I just bought a 2000 Eldorado ETC with 40K miles from an auction two weeks ago. Everything seemed to work fine except the car didn't want to start at one point so I gave it a jump and everything was fine until the blinkers stopped working. It turned out to be the signal flasher which I was able to find and replace with yall's help. Thanks

The car did not start once again so I went ahead and blamed it on the battery and purchased a new one since I didn't want to rely on the used Walmart battery that came with the car.

Problem: The car is starting up at a low voltage (10.8) and if I'm lucky to get the engine started the Voltage jumps to 13.5 and it runs in the 13.0 to 13.5 range during the day. The problem is when using the headlights/breaks. The car will start at about 10.8 Volts , jump to 13.5, then move down to 13.3 when the headlights are on. When I step on the brakes, the Volts jump down to 12.5 and the headlights dim a bit. If I remove my foot from the brakes it will continue to read 12.5 but when I turn off the headlights the Voltage will jump back up to 13.5. This also happens with the twilight function on.

The car reads 11.5 after a minute from turning off the engine. The next day the Voltage will read between 10 and 10.8...sometimes even in the high nines!

I've check the fuses under the hood and the battery terminals and everything seems fine. One thing I did find in my car though was that it seems that the speakers are producing a low "hissing" sound as if they're still on even after the engine/power is off...is that normal?


Does anyone have any idea what the problem could be? Alternator maybe?

Thanks!

 

three things:


make sure the battery connections are solid and clean
Check your GROUNDS
have the alternator checked



.

 

Check the things Stomper suggested. Also you could check for a drain on the batery when the car is off. you said that you start with about 10v? is that before even turning the car on? If so it sounds like you may have a drain on the battery. You can disconnect the positive battery cable and hook up a voltmeter inline with it set on amps. At first your reading will be high but after a few mins it should drop down pretty low. Definately under an amp but should be even lower. I'm not sure the exact spec off hand with the cadillac having all the electronics it could be higher than a regular car would. Regarding the "hissing" sound out of the speakers, my caddy has done the same thing since I bought it. It lasts maybe 5 to 10 mins then stops. I think its just things powering down. There is a time delay on things in these cars.

 

Thank you Gentlemen for the quick response!

I checked the ground and from a person who's worked on classic cars the ground on this battery seems a little sketchy but I sure don't know...I've never owned a fine vehicle as this one and I don't know anything about the complexity of a Northstar. See the pic below:

[img=http://img530.imageshack.us/img530/7600/caddy.th.jpg]

How does the ground cable look? There's a connection from the negative part of the battery to the engine/block and a second cable from the battery (negative) that is bolted to the front end/frame that is bolted to another wire that seems to be connected to the headlights. Is this the problem?