This 2011 Cadillac DTS came in with the complaint that the battery will go dead if the car sits for more than 12 hours. I traced the drain to the Driver’s Door Module fuse (DDM) in the rear underseat fuse block. I used an amp meter connected in series between the battery negative terminal and … Continue reading “2011 Cadillac DTS, Battery Goes Dead Overnight”
This 2008 Chevrolet Cobalt came in with the complaint that the blower motor did not work at all. It had been working intermittently. Looking under the passenger side of the dash behind the glove box I found the two wire harness connector at the blower motor. The brown wire should have had battery power on … Continue reading “2008 Chevrolet Cobalt, Blower Inop”
This 2006 Chevrolet Cobalt came in with the complaint that the a/c would not cool very well. Particularity in city traffic. The compressor comes on sometimes. More so when a cold engine is first cranked. The system seemed to work okay if it was turned on after achieving a speed of 50+ mph. I had … Continue reading “2006 Chevrolet Cobalt A/C Not Cold”
This 2009 Chevrolet Malibu came in with the complaint that the a/c controls did not work and the whole system was dead. No blower and no compressor engagement. The customer had already bought and installed a new HVAC control head assembly to no avail. Not only did the compressor and blower not work but none … Continue reading “2009 Chevrolet Malibu A/C Controls Inop”
This 2000 Cadillac Deville came in with the complaint that the anti theft system lights and messages were on but the vehicle always cranked up just fine. Of course when the vehicle was dropped off at my shop all of the lights were out and everything was normal. I did a code check and … Continue reading “2000 Cadillac DeVille, B1009 Anti Theft Warning Message and Security Light On”
This 2009 Saturn Aura came in with the complaint that the alternator would not charge. Originally it came in for a no crank condition that was diagnosed as a faulty PCM. The vehicle was sent to a local dealership to have the PCM replaced under warranty. The car only had just over 31,000 miles on … Continue reading “2009 Saturn Aura, No Charge Condition”
This 2009 Chevrolet Impala came in the shop for some routine work and in completing those tasks I noted that the battery went dead within ten minutes of having the ignition on. A good battery would have been able to crank the engine if the key had been left on for thirty minutes to an … Continue reading “2009 Chevrolet Impala, Changing The Battery”
This 1998 Cadillac Deville came in with the complaint that with the a/c on there was heat coming out of the passenger side vents. Codes B1340 and B1341 were present in the HVAC system. Both codes are for faults with the air mix door actuators. The B1340 is for air mix door #1 (driver’s side) … Continue reading “1998 Cadillac Deville, Passenger Side Vents Hot with A/C On”
This 1999 Pontiac Firebird came in with the complaint that the power windows and the radio did not work. Observation showed that the radio/clock display worked but when the power windows were activated they went off. Of course the windows did not work either. The customer had stated that some times they worked and sometimes … Continue reading “1999 Pontiac Firebird, Power Windows and Radio Do Not Work”
In two previous articles I outlined the problems and solutions on a 2005 Buick Lacrosse. Symptom and Solution. Now for the root cause of this failure. In every case that I found, similar to the vehicle I was working on was that the condition was preceded by a battery event. Most notably loose and corroded … Continue reading “2005 Buick Lacrosse, Repeated ECM Failures”