Cadillac CTS 2009 not starting

[Frederic]

A friend of my boss is having the following problem with her Cadillac CTS. The car was fine before, but has been standing still for a while. At one point the car did not want to start anymore. Her husband left the country already so she was baffled to receive below quote from a well known Dubai Workshop:

Looking at the quote they basically want to throw 13kAED at that car, knowing well that this almost exceeds residual value of the car. Either this, or the car is throwing all possible fault codes (which might be related to a harness, power supply, or grounding issue.

Unfortunately i have little details about the car's symptoms. I will pass by the workshop tomorrow and try to get some more details about it.

@Barry as you are our mad scientist around this place, if you're available freelance to help troubleshooting let me know (056 504 2632). 

 

 

 

[desertdude]

These new cars cannot be left sitting for long or else they will drain their battery and throw all sorts of codes.

So the first step is to put in a fresh new battery or if the old one is still good to get it charged properly and I'm 90% sure the car will start right up 

P.S : throw that quotation out the window or use it as toilet paper because that's all that is good for 

[Gaurav]

Do what you can and see if you can get any positive headsup or Barry support.

If you are completely hand tight, as a first step I will send the car to another garage and get "HONEST" second opinion, as this quote and estimate sounds purely dumb and highly misleading.

Like I always say, stay away from a garage or mechanic who """"""CANNOT""""" guarantee his own workmanship.

I bet after 13K, they will still pull another 3-4k before car comes home.

[Gaurav]

As a first step and basic common sense approach.

1. Put a new battery and try to start the car.
   • Get those mobile battery delivery guys as they do make an attempt to check if battery replacement is unable to start the car because they are tied to selling a battery to start the car.
2. If car is still not starting do the OBD scan as its 2009 model.
3. Get all the fault codes and start reverse search them to find a solution.
4. Many times 1 bad sensor or valve or plug can throw ton of error codes, so fix one thing at a time to find the actual culprit and not like above quote to change from ECM to plugs, relay, injectors, CPS etc.
   
   It's like shooting 30 bullets in the dark and hoping 1 will kill the enemy.

As desertdude mention, some time modern cars sitting idle chew lot of battery and throws all sort of tantrums.

I had similar issue in ML500. After a 30 days vacation car didn't started and showed gear failure message on the dashboard. Change the battery and car started in single attempt. As it run electronic gear oil that couldn't get required current so it showed the message of gearbox failure instead of weak battery, pretty dumb.

Something similar happen in Cayenne too and after jump start as battery was pretty new, car came alive.

[Frederic]

Update: So i spoke to their service manager this morning and got the following info:

Car battery was drained when it arrived in the workshop.  Then they've put in a test battery and started diagnostics. Apparently the ECM is not sending power to the injectors, which makes them think there is something wrong with the wiring harness and ECM.

I am pretty sure that the car can be back up and running with a bit of time and some parts (and probably lots of energy drinks). But as it sits now the workshop does not proceed without further ok-go on the quote.

[Gaurav]

Simply change the workshop, there are plenty in al quoz. Including your favorite one.

At least he will be the best out of the worst equation   

[Frederic]

4 minutes ago, Gaurav said:

Simply change the workshop, there are plenty in al quoz. Including your favorite one.

At least he will be the best out of the worst equation   

Well it’s not my car. So I can only act as an intermediate and try to help her out. Agree there are far better workshops around but I haven’t met good electronics guys so far yet. Not even in my favorite shop 😜

[Gaurav]

5 minutes ago, Frederic said:

Well it’s not my car. So I can only act as an intermediate and try to help her out. Agree there are far better workshops around but I haven’t met good electronics guys so far yet. Not even in my favorite shop 😜

I understand your concern and that's the right way to help someone. Same here.

However, on the contrary getting second opinion is only the way forward. Either you recommend or she search and find someone, because if this guy 13K is acceptable to the car owner, they wouldn't be talking to anyone.

[Barry]

Looks like an uppity service advisor trying to hit his sales target.

I have no access to diagnostic equipment at the moment so I can’t help but the first thing you need to do is get a diagnostic report so you can see what’s going on before extras have been added. 

Ill take a guess and say the faulty crank sensor is what’s causing the lack of injector pulse. 
 

I will speak to my electrician friend and pass his number on to you shortly. 

[desertdude]

11 hours ago, Frederic said:

Update: So i spoke to their service manager this morning and got the following info:

Car battery was drained when it arrived in the workshop.  Then they've put in a test battery and started diagnostics. Apparently the ECM is not sending power to the injectors, which makes them think there is something wrong with the wiring harness and ECM.

I am pretty sure that the car can be back up and running with a bit of time and some parts (and probably lots of energy drinks). But as it sits now the workshop does not proceed without further ok-go on the quote.

Does the engine turn? If yes then it could very well be the ckp sensor as Barry mentioned.

Also after having the battery drained it could also be immobilizer issues and just need to be reset

From what little I know after changing the battery you need to turn the key into start position i.e not starting it. Let it sit there for 30 seconds or was it 3 minutes so the key and all the ecus can sync up again. Take out the key and put it back in then start it.

I think it's there even in the owner's manual. Look it up I'm sure you get more precise info if you search for it.