1993 Cadillac Sedan Deville, 155k miles, transverse engine, automatic transmission. I recently bought an alternator from a 93 Northstar engine at a junkyard. The car has not been turning over.

I tried to jumpstart it today and it would not even chime when the door was open-not picking up electricity. Changed the alternator yesterday and found that the vacuum hose from the throttle body was snapped.

I tried to change the vacuum hose today but do not have the proper boot to attach the hose to the side wall of the throttle body.

The battery is a little over a year old and checks out okay (auto class at college) I still cannot figure why the car will not start aside from the vacuum hose which I have yet to attach.

If you have any ideas, please email me at Borisyelsnat@yahoo.com with Caddi problem as the subject line. I'm running low on daylight and money with winter coming up... please any advice will help.

 

What?????are you asking????

 

what could cause the car to not start like this? Its not the battery and I don't think its the starter or alternator...

 

Does engine turn over when key turned to crank? If not is security light on? Codes? (see FAQ for info to access)

 

The engine doesn't turn over at all even when hooked to another battery.
When turning the key its slightly resistant
I don't have and cannot find an OBD1 sensor for the engine codes but none of the dash lights come on at all.
I know I do need a voltmeter or multimeter to find where the lack or overflow of electricity could be between the batt/alternator or the batt/starter.
The alternator that i've put on came from a Northstar 1993 engine while mine is the 1993 300 CID 4.9 v8 (non northstar) the northstar alternator has a three wire port that is not connected to anything in my car but the battery cable, and the other two sets of wires are properly installed/ bolted on.

 

If you are in "auto shop" class ask instructor for help, since he can physically check car out. He could guide you. Car has "On-board Diagnostics" no scanner required- see FAQ. No lights with key on check for 12v at fuse box ( both sides of fuses) with key on.

 

my instructor isn't sure either. says that it could be either a starter wire or ignition wire. I'm finished with the class. I've bought a jump-box and reinstalled the old alternator to try and jump start and take to a garage for testing. Every fuse, in the engine bay and under the dash board are fine as far as I can tell.

 

The alternator I bought was for a Deville without heated windshield, so it did not work. Returned it for credit at the yard.

I went to get the alternator (original) tested and Autozone was not able to properly test it. I would take the positive cable off while running but that would not tell me if its a wire or the alt itself...

The manager at Autozone told me that if the car turns off while driving then its the alternator. Thats all it would do if the alternator is bad... this doesnt sound right to me at all. Any thoughts?

 

does the key have a resistor in it
if so measure it
find out what it is and check it at the bottom of the steering column to make sure the computer sees the signal

 

I've changed the alternator to a new one, the correct one this time... and its working fantastic. thanks to all for the advice and ideas and I'm sure I'll be back with more questions. I've recently installed a Spectre Performance intake kit that is working quite well though its a bit big for my engine bay.