QuestionQUESTION: Hello Sir, The patient is a 1983 4.1 liter Cadillac Eldorado with 76,000 miles. The symptoms are these:
When needing to use the car where starting and shutting it off frequently are required, lately it almost always don't immediately restart, it will just crank and makes no attempt to resert. If I let it, it will crank untill the battery goes dead. I've learned to wait from 15 minutes to 1/2 an hour and only then will it restart as if everything is OK. The codes that appear are code 15, code 52, and code 53. I replaced the coolant sensor the other day because of a surging issue the engine was having. When touching the frayed wire's on the coolant sensor the engine RPM would increase and then decrease as per moving the coolant sensor frayed wires. So I replaced the sensor along with the harness. The surging has stopped. But the no start condition is still there and the code 15 came back, even after I errased it. My diagnostic code sheet describes what the codes are and they sound like they could indeed have an impact on this no start situation. Does the possibility exist that one of these codes or the combination of all three is where the no start condition is ? Your thought's and advice are much appreciated.
Dale
ANSWER: Code 15 = open coolant sensor circuit.
Code 52 = Battery was disconnected.
Code 53 = Distributor signal interrupt.
Are you ABSOLUTELY POSITIVE that you cleared ALL the codes from the computer via the climate control panel ONLY and then turned the ignition back ON and re-checked to see what codes returned and how many TIMES each code re-appeared ?.
Tell me HOW you cleared the codes from the computer ?.
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QUESTION: Hello again Sir, As I think back on how I cleared the codes I guess I took the shortcut by disconnecting the battery for as long as it took me to replace the coolant sensor and harness, and then reconnected the battery, thinking that method would clear the code's. From your answer to my question it's apparent that was not the correct course of action to take to clear the codes. I will clear the codes as per your instructions and use the computer via the climate control panel, and I will get back to you on the results. I guess my follow up question's are: Is the intermittent won't start problem due to the fact that I did not clear the codes properly, or is code 53 telling me that there is a definate problem ? When I read those words "distrubtor signal interrupt" they speak volumes about this ongoing no start problem. In your experiences where have you found the most likely problem to be when there is a code 53?
Thank you for sticking with me on this. It's very much appreciated.
DALE
AnswerTo CLEAR the codes, Re-enter into diagnostics via the OFF and WARMER buttons and after the codes display you will see .7.0
Simultaneously push and hold the OFF and HI buttons until .0.0 appears and then release the buttons.
Turn OFF the ignition key and wait 10 seconds and then re-enter diagnostics per the OFF and WARMER buttons and tell me what codes you see and how many times you see each code.
