growe3 Posted August 30, 2004 Report Share Posted August 30, 2004 Trouble Symptoms: 1. Occasional ignition miss/roughness. 2. Persistent transmission error code P056. 3. Security light would flash/flicker 4. No start!! Blown 10-amp (Crank) fuse, in trunk fuse block. 5. While waiting at stop sign all power went off. Checks for Symptoms Above: 1. Checked all obvious ignition connections, all were good. 2. Cleared code P056; it would reappear within a block or so. 3. Checked the Pass Key connections and starter relay connections, all were good. 4. Replaced with another fuse, it also blew. Used a 20-amp fuse car started. Got it home and replaced the fuse with a 10-amp and all was fine (?). 5. Waited a few seconds and car started right up, drove home no problems. I felt I must have a loose ground or shorting wire somewhere, but where. Since it seemed to be associated with the ignition I thought I would start looking in that area, got lucky. I had my wife watch the instrument panel as I moved the wiring harness around to see if any thing would show up. No evidence of any problems. One of the wire harness bundles was resting on the rear cam cover, on the right side of the engine. Seemed a little bit of tight fit so I decided to just pull it up and secure it with a nylon tie. When I lifted it up I felt roughness on the bottom of the bundle. Upon examination the raised “Firing Order” letters and numbers had chafed away the electrical tape and completely worn through the insulation on a wire; causing an intermittent short to the cam cover. This chafed area was very hard to see but by taking a digital picture and blowing it up on my computer it was an obvious problem. Solution: 1. Re-taped the wire bundle, placed a section of plastic wire protection sleeve over the area and secured all with nylon tie straps. No more error codes or Security light warnings. If you are having some similar problems try examing the wiring harness, under the hood, for chafing. It could be from the bottom as in my case or from the side by tubes, sharp edges or raised edges as my problem turned out to be. -George Drive'em like you own 'em. - ....................04 DTS............................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CadiKing Posted August 30, 2004 Report Share Posted August 30, 2004 growe3, You are the MAN! Nice job, quick work! To what do you credit your immediate success... How did you know where to look...? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
growe3 Posted August 30, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2004 To what do you credit your immediate success... How did you know where to look...? Well I wouldn't call it immediate success. It has been bugging me for a couple of months, but only got moved to Top Priority when I began having a starting problem. As the problem was intermittent I assumed a poor connection, although I did not anticipate wires chafed through. I was expecting to find a loose ground wire or an electrical connection not plugged in tightly. Under the hood is the location where more things are subjected to extremes of heat, moisture and being handled. Wire looms are often pulled out of the way to access other items being worked on and once displaced can be easily damaged. So I would say it was part good luck and part years of previous experience. Drive'em like you own 'em. - ....................04 DTS............................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
unc25 Posted August 30, 2004 Report Share Posted August 30, 2004 I have a similar problem... When I am driving at night with my lights on, and I come to a stop my volts drop from 14.5 to about 13.7 and everything dims, and yesterday in the rain with my wipers on and the lights on when I stopped the radio shut off and then came on again. Some guys said I had a short somewhere, but I havent gone out to look at the car, b/c I have no idea of where to look, I guess under the hood would be a good place to start though.. Thanx Robert Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
growe3 Posted August 30, 2004 Author Report Share Posted August 30, 2004 I have a similar problem... When I am driving at night with my lights on, and I come to a stop my volts drop from 14.5 to about 13.7 and everything dims, and yesterday in the rain with my wipers on and the lights on when I stopped the radio shut off and then came on again. Some guys said I had a short somewhere, but I havent gone out to look at the car, b/c I have no idea of where to look, I guess under the hood would be a good place to start though.. Thanx Robert Some voltage drop is normal. 13.7 at idle is reasonable; the 14.5 rate indicates your battery wants/needs more power. If your battery is good this is a little high for normal charging. If your lights are dimming, I would suspect either a battery going bad or your battery connections need to be cleaned. If your battery is not to old, start with cleaning the battery terminals and cable connections. Always remove the NEGATIVE terminal first to avoid any shorting out by a wrench. Use a brass wire brush and plenty of soap and water. The battery terminals AND the cable connections and the bolts should all be cleaned to bright metal. Note that the positive terminal is a DUAL cable connection; be sure to clean between the cable ends. Remove the ground connection to the block right across from the battery, clean and reconnect. Blot dry and reconnect; connecting the NEGATIVE cable last. Use a strong solution of dishwashing detergent and hot water to wash down the serpentine belt; rinse thoroughly. Allow 20 minutes of driving to see if the charge rate is sufficient. If you still have a significant light dimming problem, have your battery LOAD tested, this is the best way to see if a cell is failing). Most places will not charge for this test, it only takes a few seconds to test (try SEARS or other similar store). -George Drive'em like you own 'em. - ....................04 DTS............................ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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