QuestionThank you. I appreciate your in-put.
It went to the local Cadillac dealer who called to tell me that particular computer module would need to be replaced since it's "burnt out". They're doing that today. It will be expensive.
My follow-up question is: Since it wasn't smoking before that first mechanic installed a fuse, could he have installed a wrong fuse, causing burn-out of the whole module? The smoking started as soon as he put in a new fuse.
If so, how could that be confirmed, if at all?
Thanks again.
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Followup To
Question -
It has just over 63,000 miles. I bought it from Cadillac dealership a year ago.
Yesterday, the key fob wouldn't unlock the doors, plus there was no A/C, no power windows, and some of the dash information was missing - no gas gauge, A/C info, etc.
I took it to a local repair shop with ASE Cert. mechanics. They did diagnosic, replaced a fuse, and it started smoking. They removed the fuse, kept it overnight, and might have to send it to the Cadillac dealership today for repair if they can't find the problem.
What would cause that? It's obviously electrical. It ran, turn signals work, some dash info worked (gear setting & speedometer).
Answer -
Hi Dee, Lets start with the keyfob first. Depending upon how many times it was used the battery could be weak, the keyfob might be defective or it just needs to get reprogrammed because the module forgot its code. The easiest and first thing to do is replace the battery and then try to reprogram the remotes. You will need both remotes if doing the reprogramming. The dealer has a tool that can tell if the remote is still working and I believe that useing the factory scan tool there is a place that can be accessed to tell if the module is recieveing the unlock signal or not.
The rest of the problems are electrical and each one needs to be tested individually to determine what the problem is. It could be as simple as a fuse/fuse link, a ground wire for the componants or in the case of part of the dash not displaying a defective part.
Without knowing what fuse was installed and where the smoke came from it would be tough for me to give an answer for that except to say that fuses are designed to protect a circuit or electrical part and will go open usually before any part smokes. I have seen where smoke can come from the steering column due to grease on the contacts of the turn signal switch or wiper switch but they have to be in operation first. Hopefully the tech can figure this one out but it does sound like there will be some time spend doing electrical checks wether by this shop or the dealer tech to find out all the problems.
I hope I was of some help. Bill
AnswerHi Dee, After thinking about this alittle more and again not knowing which module went up in smoke here are the possabilities.
1) The module started to go bad and the fuse blew without seeing any smoke but the circuit board damage had been done. Then after installing the fuse the module was already shorted out or damaged and it smoked without blowing the fuse or the tech removed the fuse before it blew once he saw the smoke.
2) Something caused the module to smoke and if the cause isn't found the replacement module will smoke also. A good example is the canister purge solinoid shorted out and caused the first ECM/engine computor to go bad without seeing any smoke. When that happened it set a code. The tech just grabbed another ECM and plugged it in without testing the resistance of the solinoid and within 10 seconds the new ECM smoked because of the shorted solinoid.
3) Then there is a possability that the tech was testing incorrectly and when he plugged in the fuse that caused the module to smoke.
I would wait and see what happens after the replacement module has been installed and tested. If it goes up in smoke then there is definitely something causeing that and the tech needs to find and fix it before another module is installed. The one that smoked would be on the shop/free to you but I would expect you to pay for the part or wire repair that caused the modules to smoke. Bill
