QuestionMy 1994 Eldorado has some sort of wiring issue. I was driving one day and smoke started coming out of the vents as well as the trunk then all electronic info and lights didn't work and the battery keeps draing. I need to know how to remove the dashboard to access the wiring
AnswerHello,
You are much better off acquiring the factory repair manuals for this specific 16 year old car.
Although I have replaced thousands of dashes, my expertise involved just about every type of vehicle, not just Cadillacs, muchless a Sevile (sevile touring sedan-sts) of 1994 vintage.
Although, removal is not difficult, all you need to do is force something with a hidden fastener and you will destroy the dash! For me to tell you the location on every fastner, I simply no longer remember in order to be accurate.
I will tell you if the electical system is in that sever condition to run the battery down, this is a dead short and you are not looking at just some wiring repair, but major harness issues.
The battery should not go dead after a fire you discribe. Any fuses and fusible links would be blown thereby not causing any drain to the battery.
If you have a power to ground short, it is not what caused the inital smoke at the vent and trunk. This battery drain is a result from the intial problen and was caused by possible flaim impingement to the plastic wiring insulation.
If this is as bad as you discribe, once the dash is removed, chances are real good that the cost of repair far exceeds the value of the car.
It is my contention that once the dash is removed you are going to see chunks of this wiring harness melted to the steel dash support. You cannot just repair the melted section you see, further down the harness, there will be where wires melted together as well.
What concerns me is that you state smoke came out of the trunk as well. What else burned up? Did this eltrical issue take out the computers as well?
I have repaired many vehicles from wiring issues and your discription as to events leads me to believe this car is not worth fixing. I am not saying you should't try, but I am preparing you for the worse
Never leave the battery plugged in with an electrical problem.
What you can do for all the manuals to this car you need, you can go to http://www.alldata.com and pay about $25 for a 1 year membership and get hundrwds of dollars worth of information for your specific car. I make no money referring this site and it is where I would go for specific information about a specific car.
There you will find dash removal procedures as well as specific wiring circuit information for your car. Good luck!
Http://www.autotheftexpert.com
