Hi, I have two cadillacs, a 1981 Seville, and a 1994 Deville Concours. The concours is fine, but I'm having some electrical problems with the seville. For starters the Radio doesn't work, the MPG Sentinel doesn't work, the Diagnostic checkout thru the AC controls doesn't work, the Power Antenna had to have its fuse pulled because it wouldn't stop running, the service engine and brake lights are on, and the fuel gages don't work. Also if I leave the battery connected, if the car sits for an overnight period, the battery dies. I bought the car from a local caddy dealer last year for 200.00, and it was intended to be a project, but I have had to let my mother use my concours, and I'm trying to fix the seville so I'll have something to drive. Any suggestions appreciated,
Thanks, Dave.

 

Hey Dave: Just purchased a 1981 Fleetwood Brougham in June myself and am finding all sorts of electrical gremlins. For starters I went over all the plug in type electrical connections and cleaned them up. Take a scewdriver and scratch the contact points to make sure the connection is good. You would not believe how many of these things fail because of dirt grime and oil residue. I'm sure that you have checked all the fuses, so the next thing is to check out all the circuit boards that control this stuff. My ECM code readout does not work either but have solved a lot of the problems and got the engine running better without the readout codes.
One thing that I have discovered after a lot of search and destroy is the air-conditioning system is accessible from behind the glove box liner. Take out the liner and reach in to access the circuit board that has the servo motor for the hot-cold air mix chamber. My chamber door hinge was rusty and after freeing it up with WD-40 the air conditioner worked better and the check engine light went out. Go figure. Have fun and stay out of trouble.