Holy cow, what an adventure a Cadillac can be. I have a 2000 Cadillac DeVille DTS.

My "Service Charging System" light has been coming on intermittently for the last couple of weeks on my 00 DeVille DTS, it would go on to say the the battery was not charging. For a while the battery would be at a lower voltage (never lower then 11.0) and then it would be back up to a normal level (around 14v)...

Tonight while driving it the battery completely stopped charging and the voltage went down to 7.1... It shut down almost everything along the way... The lights were barely on (not to mention the interior gauges had gone flat, even the mileage stopped keeping track???).

The battery holds and takes a charge - we have narrowed it down to the alternator, how can I find the alternator? Where is it located? Does anyone have a Diagram of the N* engine for the 2000 DeVille's that would show where I can find it?

Is this a repair that can be done without the need of taking it into a shop? I think that we have found the alternator (it appears to be on the passenger side of the engine towrds the front down near the bottom most portion of the engine? Is this correct? It looks like we will have to remove the radiator to get to it and even then it coiuld be a tight squeeze?

Thank you so much for your help, I have had the car since March and have already had to have the head gaskets replaced... i am hoping that this will be a much easier (and less costly repair...)

Thank you.


Bill.

 

how did you narrow it to the alternator?
I'm not saying it is or isnt, but this smells of a bad ground connection to me.


.

 

I think this is something the average backyard mechanic can do. I don't think you need to take out the radiator though. My car is a 98 and I believe the alternator is going to come out by taking it down not up. I suggest that you cover the radiator in some cardboard though to protect the fins from wrenches and loosened alternator. You should also have those ratcheting combination wrenchs because it is tight. I also believe that if you get the fans out it will make some room to manouver. Hard to say what all has to be moved or removed without seeing it though. I'd also say that Stealth has a good point too before you start taking skin off your knuckles make sure the ground is solid.

 

After having the heads replaced I did have a ground come loose and reek havoc on my car. I had to have it towed back to the shop to have them fix it... When it came loose though it caused all sorts of problems - the speedometer and the tach both went nuts; it felt like something similar to Poltergeist...

With the codes stating that the battery would not accept a charge, but with a stand alone charger it would, and without the ghost like feelings of the last ground problem, we assumed that it must be the alternator. What would be a good way to ensure all of the grounds are good? Where can i find a list of how/where to find them all? Do the symptoms bring a particular ground to mind?

Sorry for all of the questions, I really appreciate the help.

 

I am going to suggest you start at the battery negative cable and trace it back to wherever it is grounded on the engine. You need to make sure both locations are clean, you can do this with steel wool or sand paper then make sure the battery terminal is good and tight as well as the other end of that cable.