Cadillac STS Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 Comes up every time i start the car...? what do i do to fix this? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
95SLS Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 It's possible that the batt is on it's last legs and just after a drain (START) it drops enough to send the message and then gets enough juice to go out after some running. You have to do a real Bat tast that includes a gravity check, cell checks and load test after a full charge. Sometimes a single cell will fail and the bat will act good but really it's not. I used to jump the bad cell with a coat hanger. LOL but I don't suggest this on a nice car like yours as cheap as a battery is. MC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadillac STS Posted January 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 I'm thinking that i should just go to the dealer and get it checked Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadillac STS Posted January 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 I'm thinking that i should just go to the dealer and get it checked Well car died at the bowling house...LOL The air conditioner went on and the speedometer started going crazy going to 150 and back to zero while I was really going about 40mph...Everything was going haywire! I thought my car was possessed! LOL AAA charged the darn thing and it went kaput again when i got back. Luckily my father had got home and we went to the near buy kragen and bough a new battery and two quarts of Mobil 1 (car was low on oil as usual). And get this, while removing the old battery it started to rain! Is god punishing me for not going to church 3 weeks in a row? Sorry Lord I promise you I will go this week Anyway we decided not to work in the rain don’t want to F anything up...can't use the garage because we turned it into a darn mini house! Its 8:30 pm in So Cali... and i have skewl at 8 tomorrow! Man...I just don't know?? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ranger Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 I'm thinking that i should just go to the dealer and get it checked Before you do that, do the obvious. Clean and tighten the cables. If it ain't the cables or the battery then most likely the alternator is headed south. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbold1 Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 I just had the same problem 2 weeks ago and it turned out to be that my alternator was going bad. I had it replaced and everything is working great now. In my case, the battery was fine. Ordinarily I would have bought a cheap remanufactured alternator that had a lifetime warranty and then just replace it myself. However, the alternator in these cars is in a pretty tough place to reach, especially if you don't have access to a lift. That being the case, I bought the OEM A/C Delco alternator so I won't have to worry about paying for the labor again anytime soon. The aftermarket / remanufactured alternators seem to be prone to early failure --- as quick as 6 to 12 months. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadillac STS Posted January 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 i think you guys are right about the whole alternator thing, because after installing the battery, the message "battery no charge" still comes on... how much will a new alternator cost? if i were to get it at a dealership, would that be smart? I really don't have time to do it myself. i really just want it to be fixed already..this is my daily driver and i don't want to be stuck using my dads Audi..wait, that might be a good thing Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbold1 Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 My new A/C Delco alternator plus installation, etc. was right at $550. The A/C Delco alternator itself was $280. An aftermarket / remanufactured one was something like $175 with a $70 credit for returning the core. But, again, I would suggest steering clear of anything but a new A/C Delco. The original one lasted me for 110K miles and so hopefully this is one repair that I will never have to repeat again so long as I own the car assuming I may get another 100K+ out of the new alternator. I think its worth the extra money to not have to deal with this again and to not have to worry about getting stranded. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadillac STS Posted January 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 so what does this mean? Do i have to get a new alternator now? I have school tomorrow morning.. My school is about 10-15 miles from my house? Should i take the risk of getting stranded at school. i will be going straight to the dealership tomorrow afterwards, thats is if i can... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadillac STS Posted January 28, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 i dont think she'll ever be the same again ..*crying* Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
newbold1 Posted January 28, 2004 Report Share Posted January 28, 2004 Driving it is probably hit or miss. I drove my car for a week about 10 miles to my office and the "battery no charge" would come and go. The car died on me once but restarted and made it the rest of the way. Its hard to say whether you would get stuck or not. There are other potential problems that could be the culprit like bad wiring between the alternator and battery that is preventing the battery from taking a charge. But, more than likely I would bet your alternator is going bad. I took my car to a local mechanic rather than a dealership just because there is no Cadillac dealer near me. I don't think it would have made much difference in price had I gone to the dealer. On the other hand, I am not sure how long it would have taken to get my car back. The local mechanic I went to had my car finished for me just 3 hours after I dropped it off. He must have went to work on it right away. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
L-DoG Posted January 29, 2004 Report Share Posted January 29, 2004 I had the same Battery No Charg message. It turned out to be the alternator. I don't advise driving it to long without fixing it, Mine died out at the worst possible time, in below zero weather. I purchased one from the Junk Yard for $100, and kept the core. I plan on getting the core fixed and keeping it just incase. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sprucegoose Posted January 29, 2004 Report Share Posted January 29, 2004 Wow, there seems to be a rash of this problem lately. I guess the winter season (at least here in the midwest) is much harder on the batteries and charging systems! Cadillac STS, did you see my post from earlier this week? http://caddyinfo.ipbhost.com/index.php?showtopic=106 I was fortunate enough to have the problem be just the battery, but I would check your charging system. If you have a voltmeter, check the voltage across the battery terminals with it running. It should be between 14-15V. What does your DIC disaplay for volts with the car running? With my bad battery that wouldn't take a charge this was down to about 11V. Should also read at least 14V or so.. It could be just the connections, make sure and take all of the stacked positive connections completely apart and scrape and brush them good. I have a small still wire brush about the size of a toothbrush and it works excellent for this. Good luck, and hope you come out of this as good as I did! '09 Cadillac CTS-4 3.6 direct injection, 128 K mi. '15 Chevy Tahoe LTZ, 5.3i V8, 125 K mi '70 Firebird Formula 400, Bored+.04, RAIII heads, M21 4spd., in-process restoration! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cadillac STS Posted January 30, 2004 Author Report Share Posted January 30, 2004 The car is at the shop, alternator is being replaced..... also while at the dealer they said my positive wireing is "bad" and it wll go out soon he old me it's 500buks... Anyway the dealership was going to charge me $450+ for alternator and labor... So i decided to go to kragen, and they had the darn part in the store I was very happy, and they also recommended that i take my car to the shop its in right now...so 150 for alternator and 120 for labor..all this w/ a lifetime waranty Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.