re: Does the engine need to be running for airconditioner or fan to come on?


I have a 1993 Eldorado with Northstar.

My wife drove it yesterday and parked it in front of the house, and now it won't start.

All I get is a click when you turn to "start" position.

It has a new starter of 4 months old.

I noticed my air conditioner and interior fans don't come on either.

Does the engine need to be running for air conditioner or fan to come on?

I checked several of the the fuses and they look fine.

Tom

Got it running. It was the power cable at the battery. I had cleaned it up, but it was not tight enough.

I gave it a 1/4 turn with a 3/8 wrench just minutes ago and she started right up.

Wow am I releived.

Thats good news, this is quite common, a lot of electrical issues can often be traced to faulty battery cables.

I think I got to the bottom of that battery connection problem, as there is the bad connection from dirt and corrorion is the problem.

I took the terminal apart and looked at the back end of the SS metal pin - where it makes connection with a lead "end" piece (that you screw it back in with) that's in that rubber bushing "assembly".

It was corroded (dirty?) and blocked up good - so electrical connection was poor.

The metal pin makes most of its contact at the end where you screw it from (i.e., back into the battery + terminal).

I took a hand drill with a wire brush and put the metal pin in a vice and cleaned it all around so it looked like new - i.e., nothing but shiney metal.

I soaked the other rubber housing parts in baking soda - and cleaned up briefly.

Getting the pin to seat in the housing is a must or it won't thread back into battery.You have to apply pressure here.

I had to use a towel to screw it up tight - as I was getting shocked.

She starts up faster and better now - but only a week or so of no troubles will tell.

The battery may need replacing seeing it was probably not getting a full charge, but we shall see about this too.

Cheers


The battery says October 2005 on it - and battery's only last a year without troubles - my experience.

I'm glad that you've resolved you problem.

But I disagree with your battery statement. Only a year?
I've owned my 93 Eldo for 3 years. Before that the car came from Florida. I just traded it in last week. It came from Florida with an AC Delco battery and it never gave me problems. And it survived temperatures up to over 100F and down to -15F in the winter here.

While I don't know how old the battery was when I first got the car 3 years ago, it sure didn't look new at that time.

Peteski

RE: Better gas mileage by 20% too.

Two things about the statement above. I just viewed pictures of problems a local dealer is having with DELCO batteries, that DELCO addressed but has not fixed.

The pictures showed the battery leaking acid at the positive terminal (below where the pin bolts to the positive terminal) and the leak destroyed electrical components in the light assemblies. The head service manager showed me the pictures of the "acid eating away and destroying the parts". This was not on a Cadillac, but was a DELCO battery on another GM model.

Since grinding off the "pin" that goes into the positive terminal as described above I noticed on the dash that the average fuel economy on my 280 hp 1993 Northstar went from a constant 11.2 miles per gallon to a highway 14.4 mpg and a stop and go of 13.3 mpg.

Since the only thing done to the car was grinding down the "pin" to make the contact factory new, the mpg increase could only be this.

The low 11.2 mpg reading had been bothering me, but at least the car was starting.

I purchased a new Toyota 4 runner a year ago and have not had one problem with anything on the car.

Both my GM products have had their share of failures, but the Cadillac is not even sellable with the all the problems that occur annually.

Since she is running great (with new air compressor + new alternator 5 years old + new starter) and has just been reregistered, and passed inspection, I'll keep it as a third car, and "junk it" if the transmission solenoids fail as they did when the car was three years old.

Cadillac parts last far longer than other GM parts. The Alternator lasted about 10 years, whereas I've gone through 3 alternators on my 1995 GMC Jimmy. Never had to change the Caddy water pump either - a total surprise - as these generally last only 4 years on average on other cars (my experience).

Cadillac builds the best of the US cars, but not the best car overall.

Since I ground down that positive terminal "pin" so it shiney SS, I have had no starting problems + I'm getting 20% better gas milage. Sure wish someone would have found this earlier.

my dealer doesn't stock new battery pins, and they are not standard size.

The old "pin" was "brown/black" - until I ground away the "dirt" poor connection - that was actually keeping the car from starting at all.

Now she starts like new.