting and worth investigating. Sound familiar to anyone?

Phrede,

Sincere apologies about the vehicle issues. I definitely understand the displeasure on your part. Please let us what happens and keep us updated.

Kindly,

William R.
Cadillac Customer Care

 

[ChicagoDave]

dim third brake light

Fred,

I had a problem with my third brake light lighting up - when the car was running ... it turned out to be my WINDRESTRICTOR switch was switched "on". Not sure if it will help - but I know you have a Windrestrictor as well. At least worth looking into.

Good luck.

Dave

 

[HOMEGAMEROOM]

Here's a copy of what happened to my car, along with a few of the diagnostic tests that were performed. I hope this helps - it might help someone in the future if it doesn't help you. Note that the DRR is the Digital Radio Receiver (Satellite Radio Receiver)

 

[Phrede]

View attachment 3488View attachment 3487
Here's a copy of what happened to my car, along with a few of the diagnostic tests that were performed. I hope this helps - it might help someone in the future if it doesn't help you. Note that the DRR is the Digital Radio Receiver (Satellite Radio Receiver)

Thanks. What was the aftermarket device they disconnected? Lockpick?

 

[HOMEGAMEROOM]

Yes, I think it was the Lockpick. That's the thing you use to play your iPod through the radio, correct? That's what they disconnected. I've since reconnected it and have had no issues.

Nonetheless, I plan on eventually doing the mod on the Corvette Forum to eliminate the lockpick. I don't need anything else putting 12 volts where it doesn't belong!

 

[Phrede]

Yes, I think it was the Lockpick. That's the thing you use to play your iPod through the radio, correct? That's what they disconnected. I've since reconnected it and have had no issues.

Nonetheless, I plan on eventually doing the mod on the Corvette Forum to eliminate the lockpick. I don't need anything else putting 12 volts where it doesn't belong!

Interesting I do have a lockpick installed. I did not try disconnecting it. I suppose I should have. It is in the dealers hands now.

 

[HOMEGAMEROOM]

the Lockpick had nothing to do with it. If it did, I would have had a HUGE repair bill on my hands!!

 

[MarkSki]

It appears our XLRs do NOT like electrical items installed in it. The previous owner of mine had all kinds of top problems and a few other problems and most, the top, were caused by a breathalyzer that was installed that I would guess he had to blow into before the car would start. (and most likely why he sold the car due to his beverage problems)

I got this information from the past repair bills from the Caddy dealer that did the work. Once that unit was disconnected the top problems went away. He had a FOB problem too. I would guess he/she (not sure if it was a man or a woman so I just use he) bought a FOB that was a different version from what the car is setup to work with. From what I could tell there are 2 versions for the FOB and one will not work with the other version. It can not be programmed into the system and from reading the repair notes, at one time while the dealer was trying to get them all to work, the newer FOB wiped out the ability for the original FOBs to work.

Pretty fussy car.

 

[Phrede]

It appears our XLRs do NOT like electrical items installed in it. The previous owner of mine had all kinds of top problems and a few other problems and most, the top, were caused by a breathalyzer that was installed that I would guess he had to blow into before the car would start. (and most likely why he sold the car due to his beverage problems)

I got this information from the past repair bills from the Caddy dealer that did the work. Once that unit was disconnected the top problems went away. He had a FOB problem too. I would guess he/she (not sure if it was a man or a woman so I just use he) bought a FOB that was a different version from what the car is setup to work with. From what I could tell there are 2 versions for the FOB and one will not work with the other version. It can not be programmed into the system and from reading the repair notes, at one time while the dealer was trying to get them all to work, the newer FOB wiped out the ability for the original FOBs to work.

Pretty fussy car.

There are two different type FOBs that came with the cars depending on age. I believe the change over was around 2006. Mine has the later thin type. I've heard of others using the later model FOB on older cars but can not say for sure. As with anything, it is important to install aftermarket items of good quality, proper design and use good install techniques.

 

[ECurtis]

It appears our XLRs do NOT like electrical items installed in it. The previous owner of mine had all kinds of top problems and a few other problems and most, the top, were caused by a breathalyzer that was installed that I would guess he had to blow into before the car would start. (and most likely why he sold the car due to his beverage problems)

I got this information from the past repair bills from the Caddy dealer that did the work. Once that unit was disconnected the top problems went away. He had a FOB problem too. I would guess he/she (not sure if it was a man or a woman so I just use he) bought a FOB that was a different version from what the car is setup to work with. From what I could tell there are 2 versions for the FOB and one will not work with the other version. It can not be programmed into the system and from reading the repair notes, at one time while the dealer was trying to get them all to work, the newer FOB wiped out the ability for the original FOBs to work.

Pretty fussy car.

You are right. Years ago there remember reading about a code that one could put into the radio that would allow the XLR to play a DVD while the car was in motion. Of course, I did not want to or have I driven while watching, but I wanted to see if it was true. I put in the code and sure enough it was true. The car could move and play a dvd and place the system back into it's regular mode. It allowed me to remove the DVD, however, I was not able to remove a CD that I also had installed in the radio. Similarly, the radio worked a little and then would not work at all. I wound up taking the car to the dealer who replaced the radio under waranty. They said that they had had cases like this before. They also said that what usually happens is that if there were any DVD's in the radio when they recieved it they would be returned to the dealer. Well I got a new radio, but I never received the DVD back. The DVD was either not retreivable or was lost. I complained about it but they still never recovered it. It was unfortunate too because it was my favorite Don Cherry CD.

Anyway, electonically, these cars are very fussy.

 

[MarkSki]

You are right. Years ago there remember reading about a code that one could put into the radio that would allow the XLR to play a DVD while the car was in motion. Of course, I did not want to or have I driven while watching, but I wanted to see if it was true. I put in the code and sure enough it was true. The car could move and play a dvd and place the system back into it's regular mode. It allowed me to remove the DVD, however, I was not able to remove a CD that I also had installed in the radio. Similarly, the radio worked a little and then would not work at all. I wound up taking the car to the dealer who replaced the radio under waranty. They said that they had had cases like this before. They also said that what usually happens is that if there were any DVD's in the radio when they recieved it they would be returned to the dealer. Well I got a new radio, but I never received the DVD back. The DVD was either not retreivable or was lost. I complained about it but they still never recovered it. It was unfortunate too because it was my favorite Don Cherry CD.

Anyway, electonically, these cars are very fussy.

I use that code at night pn long trips so my wife has something to look at. She isn't crazy about driving at night because she says she can't see anything. This satisfies her "fix"! I also put in the other feature that allows you to use all of the nav. features while the car is in geaqr and motovating down the hiway. This allows her the abiliity to find places to stop at and eat. Although our 2505 TomTom has more selections.

 

[Phrede]

UPDATE:
After a week the dealer still has no clue. Service writer said "I don't know what YOU did to it" "You should not be in poking around with a TECH2". I explained the Tech 2 is a diagnostic tool that was not connected until AFTER the fault.

They also said, We can't communicate with any of the modules except one. DUH, I told them that last Friday. The comment was made that I fried every module by hooking up my Batter Tender.

Why me? Sometimes I believe this dealer has a strange sense of humor and is trying to be funny. This is the same person that told me the shocks were coated with oil from the factory to keep them from rusting. Right before they replaced all 4.

They were curious about the signatures on the engine cover