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Help! Domino Issues (04 XLR)

DruTennant

Member
Joined
Jan 17, 2017
Messages
5
Location
Columbia, MO
My XLR/V(s)
2004 Silver XLR
Hello! I've been looking at the forums and I just joined because I have major issues of my own that have been going on for a while now. Basically it all started once I got the car; I was having issues with the car dying constantly. They did a battery check at the dealership (Their battery, five year warranty), and it was a guy I knew and trusted, he said nothing was wrong. After a few more weeks of constant jump starts and electronic multimeter tests for shorts, I had my friend do more battery tests and they said the cold cranks were too low, and helped me get a new battery. It worked for a couple days. I wouldn't use the car for a few days and it would still work, so everything seemed to be good.

BUUUUUUT then more problems started.

First, I am in Missouri, which temperatures change drastically day to day. We had an ice storm and my windows closed shut. After two hours of working on it. they finally opened, but the window went all the way back up before I closed it, so the window wouldn't work correctly. I had to start keeping the window cracked, as whenever I opened the door, it wouldn't bring down the window all the way.

One morning I went to go open my car and it wouldn't open. So I thought the same problem happened. I used the emergency key, and opened the trunk then the car door. I learned people don't like car alarms going off at 630am in apartment complexes. The car was still working but my key fobs wouldn't work. The car wouldn't even recognize them in the center console (Which I believe is where the senor for the fobs are). After a few weeks of sitting there while I worked constantly, I had my friend come back over. Car was dead (4 weeks later) and we got it to jump start. Car wouldn't recognize the fobs still. The security light would come on whenever i pressed the lock button, the brake light would come on when you pressed on it. We reset the car (Battery wires cross thing) And it worked for a few minutes, then turned off. I realized the oil was about 4 quarts low, filled it up, and it started back up again. Let it sit about ten minutes, drove across the street and got gas, started it back up and brought it home.

The next morning, car was dead, tried to jump start, and the alarm came on. Keyfob wouldn't work.... What do I do?
 
I'm in Missouri as well. St Louis to be exact. I put a water proof car cover on mine to prevent what you just went through. Car sits outside but never gets wet. Started up with no problems when the temperature dropped to 2 degrees after sitting for days. This is a great forum to get additional advice for these cars.

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That's going to take detective work for sure. One thing I want to mention, the FOB goes into a slot in the glove compartment, not the center console. Open the compartment, look on the left side of the open door and there's a slot there for the key fob. Face of the fob to the steering wheel side
 
Dang... Sorry this morning I was at work when writing that, so I had a lot going on. My biggest fear is I'm going to dump even more money into this car and find out that it was all a simple wiring issue... But two separate problems that I think have two different answers, but I'm not too sure.

Neither window works correctly now
Niether fob works correctly now

I have replaced both the fobs batteries, but they stopped working at the same time.
 
I'm in Missouri as well. St Louis to be exact. I put a water proof car cover on mine to prevent what you just went through. Car sits outside but never gets wet. Started up with no problems when the temperature dropped to 2 degrees after sitting for days. This is a great forum to get additional advice for these cars.

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

The weather is killing me slowly.... My other issue is no garage, and this is my daily. Where do you get all your XLR things at? Most places stopped selling them. D3 rep acted like I was crazy - Manifold and cat was 3k since they had to get them made...
 
The weather is killing me slowly.... My other issue is no garage, and this is my daily. Where do you get all your XLR things at? Most places stopped selling them. D3 rep acted like I was crazy - Manifold and cat was 3k since they had to get them made...
I've not experienced the issues you speak of here but as before mentioned there's many answers for your dilemmas on here. Sounds to me like when your battery was replaced your fobs and Windows memories went too. They'll have to be re-leared. I believe that info is in the owners manual.
Also, depending on where in Missouri you are, I've had great experience with Elco Cadillac in Ballwin. They have a Tech familiar with the XLR. They won't give you the runaround. They fix it right the 1st time.

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I've not experienced the issues you speak of here but as before mentioned there's many answers for your dilemmas on here. Sounds to me like when your battery was replaced your fobs and Windows memories went too. They'll have to be re-leared. I believe that info is in the owners manual.
Also, depending on where in Missouri you are, I've had great experience with Elco Cadillac in Ballwin. They have a Tech familiar with the XLR. They won't give you the runaround. They fix it right the 1st time.

Sent from my SM-G935P using Tapatalk

Windows went before key fobs - by about a week. Battery was replaced about two weeks before that. Would that still be a problem?
 
Windows went before key fobs - by about a week. Battery was replaced about two weeks before that. Would that still be a problem?
I really don't have the real answers to your question. I'm going by what I've read on here from others. Just sounds like a memory re-learn issue. I had my car delivered when I bought it. They unhook the battery for safety. After hooking the battery back a week later my driver window stopped indexing and seats and mirrors lost memory. The dealer reset fob and everything back to default. No charge...
All works correctly. That's my experience.

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I'm sorry, I don't mean to be rude, but this car is just currently killing me.
I understand. They're not cheap. Especially if you bought them new, or worse, one that wasn't maintained.

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You have at least two problems that may be related.

You never mentioned if you re-indexed the windows after replacing the battery. If not, do so.

You cannot let an XLR sit for extended periods without a Battery Tender connected. The car draws power 24/7. This is not a car I would ever recommend as a daily driver if you don't have a garage and it's exposed directly to the Winter elements. Per the previous post, at least cover it when parked, or it's going to slowly deteriorate further.

For peace of mind, remove the battery and have it load-tested at an auto parts store just to eliminate it from your list of potential headache candidates. New batteries die. Been there, done that. I suspect a lot of your recent troubles are attributed to it. If it's good, drop by a dealership and have them run a full scan of the car (not the kind of scan available from an auto parts store) to get an idea of what's going on electrically.

The 2004 has multiple antennas that communicate with the fobs. You mentioned both fob batteries went out at the same time after being replaced. Not likely. I replace mine once a year, as routine maintenance. The problem is more likely something common to both, like the RCDLR (Remote Control Door Lock Receiver) not communicating caused by a low battery. You should not have to re-program fobs for a battery replacement, just re-index the windows and maybe reset the radio station presets.

Four quarts low on oil is a good indication routine maintenance is not being performed. At thirteen years old, you have to stay on top of this car or it will eat you alive in more ways than one. Make sure the drain tube on the bottom of the rear storage compartment on the left side of the trunk is clear or you could pay a few grand for replacement parts. This topic has been extensively written up here, so it's worth a look to check it out.

CC :wave:
 
Also sounds like the windows need to be re indexed that's in the drivers manual pretty simple to do....when the battery is not working correctly everything gets screwed up that's why most use a battery tender charger unit, but sounds like you have some other things going on to cause the battery to drain that quickly!


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