[ciaramita]

Ok, my car is having some problems. First the service electrical light came on and the cruise control, heated seats & traction control stopped working. The other day the car died whil I was driving and now today it wouldn't start. I took 3 tries to get the car running. I checked the error codes and there was a bunch.

Class 2 Communication Loss with right door module
Class 2 short to battery


Now just tonight after it wouldn't start the service engine light came on. Any ideas on what could be causing this? Also, would it hurt to drive it another 100 miles or so, since I couldn't get it into the shop until Friday.

Thanks for your help!

 

[Ur7x]

Are those the only two codes? Looks like you might have a short somewhere in your electical system. (my wife would say... well duh!)

First I would clean both the battery terminals and where the main ground attaches to the body under your back seat... If your sun roof ever leaked, water can get under the back seat and cause a whole host of problems.

Check the relays back there too...

Clear the codes drive it a short distance and see which re-occure...

Good Luck!

 

[Ranger]

Yeah, check the battery cables. A corroded cable can cause all sorts or wierd electrical gremlins.

 

[ciaramita]

A guy from the Cadillac dealership said it was the crankshaft sensors and for 2 of them it would be $300 for parts/labor. Does this sound correct or are they trying to juice me?

 

[Ur7x]

First, a bad crank sensor(s) will usually throw a PCM code something like a P0385...

Second, GM got a bad batch of sensors for the '00 and '01 model years, by the time our '02s were built most of the sensors were good and should be OK Do you know the "in service" date of the car? Is it an early '02? if it is you might have a bad pair of sensors...

Third, I did replace the sensors on my very early '02... It is not an easy job, but it can be done by a home mechanic with basic tools... The sensors retail for about $50 each so your dealer is quoting you about $200 in labor... This is a little steep as this is no more than a 60 minute job...

Is this an ongoing problem or is it intermittent? If your not the type to crawl under your new Caddy then I would throw the $300 at the dealer...IF they will guarantee that this will solve the problem...

How many miles are on the car? Isn't it still under warranty?

 

[mcowden]

A guy from the Cadillac dealership said it was the crankshaft sensors and for 2 of them it would be $300 for parts/labor. Does this sound correct or are they trying to juice me?

The crank sensors will definitely cause it to stall and not restart, and $300 is probably about right to have them replaced at a dealership. The problem will be that the crank sensors aren't going to fix your cruise, traction control, or heated seats. It sounds like there is a problem with the wiring, and it could be as simple as a shorted wire in the harness to the right door. "Class 2" refers to a serial bus that connects various modules together in the car. If there is a bad module or a pinched wire somewhere, all sorts of weird things can happen because lots of different control modules communicate across the class 2 serial bus. If it's out of commission, the results can be very bizarre. The dealership's diagnosis of that problem will probably cost more than the crank position sensors, but the sensors definitely need to be done. If I was you, I would demand an estimate for the cost of repairing the other problems, then post their estimate here and get some feedback on that number before giving them the go ahead.