Hi all
I just posted this in the seville eldo section and got a response from ranger as possible gnd issue.

Okay, I talked to my buddy, the sls is at his shop, and he said that the control head seems to be unresponsive. It happened the other night when we drove the car to his shop. But as we were driving it everything on the control head seemed to come up and worked,ie the metric/eng, the distance, the temp and defog/defrost buttons all started working, but the blower didn't seem to blow. So what do you think about the control head not working then working after a while driving and now sitting two days it seems confused again? Could it just be from the battery being dead for 12 months? Is it something that will come back once we get driving? I still think I need a blower motor,but am a little concerned about the control head.

I just got the car and it has sat for about a year. It only has 68K on it but the battery was dead for quite some time. Does it take time to get the computer back up after sitting dead so long?
Does anyine have any other ideas? I will be at the car on
Thurs and will check all the gnds but just figured I'd see if anyone had anything else.

Thanks Ed

Just to continue with this issue. I drove the car home last night, about 1 1/2 hrs(70 miles). After about 20 mins the cluster started working, all the buttons respond and the DIC works and the envir. controls work. And it all continued working the whole way home. Shut the car off and restarted and it worked. So when I got up this morning I kinda figured it wouldn't work, but it did to my suprise.
So is there a battery somewhere in the cluster that retains the info Like metric and english, cause it almost seems like it takes a while for the computer to figure out what it should do with the cluster controls? Is it possible the battery or whatever retains the info for or in the cluster has been recharging while I was driving it?

I am happy it doesn't seem like a hard fail, I would just like to know if it will remain fixed or if there something I can do to assist in fixing.

Thanks Ed

Somewhere in your DIC (Driver Information Center) - instrument panel/control head - there's a KAM (Keep Alive Memory). That uses an internal lithium battery to maintain settings, as well as other "flash" memory capacitors in various modules. It's entirely possible, with everything dead for a year, that the modules are "waking up" and, if everything appears OK now, you should have no problems BUT there may be a couple of modules that take time to fully recover, so give it all a week or so................

Hey 409
Thanks for the info.
I went out a little while ago and it was back to un-responsive and Metric.
Is there something,ie battery or cap, that I should think about replacing? I am assuming that the key needs to be in the run position for these to wake up? Just having the battery charged isn't enough right? The car is not going to be on the road for about 2 weeks, so should I through a trickle charger on it and then leave the key in the on position?

Thanks again Ed

If the battery currently in the car is the one that sat, dead, for a year, it's toast. No ifs, ands or buts. New battery time. When a lead-acid battery sits discharged for any length of time the sulphuric acid in the electrolyte is deposited on the plates as a gelled lead sulphate. If not quickly driven back into solution by charging, the sulphate turns rock-hard and effectively prevents charging the battery, and then there's nothing to be done short of scrapping the battery.

Do NOT leave the car with the ignition switch on. With key OFF these cars have a constant 15 - 30 milliAmp battery discharge caused by various modules "saving their brains". That is sufficient to maintain the system status quo.

If you hook up a battery "charger" make sure it is a newer "smart" charger or battery maintainer, not an older ferroresonant "trickle" charger. The newer chargers will not ruin a battery if left hooked up for any period of time - an older charger will boil the battery dry in a few days.

ANY of our Cadillacs will benefit from hooking up a small battery maintainer if the car is left for more than 6 days. Google "guest battery charger" or "xantrex battery charger" or something like "battery maintainer" and read up on the possibilities.

EDIT: A fully charged battery will not freeze. A discharged battery has essentially distilled water in it (see the lead sulphate description above) and will freeze at 28 degrees.

409 thanks again for the reply.
The battery is brand new, put it in last Friday. So the lithium battery and the other componants will wake up by just having the battery fully charged? or It seems like they only get refreshened or recharged when the key is in the on position, like while you are driving. So is it just a matter of the car needing to be driven for more then a day here and there to reliven everything?

Thanks again

This is a SWAG (Scientific Wild A$$ Guess) but try driving the car fairly frequently for a week or so after you return. If you can, leave it hooked to a battery maintainer for the two weeks.

The car cannot recharge a lithium memory battery, and getting inside the DIC to find out if there even is one is shop manual territory. Entirely possible that your DIC has a flash memory capacitor that will recharge and wake up after use. Different vehicles used different Keep Alive Memory techniques, and your 1995 GM Shop Manual may tell you what you're up against.

Hey 409
Thanks again for the info. I don't have a manual yet but it is on the very short list of things needed immediately. Thanks again Ed

Well having the car home, I have been able to work out some of the small issues. I noticed the bolt that holds the donut down in the trunk was REAL rusty. I had to cut it out and replace it. Also the trunk latch would sometimes go down and other times just latch but not lower, So I removed it took it apart, regreased and cleaned the contacts on the switch and all better. So i thought about all the moisture that must have been in the trunk all these years and decided to crawl in and unplug and replug every componant in the trunk, and.... The dash works NOW. I tried it about 25 times and it is continueing to work. I don't know what any of the things I unplugged were, but it works.

Thanks for all your help.

Well that was short lived. Went out the next morning and right back to metric and not working. The next thing i will try is: When I put in an aftermarket stereo, because the original was all static and a cassette, I ran the adapter harness to the front, but the yellow wire(constant power) was dead. So now I want to see if i can get that powered, and MAYBE it also sends constant power to the IPC???????????

I keep ya all informed.

I just got the Service Manuals today, and found the area about the IPC diag. When they say to "Backprobe following IPC connector cavities for voltage to gnd * A1, A2, C12, and C14 (10 volts or more)" are they talking the Back of the instrument panel itself or id there a module or box they are expecting me to probe? Also do they want the connectors to be connected when checking for the voltage,or should I unplug them and check at the plug?

I'm trying.
Ed

I am going to replace the cluster with one from a junk yard. Does anyone know if there will be any kind of progamming needed once I put it in?

Any help would be appreciated.
Thanks Ed

Hi
Not that there seems to be a lot of interest in this post, but I figured I'd keep ya filled in. I received the cluster from the junk yard and put it in last night. All seems to be working, will continue to check over the next couple of days before assembling the dash. Does anyone know who rebuilds these clusters? Is it a GM thing or are there outside people who do it?

Thanks Ed

Three days and all is well. The replacement cluster I got was a digital one, the one in the car was analog. No problem swapping it and no programming needed. I have located a couple of companies for fixing my old cluster. I have emailed them and am waiting for a reply.

Later Ed