I have a 2006 DTS with 17500 miles. I bought it used with about 9500 miles. I am now in Springfield, MO.,1500 miles away from my home in Washington state. My car is in a cadillac dealer's shop for the 4th or fifth( I've lost track) time in a week and a half. Prior to my arrival here it was in two other dealers shops on the way here.
The first issue on this trip was a failure to start. A negative battery cable was thought to be the problem. Evidently it wasn't as it didn't start at the next stop. The next diagnosis was a wiring issue behind the backseat, something to do with the heated seats. I was assured that would solve the starting problem. 150 miles later the ABS light, airbag light, traction control light came on as I arrived in Springfield. I also was receiving several messages such as "service airbag system, service suspension, parking assist disabled" and others I don't recall. I also realized I had no turn signals, no power windows, no radio, and all the gages were flat. I found the local dealer and took it in. They did provide a rental car. They kept it a day and called the next day saying they had repaired a wiring problem. I picked it up and drove back to where I was staying....35 miles. As I went off the highway all the same lights went on and the same messages appeared. All the same problems as I mentioned before. I returned to the dealer and left the car again. they had it for three days. The replaced the body control module and and the ignition switch this time. I drove it about two blocks before all of the same problems reappered!
The technician at the dealer here says it is a nightmare and basically is saying he doesn't know what the problem is. I have called Cadillac customer assistance once prior to the last visit and once just yesterday afternoon after this last issue. They said they have to talk to the service manager before they can do anything and that won't occur until at least Monday.
I have a feeling they won't do much. Maybe some of you could give me an idea of what they might do.
I would just like to get the car home and have my dealer there work on it.

I also thought someone might have some idea of what is going on with this car.
Thanks in advance for your help

Gary

Gary,

I'm really sorry to hear about the trip from hell. It's hard to say what the root of the problem might be. As cars get more complex and the electrical systems get tied closer and closer to each other, a minor fault in one causes the whole system to go ape. I don't know what the laws are in Washington state, but if the dealer is unable to correct the same problem after multiple tries, some states have lemon laws that require the manufacturer to buy the car back. I know GM has an arbitration program designed to deal with these types of issues. The process is detailed somewhere in the owner's manual. You may want to review it and then pursue that route.

Out of curiosity, was this a car a rental in it's prior life? It seems to have an awful lot of miles for being only a year old. Hope everything works out in the end. Good luck.

Craig

If this car did not have a previous lightning strike, then maybe it needs one.

Sorry for your problems.

Ed

If you bought it new, I forsee GM buying this back at some point.

If you bought it new, I forsee GM buying this back at some point.

Agreed. This kind of issue recurrence is definitely one that usually leads to a buy back arrangement--moreso if you're vocal about it. They realize you shouldn't have to drive around a new $50k car that won't run or has things that don't work, and a lot of times the dealer is receptive enough of this that they'll handle the whole process for you without a fight.

lemmon law
start looking up all you can on it..

As far as I know Lemon Laws only apply to NEW CARS.

9500 miles is low mileage for a fleet (rental) car. My 2006 has had some electrical hiccups with idiot lights and door lock issues occurring very intermitently. Even the coutresy lights at the bottom of the front doors stayed on one night after closing the doors and driving several miles. After turning the car off and restarting these things seemed to reset themselves. All in all they seem to have completely diminished at 4500 miles and were never anywhere close to what you have described. I wonder if yours has been "in the water"... like, under the water? I would think that the dealer mechanics might recognize this hoepfully. Just a wild guess.

You will survive this episode

Draw comfort and encouragement from this fourm's members

You may have already tried the following .

remove rear seat bench cushion . Look for corrosion on cables , disconnect clean w baking soda . While disconnected lift battery look for holes in floor if no plastic tray installed ( really Rare) Look for silt, light tan or reddish dirt.where batery was sitting.
If car was in 2" ft of water there will be a trace under rear seat Clean up department sometimes overlooks this spot. I suspect you are all clean under the seat and this exercise will remove any doubts.

From a noted auto electrical diagnostic company in St. Louis another overlooked item are electrical relays mounted in behind the back seat upright panel, access from trunk , remove covering. there is a rack of relays that get lazy , causing intermittent and crazy electrical problems. They are cheap about 20- 25 $ each but owners are only on to this after spending hundreds of dollars chasing the gremlins.

Ask about an electrical specialist that the dealers take their unsolveable jobs to have repaired.

The computers iin your cars are almost bullet proof. look for something very simple. They love to be grounded, there may be 5 -7 grounds.

What color is your DTS ?

Regards
gradyb

Maybe a sandy, silty brown?

As far as I know Lemon Laws only apply to NEW CARS.

Thats right, he said he bought this car USED with 9500 miles. The lemon law may or may not apply here, but GM does NOT have to buy it back once the ownership has been transferred. At most the dealer who sold it to him will have to give him his money back.

If someone dumped the car at 9500 miles, Id be very curious as to WHY.

Can you say Blub, Blub, Blub?

gradyb is right on, it turned out to be a pin in one of the connectors behind the back seat. Left missouri last tuesday, made it home with no problems. Cadillac is being very helpful and is offering some reimbursement for all the expense and trouble.
My car color is gold.
I really love the car, it drives so very nice. For the 4000 miles I drove on this trip Gas mileage was 24.4 mpg.
Much of the trip was 75-80 mph.
Thanks for all the help

Also, battery compartment is clean, no residue from water and It was a rental car before I bought.

gradyb is right on, it turned out to be a pin in one of the connectors behind the back seat. Left missouri last tuesday, made it home with no problems. Cadillac is being very helpful and is offering some reimbursement for all the expense and trouble.
My car color is gold.
I really love the car, it drives so very nice. For the 4000 miles I drove on this trip Gas mileage was 24.4 mpg.
Much of the trip was 75-80 mph.
Thanks for all the help

glad you got your solution. hope this doesnt give you a negative outlook on cadillac or domestic vehicles in general. if its not too much trouble ask to fill out a satisfaction survey from the cadillac dealer/dealers that helped you out. (fill it out honestly)

we have to motivate our domestic companies to keep providing good service, let them know we appreciate it. lets get our domestic companies back to number 1

I just had the same exact problem happen to me on my brand new 07 DTS. We traveled from Denver to Springfield, Illinois. Out in the middle of nowhere all of the sudden every electrical item in the car quit working. The air conditioning no longer worked and we could not put the windows down. We could not open the trunk to get our stuff as the '07 has no key hole. No speedometer, no gas gauge, no nav, no audio, no turn signals or brake lights, no nothing. We couldn't even use OnStar when we needed it the most as the power to it was lost as well. I did not shut the engine off and it continued to run. When I finally did shut it down at the dealer some 90 miles later it would not restart. I thought I was going to pass out from the heat in the car along the way. I considered breaking out a window. I was just happy the seat was not in the easy exit mode.
Anyway, we got it to a great dealer in Springfield, Il (Landmark Cadillac). They could not figure it out the first day but called Cadillac tech support the next morning and had it fixed in an hour. The problem was traced to a wire bundle in the steering column. One of the wires in the bundle was shorting out on some metal bracket. The service manager said their were others doing the same thing and that was how they knew how to fix it quickly.
We did get to see some great things in Springfield we were not planning on visiting and all worked out well.
JS

I have a 2006 DTS with 17500 miles. I bought it used with about 9500 miles. I am now in Springfield, MO.,1500 miles away from my home in Washington state. My car is in a cadillac dealer's shop for the 4th or fifth( I've lost track) time in a week and a half. Prior to my arrival here it was in two other dealers shops on the way here.
The first issue on this trip was a failure to start. A negative battery cable was thought to be the problem. Evidently it wasn't as it didn't start at the next stop. The next diagnosis was a wiring issue behind the backseat, something to do with the heated seats. I was assured that would solve the starting problem. 150 miles later the ABS light, airbag light, traction control light came on as I arrived in Springfield. I also was receiving several messages such as "service airbag system, service suspension, parking assist disabled" and others I don't recall. I also realized I had no turn signals, no power windows, no radio, and all the gages were flat. I found the local dealer and took it in. They did provide a rental car. They kept it a day and called the next day saying they had repaired a wiring problem. I picked it up and drove back to where I was staying....35 miles. As I went off the highway all the same lights went on and the same messages appeared. All the same problems as I mentioned before. I returned to the dealer and left the car again. they had it for three days. The replaced the body control module and and the ignition switch this time. I drove it about two blocks before all of the same problems reappered!
The technician at the dealer here says it is a nightmare and basically is saying he doesn't know what the problem is. I have called Cadillac customer assistance once prior to the last visit and once just yesterday afternoon after this last issue. They said they have to talk to the service manager before they can do anything and that won't occur until at least Monday.
I have a feeling they won't do much. Maybe some of you could give me an idea of what they might do.
I would just like to get the car home and have my dealer there work on it.

I also thought someone might have some idea of what is going on with this car.
Thanks in advance for your help

Gary

I suspect this car had similar problems prior to your purchase. It would be interesting to talk with the shops that previously repaired it.

At this point, I recommend that you get the Springfield srvc mgr to involve the regional expertise. Also, some phone calls to a large dealership, perhaps in St. Louis or Sewell in Dallas, where the mechanics have likely seen these kind of problems.

Good luck.

I just had the same exact problem happen to me on my brand new 07 DTS. We traveled from Denver to Springfield, Illinois. Out in the middle of nowhere all of the sudden every electrical item in the car quit working. The air conditioning no longer worked and we could not put the windows down. We could not open the trunk to get our stuff as the '07 has no key hole. No speedometer, no gas gauge, no nav, no audio, no turn signals or brake lights, no nothing. We couldn't even use OnStar when we needed it the most as the power to it was lost as well. I did not shut the engine off and it continued to run. When I finally did shut it down at the dealer some 90 miles later it would not restart. I thought I was going to pass out from the heat in the car along the way. I considered breaking out a window. I was just happy the seat was not in the easy exit mode.
Anyway, we got it to a great dealer in Springfield, Il (Landmark Cadillac). They could not figure it out the first day but called Cadillac tech support the next morning and had it fixed in an hour. The problem was traced to a wire bundle in the steering column. One of the wires in the bundle was shorting out on some metal bracket. The service manager said their were others doing the same thing and that was how they knew how to fix it quickly.
We did get to see some great things in Springfield we were not planning on visiting and all worked out well.
JS


Why didn't you just pick up your cellphone and call Roadside Assistance???