Hi guys,

Cadillac newbie here, just got a 1995 Eldorado Convertible and have driven it about 1000 miles so far. Well I had some codes and found a LF wheel sensor wire almost worn thru and fixed that, then saw on here that I could clear all codes if I left the battery disconnected overnight, which I did. Now the car won't start and the Twilight Sentinel, parking lightes flash a few times about every five seconds, and there is a clicking under the dash. I have power but the car doesn't even try to start. I've checked all my connections and fuses but nothing seemed out of whack. Anyone have an ideas on this. TIA!!

Eric

Do you still have access to your On-Board Diagnostic system? If you do see if there are any new stored codes then go here:
http://myweb.accessus.net/~090/dtcobd1.html to check them. Good luck!
Paul

Hi Paul,

Yes I do. The current codes are:

I033 ............... Loss of Supplemental Inflatable Restraint Data
T027 ................ LF Wheel Speed Sensor Continuity Fault
S038 ........... Electronic Level Control Exhaust Valve Short to Ground/Open
These are what I was trying to fix and thought I might have when I disconnected the battery cable overnight to clear the codes. It ran fine after the repair I did to the LF wheel cable, it just won't start after I hooked the battery back up.

More info: The clicking is more of a chime which sounds in time with the parking lights and the dash lights flashing, the green indicator light by the headlight switch is also flashing in time with the rest. I know it must be some kind of message about the Security system, ign switch or such, I just can't find any info on how to fix it. My gear shift is also moving freely, I thought it should be locked in place when the key was out of the ign. I've cleaned the neg cable on the battery and when I try to start the car the headlights stay bright so I don't think it is the battery, but of course the engine does not even attempt to turnover.

After reading other posts here, is it possible that it could be the starter solenoid or relay? While disconnecting the negative battery cable my wrench did ground and spark once or twice. Could this have blown the solenoid or a relay? I checked all Maxi and other fuses. If it is a relay how do you test those?
Thanks for the reply, Eric

Eric,

A wise, old, teacher once asked his pupils sitting before him, "How do you eat an elephant?" The class was silent for some time. When the timing appeared ripe, an obese young student belched and replied, "One piece at a time!"

This sounds a lot like a problem compounding a problem. Things went from bad to worse when you disconnected the battery, so start there, as you only have two cables to deal with. You can have an electrical path that supplies voltage that will let loose a steady stream of photons from your headlight, but won't conduct the higher current required by the starter motor to operate. Think of this as a crimped pipe. Enough water will flow through to get you wet, but you can't extinguish a fire with it. This could be caused by insufficient mechanical contact of the battery cables to the posts, or contamination at those joints. Remove the cables from the battery and get a little wooden-handled brass brush (looks like a toothbrush for pain freaks) from any hardware store, and really go over the battery posts and pinch connectors on the ends of the cables. Once you are super-sure you are getting a good electro-mechanical bond at the battery you can start troubleshooting the remaining symptoms in order of priority: 1) Power, 2) Ignition, then 3) Instrumentation.

Whenever I troubleshoot a problem and the situation goes from grim to ghastly, I always clear my brain, re-trace my steps and take a good look back to whatever area I was working on when my hopes took a turn for the worse. Re-trace yours, and tell us what you find so we can eat this elephant one piece at a time. (Burp).

CC

Hi Clarke,

Thanks for the reply, that is good advice. I do sometimes have to step away and come back later to see things in a fresh light. I had actually checked the cables and checked the voltage of the battery first, guess after a little while I was getting frustrated.

But I am happy to report that after sleeping on it I found the problem. Only having the car a week and not getting a lot of info when I bought the car I am not fully aware of all aspects of the car yet, but that the fun of making a car your own right. Anyway I remembered that it has an aftermarket alarm and radar on it and I thought the flashing lights had to be a message about something. Well first thing this morning I went out and looked under the dash, and lo and behold I found a reset button for the system, I held that in, the lights quit flashing and the car fired to life. Thanks goodness, I bought the car on Ebay and my wife was thinking I had bought a heap of problems, but other than a few issues it seems to be a solid car, we’ll see. Thanks again.

Eric