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Home » Auto Answers » Body & Interior » Cadillac » Page 11

Cadillac body & interior repair questions and answers

Post your Cadillac body & interior question or share what you know by answering questions

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  • mello81
    mello81 - 1996 Cadillac Fleetwood - Body & Interior - 2/11/2012
    Interior lights stay on when doors are closed, what could that be?
    Interior lights stay on when the doors are closed, what could that be?
     
    • Spoon Sports
      2/11/2012 Spoon Sports

      This is a common problem and is caused by the door switch plunger sticking (due to dirt, other elements or rust). This can often be corrected by performing the following:

      1. Thoroughly spray the door switches (on each door) with:


      •Cleaning spray - clear the sludge out of the mechanism - electronic contact cleaner, carb, brake, etc


      •Air, canned or even better, from a compressor


      •Spray lubricant - a dry lube (best), silicone spray, WD-40 or similar

      2. Open and close each door several times to work the lube into the mechanism

      This is usually sufficient to clean the electrical & plunger mechanism inside the door switch.

      If this doesn't work, you could remove the door panel and do the spray treatment from the inside also.


      This approach works for most, but the switch may have to come out for repair
  • Charles W Johnson
    Charles W Johnson - 2004 Cadillac DeVille - Body & Interior - 2/10/2012
    My driver side window stop working the motor is good the window just wont go up or down
    I had it disabled so I won't actcidently push the down button so that it wont come back up I was told that it might be the cable that moves the window up and down what is that piece called or/and will I have to buy a whole section to make the window work properley
     
    0 answer
  • quint
    quint - 2000 Cadillac DeVille - Body & Interior - 2/7/2012
    How much is this car worth?
    What is the value of this car?
     
    • Jason
      2/7/2012 Jason
      Check KBB.com for the value.
  • JIM
    JIM - 1997 Cadillac DeVille - Body & Interior - 2/7/2012
    Can the head light plastic lens be replaced with out replacing the head light unit
    the plastic cover for the headlight unit broke and was lost all I need is the plastic cover
     
    • Bobbaron
      2/6/2012 Bobbaron
      i have a 97 deville,what i found was a lens that was letting water into it .that light system is all one piece when bought new or at yard but.i was able to pry it apart with out breaking it and glue it back.dont think you will find just the lens available
    • Arnie
      2/7/2012 Arnie
      Also look for a small rock chip in the lens. If so wait till the condensation clears, and put a dab of clear glue over chip hole.This shoud keep condensation out of lamp. But if you live in a warm climate area, the adhisive holding the lens to the reflector breaks down over a period of time and causes a leak, tho the bulb is still sealed.
    • Bill
      2/7/2012 Bill
      I'm not sure what everyone is talking about. If it is broken you need to get a replacement assembly. Whether you get one fron a wrecking yard, a dealer or http://www.autopartswarehouse.com/ is up to you.
  • M.A.T
    M.A.T - 2003 Cadillac Seville - Body & Interior - 2/3/2012
    Does the 2003 Cadillac STS with HID headlights have one or two ballast', and how do you replace them?
    for some reason both cords on my car headlight low beams were cut by the previous owner, after splicing the two cords and reconnecting them, my right side headlight still isn't coming on. My Bright head lights work fine i'm trying to determine if I need a new ballast.
     
  • cheeks
    cheeks - 1992 Cadillac Seville - Body & Interior - 2/2/2012
    I have 1992 cadillac sevile (BASE) can i put on a 1993 cadillac seville (STS) front bumber cover
    can i put 1993 cadillac seville(STS) front bumber cover on my 1992 cadilla seville (BASE)
     
    • Spoon Sports
      2/2/2012 Spoon Sports
      Why not? the 4th gen seville spanned from 92-97 Cadillac made few styling changes during this generation, but switched the grille from chrome to body color for the 1995 model year.

  • Lowell Hughes
    Lowell Hughes - 2000 Cadillac DeVille - Body & Interior - 2/2/2012
    DoorLocksand domelights do not operate
    We have checked all fuses anddriver module found no breaks at drivers harness,Remote controlslights on vech.
     
    0 answer
  • JLL
    JLL - 1991 Cadillac DeVille - Body & Interior - 2/1/2012
    Is there a relay or someting???
    Hi there, i have a 1991 cadillac deville 4.9 V8 does anybody know if there is a relay, or something else that powers the stereo and outlets for cigars and other accessories??? if i open the door/s lights will turn on, but stereo & accessories outlets won't work! i ...
     
    0 answer
  • John
    John - 1997 Cadillac DeVille - Body & Interior - 1/30/2012
    1997 cadillac Devile where to I find the signal light flasher relay
    signal lights do not blink, the Hazards lights do work.
     
    0 answer
  • Jeff
    Jeff - 2002 Cadillac DeVille - Body & Interior - 1/29/2012
    What makes the gas pedal vibrate?
    When I accelerate the pedal vibrates bad
     
    0 answer
  • DWard1987
    DWard1987 - 1991 Cadillac DeVille - Body & Interior - 1/27/2012
    I have a digital dash and my speedometer nor my fuel gauge work. What should I do?
     
    • Spoon Sports
      1/27/2012 Spoon Sports
      Hope this helps


      Digital clusters can be problematic in Cadillacs ...and other cars. It seems there is a deficiency of good troubleshooting info, or it is scattered in several posts. Hopefully we can get a thread going that will be useful for those who want to "hunt" down and resolve problems w/o paying a king's ransom. I invite others that have resolved dash problems to share their troubleshooting methods. If enough information is added, perhaps this can be a "sticky" thread to help others.

      Problem: For me, it all started with an annoying intermittent cluster problem in my 92 Seville that became more and more pervasive. Here were the symptoms: After about a 1/2 hour or so of operation, the cluster would go completely dead, all needles flatline and radio light blank. The fuel data and HVAC lights would flicker and finally go blank. As a result, the HVAC system would go into a default defrost mode and 75 degrees heat (annoying in the summer and winter).

      Finally, I got serious about fixing the problem. Since it was an intermittant problem I figured it would be relatively easy to spot and resolve. The following article is the steps I took to do that. I have some very basic electronics repair experience which helped, but anybody with decent mechanical skills should be able to apply the same strategy. I may might do a more detailed write-up on on my website (www.RepairNation.com) in the future with some pictures.

      There a number of things that can cause intermittent problems like this: The VERY first thing to check is the ground on the starter and body. This was such a problem in the early 90's that Cadillac came out with a special ground bracket to retrofit cars with. My neighbor works at a Cadillac dealer and he says that a bad ground was the number one problem that caused digital cluster to flicker. Don't do any repairs w/o ensuring you have proper grounding.

      It's important to know that the following modules all communicate on a Serial Data Line:
      PCM - Powertrain Control Module (the ECM)
      ACP - Air Conditioning Programmer (for the HVAC))
      DERM - Diagnostic Energy Reserve Module (GMs fancy term for the Air Bag system)
      EBCM - Electronic Brake Control Module
      IPC - Instrument Panel Cluster

      Information from these separate computers share information on a **serial** data link to the cluster. It's a loop so if only one break in the circuit occurs, it will not necessarily cause a loss of communication (com can go the other direction in the loop). But issues with one module can have rammafications with the performance of the dash/cluster and that makes it particularly challenging to troubleshoot the system. To pay a Cadillac dealer to track down dash problems will most likely cost a prince's ransom. Fortunately, there are onboard diagnostics you can access that may aid in pinpointing some problems. To access the diagnostic mode turn the ignition to "on" and hold the "Off" and "Warm" buttons down simultaneously for a few seconds. Initially, ALL the lights in the cluster will illuminate (test mode) then it will go into the diagnostics mode. Record the trouble codes if any. Maybe someone would like to post the codes and what they mean. Pressing "auto" will take you out of the trouble-code display mode.

      Basically on mine, the trouble codes didn't do me any good. My neighbor who has worked as a mechanic at Cadillac for 15 years says they don't often point ya to the problem, in his experience. To pinpoint the problem I resorted to an old trick electronic repair technicians use that involves careful use of a hair dryer and freeze spray. This strategy works on the principal that the majority of electronics failures are due to poor solder joints (cold joints), and leaky or dried-up electrolytic capacitors. This is an ideal trick for uncovering intermittant failures.

      Getting Started:
      I started out with my PCM. I removed all the shielding and heated the circuit board up with a hair dryer while the car was running. I was not able to make the dash flicker or go blank this way. When the dash did go blank after some time (like usual), I used freeze spray (abailable at www.partsexpress.com) to chill sections of the board and observing the effects on the dash. Chilling board or components on the board had no apparent bearing on the dash problem. Of course I wiggled connections and all that too, to no avail. I put it back together and moved on.

      Next I inspected the connections for the aforementioned computer modules which, in a 92 Seville, are located in the trunk behind the back seat. Nothing I did back there seemed to have any relavence on the blanked-out dash (or made it flicker when it was actually working). I moved to the last thing, the IPC - Cluster.
    • Spoon Sports
      1/27/2012 Spoon Sports
      I removed the A-pillar covers, then the dash pad to reveal the cluster. Then I drove the vehilce until the IPC would flicker or blank-out as usual. When the dash would go blank I shot freeze spray through a hole in one end, watched observed the effects, then did the same to the other side. I was able to consistantly make the dash lights and gauges work properly with this method. At this point, I knew the problem lie in the cluster electronics. Time to dig a little deeper.

      Working on the cluster:
      I pulled the IPC from the car [see notes below] and very carefully removed all circuit boards from the cluster housing, and taped them to a 3' wooden board with masking tape (to hold the boards from sliding around). I transferred the whole assembly back to the vehicle, plugged it into the harnass and started the car. Now that I had all boards laying out in the open in front of me I could do some real diagnosing. I went around with the hair dryer, one section at a time keeping my eye on the dash for any flickering. I worked section by section. Eventually I heated up an area that would consistantly cause the dash to blank-out. Shooting freeze spray in that area would make it operate properly again. I was expecting the problem to be a bad capacitor. But there were no capacitors in this area.

      Investigating further, I tapped around the region with my finger . Everytime I tapped one corner of one of a particular processor-style chip the dash would cut out (go blank). I barely had to touch the corner. It was unmistakably consistant. I narrowed it down further to one pin on that microchip. Touch that pin [with a plastic instrument] it would go blank or flicker.

      [B]Making the repair:
      I moved the whole dash assembly taped onto the 3' board into the shop and prepared to resolder that pin. Before soldering, I carefully chipped the clear circuit board protective spray coating (prevent's condensation problems) away from that portion of the chip. I carefully resoldered not applying too much heat (which could damage the microchip) and connected the dash to the car again. I was not able to make it "blank out" again. I heated the all circuit boards again with the hair dryer and was not able to get the dash to go out. Interestingly, the chip I resoldered resides next to the power regulator heat-sink (behind the HVAC Controls) when installed in the cluster housing. The heat produced by the regulator would cause a minor amount of expansion which would move the poorly soldered joint enough to break the power connection and cause the dash to blank-out.

      The repair has been a success so far. So, guys, there you have it - an example of how a specific oft-used electronic trouble-shooting technique was used to isolate and resolve a pesky digital cluster problem. It only took me about 15 minutes to locate the problem once I got the dash dissassembled.


      Other things to look at:
      There are a bunch of electrolytic capacitors and what looks like a switching or regulating transistor on the power regulating portion of the cluster (behind the A/C controls). I can see how these could be a source of cluster problems that one would want to investigate in the course of a digital dash diagnosis. Capacitors often leak and/or dry up over time. These are high quality capacitors but 10 years is a long time for these and cars get hot in the summer. Look for leaky or bulging (tops) features. They could easily be unsoldered and replaced if found to be faulty (capacitors are marked for size and capacity). Newark is a good place to buy replacements electronic parts.
  • Bobbo
    Bobbo - 2007 Cadillac Escalade - Body & Interior - 1/25/2012
    How do you replace the outside door handle, driverside rear.
     
    • ARMY OF 4 TIRES
      1/25/2012 ARMY OF 4 TIRES
      you have to take the interior door panel off to get to it, I've always been able to figure out how to replace door handles on many vehicles just by looking at how they're connected but don't know specifics of this one
      ARMY OF 4 TIRES
      1/26/2012 Bobbo
      Thanks, I guess I will just have to do it.
  • Moochie
    Moochie - 1996 Cadillac Fleetwood - Body & Interior - 1/20/2012
    Problem with electric system.
    Head lights and interior lights stay on after truning off the ingnition. Also my keyless remote is not working. I had to remove the circuit breaker for the headligts and the fuse for the interior lights to turn them off. Anhy ideas?
     
    • cad
      11/10/2010 cad
      replace breaker
    • Moochie
      1/20/2012 Moochie
      Apparently the theft deteremnt module goes hay wire every now and then. Unplug the module and reconnect. Give it about a minute. The module is located under the rear window shelf. You have to lot the cover for the rear window break lights. Module is not easy to remove, must have a lot of patience
  • Moochie
    Moochie - 1996 Cadillac Fleetwood - Body & Interior - 1/20/2012
    Driver seat went hay wire!
    After getting in the car and startting the dirver seat moved all the way forward and up. The passenger seat works fine, Turned the engine off and restyarted,. but nothinng changed.. I was unabke to move the driver seat with the controls. Managed to squezze out ...
     
    0 answer
  • Estelle
    Estelle - 1985 Cadillac Eldorado - Body & Interior - 1/15/2012
    What is the color of the original VIN plate located on the dash
     
    • Spoon Sports
      10/3/2011 Spoon Sports
      Well, in my friends caddy it was grey. Im curious as to why you wanna know it though

      Please do not reply by clicking "Reply". reply by clicking "Answer Question" so it will reflect in my INBOX so i can get back to you if something comes up. If you post a comment, it will not appear on my inbox and i wont be able to follow your question.
    • CAD1G
      1/15/2012 CAD1G
      GREY OR LIKE A DULL METALLIC, ITS NOT VIEWABLE INSIDE THE CAR DASH ITS ON THE DRIVER SIDE AT THE BOTTOM OF THE WINDSHIELD BY THE CORNER. LOOKING AT IT FROM THE OUTSIDE .