HUGE ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS!! ABS/TCS and others
 

Hey forum,


I've got some nice problems happening in my 99 sls. So I was parked in a lot idling one night and all of a sudden my abs light and tcs lights came on. Also my front headed seats and rear mirror (compass and dim) stopped working. They havent been working for quite some time. The other day I was riding down the freeway and all the lights went off and the mirror options started working and the heated seats started working again. Plz help me with this. I've got to think that theres a ground issue or something like that for all of these to stop and start working at the same time, but I have no clue where to look.


Thanks in advance for the help forum!!!

RE: HUGE ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS!! ABS/TCS and others
 

While it could certainly be an electrical problem, the anti-lock brakes and traction control are so inter-related that many component problems will cause both indicators to light at the same time.

As to the heated seats, inside mirror and lighting (I gather you mean switch lighting and similar), it looks like most if not all of these couldin some wayrelate to ground connection G200 which isunder the driver door sill plate trim near the front. In addition to grounds for much of the interior lighting it has connections for a number of control modules. There's also a big ground connection point underneath thefront passenger door sill with connections for some of these functions. Other big grounding points are underneath the rear seat (on both sides) and in the trunk on both sides behindside trim panelsnear the tail lights.

Have you brought up the DTCs (diagnostic trouble codes)? You can do it without a scan tool byturning the key to "on"(with or without engine running) and pressing the "Info" and "up arrow" buttons (to right of steering wheel) simultaneously until the entire dash flashes, then release and follow instructions as they scroll across the DIC. Unless you're making repairs yourself, I wouldn't suggesting clearing the codes as some can take quite a while to appear and they greatly assist mechanics.

RE: HUGE ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS!! ABS/TCS and others
 

well first of all there are 15 different grounds that most have buzz boxes thru out the seville of that year. i have the ground location if needed. and too, i might believe you have a ground problem...... if you have a climate that would be corrosive to cars, or the car has gotten wet in areas. if you are having many electrical problems going on, you should check the thread E-Ghosts in the sts section of this Forum, of which i started.... in short, after working my electrical gremlins in my '99 sts for over 6 months found the RIM bad. keep the Forum posted, and good luck
rickyd

RE: HUGE ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS!! ABS/TCS and others
 

FYI: I had the same problem with my 1998 STS. I NEVER got to the bottom of it, but my problems were VERY similar to yours: ABS, Traction Control, Heated Seats, Compass/Mirror all having issues. The TC and ABS would come on and I would lose the use of all the previous features listed previously.

I totaled the car by hitting two deer before I fixed the issue, but I bought (and still have) an ignition switch which I was pretty sure was causing the problem. I figured it was the ignition switch because sometimes I would go to start the car and it wouldn't do anything and a few turns of the key later, it would fire up.

Just an idea you may like to try, the ignition switch costs about $70 + a ton of labor =).

RE: HUGE ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS!! ABS/TCS and others
 

mr.j, that makes sense, and that was one of the possible fixes that GM tech support offered with the 99 sts. that little job was ??? yea i think 100 or so all done, new ignition, and labor. however, that did not take care of the E Ghosts that car hadworkin.Rear Integration Module, (RIM) and as i say 6, 7 months of checking grounds, fuze boxes, buzz boxes,this, that, and some of this, oh and those.... well you get it.... i guess thats why they call it E-Ghost, Gremlins, and so on.
rickyd

it certainly could be a fix for others........

RE: HUGE ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS!! ABS/TCS and others
 

i advice you read both of these ...

the info there is invaluable ...


the STS e-ghosts ...
https://www.cadillacforum.com/m_6068/tm.htm

the mother of all e-ghost threads ...
https://www.cadillacforum.com/m_11936/tm.htm



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RE: HUGE ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS!! ABS/TCS and others
 

RE: HUGE ELECTRICAL PROBLEMS!! ABS/TCS and others
 

Thanks forum, me and a buddy on mine figured it out. It was a wiring problem somewhere between the dash and the fuse box under the seat. Instead of tearing apart the car to find it we just jumped a fuse to power the fuse that was having the shortage.

Thanks for all the help!!