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0% Oil Life indicator, Trouble starting '96 SLS N*


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or past due, occasionally as I attempt to crank my '96 SLS the oil life indicator will suddenly pop up and read 0%. The car then will not start unless I pump the gas and hold the pedal down once started until the engine redlines a few times. I went to the service manager at the local Cadillac dealership and he says he has never heard of such a thing and hasn't the slightest idea what could be wrong. Please Help! Thank You, Chris

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The first thing I would do is check the battery cables, particularly the positive cable where it bolts to the battery. It has three connectors sandwiched together inside the red plastic; gently pry them out and clean them. If that doesn't do it, read the OBD codes. Here's how:

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Post them here; these will likely tell what is the problem.

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or past due, occasionally as I attempt to crank my '96 SLS the oil life indicator will suddenly pop up and read 0%. The car then will not start unless I pump the gas and hold the pedal down once started until the engine redlines a few times. I went to the service manager at the local Cadillac dealership and he says he has never heard of such a thing and hasn't the slightest idea what could be wrong. Please Help! Thank You, Chris

As noted, carefully check all of the main battery connections.

The scary thing that you mention:

"I went to the service manager at the local Cadillac dealership and he says he has never heard of such a thing and hasn't the slightest idea what could be wrong."

Find another dealer.

The dealerships should have all of the equipment, and expertise, to diagnose the problems with these cars.

"Pumping the gas" on a fuel injected system does not pump any gas into the engine. It simply opens and closes the throttle plate; nothing else.

Holding the gas pedal solidly to the floor on the other hand does do something. Similar to a carburated system, the throttle plate will be forced wide open, allowing lots of air into a flooded intake. It also will temporarily prevent the system from adding any more fuel, until it senses the gas pedal returning to a less than full throttle position.

Problems similar to yours, almost always leads to poor electrical connections. The battery connections are first on the list, again as noted be sure to separate the positive terminal cables, to verify "bright metal" contact.

With the car running and watching the dashboard, have a friend wiggle and tug, on various parts of the wiring looms and connections, noting any differences from the dash. Fix poor or damaged connections as required.

-George

Drive'em like you own 'em. - ....................04 DTS............................

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or past due, occasionally as I attempt to crank my '96 SLS the oil life indicator will suddenly pop up and read 0%. The car then will not start unless I pump the gas and hold the pedal down once started until the engine redlines a few times. I went to the service manager at the local Cadillac dealership and he says he has never heard of such a thing and hasn't the slightest idea what could be wrong. Please Help! Thank You, Chris

This is very odd, because, if I am NOT mistaken, the OIL LIFE DATA is located in NON VOLITILE memory and if the battery is disconnected it should NOT be affected. Call up your codes and see if you are getting any. As George noted, pumping the gas on FUEL INJECTED cars should do NOTHING, it is holding the pedal down that is causing it to start, holding the pedal down shuts off the injectors.

It sounds like you are flooding. Check your fuel pressure regulator (FPR) to see if you have fuel at the vacuum hose with the key off and with the engine idling. It sounds like you are flooding

Pre-1995 - DTC codes OBD1  >>

1996 and newer - DTC codes OBD2 >> https://www.obd-codes.com/trouble_codes/gm/obd_codes.htm

How to check for codes Caddyinfo How To Technical Archive >> http://www.caddyinfo.com/wordpress/cadillac-how-to-faq/

Cadillac History & Specifications Year by Year  http://www.motorera.com/cadillac/index.htm

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You only have two posts so I have to ask what may seem like silly questions. Do you know how to reset the Oil Life Monitor? And does the hard starting only occur after the OLM shows 0%?

"Burns" rubber

" I've never considered myself to be all that conservative, but it seems the more liberal some people get the more conservative I become. "

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You might be on to something here Regis. The second part of the heading, "It doesn't matter if it's brand new" was my first clue. The fact that there have been no other replies for a while on this thread................

Anyway, it seems there are a couple of other factors here causing the hard starting, all unrelated to the OLM.

Never underestimate the amount of a persons greed.

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