Finished up the ISS replacement over the weekend. The total job took me about 18 hrs. Not too bad for a DIY on jacks I think, considering the dealer estimates 12 hrs. No major problems... pretty straight forward tear down and put back type of thing. No stuck bolts or anything. The killer is when I started it back up, I took it around the block for a test drive and noticed I had low voltage. Thought I forgot to reconnect the alternator or something. Took it back into the garage, and heard ele
Today I started to tackle the one remaining big problem on the car - replacing the ISS sensor. In 8 hours of work, I got it totally torn down and the bad sensor out. It measured 650,000 ohms, and spec is 13950-1950, so it was definitely bad. Some fun pics:
After I listed it for sale, I decided to tinker with trying to fix the broken turn signals issue. Unbelievably, by troubleshooting the electrical circuits for the turn signal system, I found that it actually shares a common +12v supply with the EBTCM! (maxifuse batt #3). Found that there was green corrosion on the fuse, and it was only putting through about 3v, instead of 12. Cleaned and wire brushed the connectors, verified +12v, and now BOTH my turn signals, AND EBTCM work!! No more traction
Got the steering column put back together with the new lock cylinder. Got new key cut at dealership... slapped it all together and everything works FINE. Spent most of today getting the car looking nice for a photo shoot. Full exterior wash, interior vacuuming, leather treatment, armor-all dash. Shine tires. Looks great. Took lots of pics and posted it for sale. http://www.jcob2.com/cadillac4sale.htm Asking $2,500, which I think is quite fair considering the bluebook is $3,855 and it could u
Took the steering column apart last night. It was quite the pain in the arse. I'm very glad I had the FSM for this, or I would have been lost. Even with it, there were a few parts that were confusing due to the layout of the FSM. Step 1, do this, step 2, refer to section 4F3-55-6. Go to that section, and parts of it, reference a second sub-section. It gets goofy following around all these subsections of subsections, but eventually I got it straight. As with most first time repairs, I could
So the drama continues. I got the SECOND EBTCM that was sent to me installed in the car this weekend, and it STILL doesn't work. Now the guy who sold it to me off of ebay went through the trouble of even trying it out in his STS before he sent it to me and said it definitely works. Plus he's a board member here, so I trust him that it is a working part. But darn it, it sure as hell won't work in my car. I've ran through ALL the FSM diagnostics and wiring diagrams and troubleshooting trees, and
Tried my hand out at bending hard brake line last night for the first time. It was a piece of cake. The "deluxe" tube bender pliers worked really well as to not kink the line. I just mimicked the bends in the old line I cut out, and it turned out really well! I got the hard line installed and bolted up to the flexible tube feeding the caliper. Now I just need that replacement EBTCM to arrive so I can finish the job.
Over the weekend I finally go that darned EBTCM out. Ended up having to cut the hard brake line for the front left wheel because the fitting going into the EBTCM was so corroded it stripped, and was so stuck I couldn't even get it out with vice grips. Once I had the unit out, it was time to separate the abs pump from the electronic control module. Should be a piece of cake with the unit out of the car, right? wrong! Two of the four corner T30 bolts stripped out, and the main center bolt was fro
So much for the right tool getting the job done right. Went out and spent $18 on a flare wrench set specifically so I wouldn't strip any of the fittings. Got the flare wrench around the fittings, and it busted 4 of the 6 out just fine like it should have. Two others, despite being soaked real well in PB blaster, remained stuck. Eventually, the metal fitting deformed and edges rounded off before the fitting would break loose! And that's with a snug flare wrench on there!! So... got out the vic
Tried pulling the EBTCM tonight. There are 4 tiny torx screws holding the EBTCM control modue to the ABS pump. Of course with my luck, the head of one of the torx screws just sheared right off from being rusty and old. So now I gotta disconnect the 4 hard brake lines from the ABS pump, take out the WHOLE assembly, and drill out that one snapped screw. Of course this means bleeding brake lines... more work. Still gotta get those 4 hard line fittings out, which god forbid proves to be a problem. I
Finally got my wifes Monte Carlo out of the garage after a month. Replaced the head gaskets, lower intake manifold gaskets, and plugs. It had been mixing coolant and oil. Not good. Runs like a champ now. With the garage opened up, I picked up where I left off with the Caddy. Got my FSM manuals now, so I followed the diagnostic tree for my DTC73 / P1571 (ABS/TCS lights), 2nd gear start issues. Turns out it's a bad EBTCM. That doesn't suprise me much, as when I pulled off the lower radiator
One of the last things to fix on this car is the ABS/TCS lights coming on when I start the car, resulting in a 2nd gear start. Diagnositcs show no TCS data, so I believe there is something going on with the EBTCM or it's connector. Troubleshooting that without a FSM is like letting a blind person drive. It has been done, but it's not easy. (see Eye Rock 500 for a great article on blind people racing... Click here for article. I decided to hunt down the FSM, and found it on ebay for what I thi
Tonight I replaced the drivers side front and rear window motors. I got them for $19.99 each, used, off of ebay. They were so simple to install! Plugged in the new ones, and voila! The windows were fixed. If only the rest of the project should go so simply and logically. I also fudged around with my ABS/TCS light illumination issue for a few minutes. Tried messing with the ground wire, but to no avail. The system still shows "No TCS data" when I enter the code reading mode on the DIC. It's
So last night I went to shuffle around cars in the driveway, and the Caddy was dead. I'm trying to figure out what to do about the battey. When I bought the car, it has a tiny little undersized battery in it, presumably just to move it around. It was previously an auction car, so some dealer probably just threw it in there. It's like 350 CCA or something really low like that. The Caddy keeps on draining it dry when I let the car sit overnight without being hooked up to a trickle charger. Is th
The car was purchased with 2 dead electric windows, both on the drivers side. The rear one doesn't move at all, and the front one moves a few inches at a time before the motor gives out, but if you let it cool down for 10 min or so, then you can move it a few more inches again. Tonight I pulled the door panels and removed the window motors. I have got to say that it was probably the easiest window regulator replacement I have ever done. Finally, something about this car that is easy. I still
In that 1-day window of bliss where I believed that trans and motor were working in beautiful harmony, I moved on to other less demanding repairs. The car got it's first wash in a year, cleaning off my finger smudged "FIX ME" I so lovingly wrote into the settled dust on the rear windshield. I decided that I would tackle burnt-out bulb replacement, as I noticed a few were out. Upon removing all front and rear bulk assemeblies, I discovered that "few" was a poor word choice. "Dozen" was a bit c
This is really too bad that this blog feature wasn't available when I first bought this car 8 months ago, because I could have filled 100 blog pages with the things I have to say about it. But here is a quick "summary" of my Cadillac saga... In July of 2006, I was recently married and just purchased my first home. Aww, how sweet. Being a wrench-turning garage monkey most of my teenage and early 20-some years, I longed for the day when I owned my first garage. No more father yelling at me to ge
