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A Cadillac Catera with a couple of electrical problems.
Hi Vincent, A few things have begun to go strange in my otherwise great Catera. I'm sure the problems are related to fuses or relays, but not sure exactly where to start. The first thing that stopped functioning is the remote door lock. I have changed the batteries in both my key fobs and I've attempted to reset the process as per the directions in the manual but no luck, so I think the problem is related to whatever unit makes that system function. I'm just not sure where to start with that. The second thing is the blower, which won't turn off or allow me to turn the force up or down. I've removed the 30 amp fuse for now and just insert it if we need AC. However, it blows at full force and doesn't shut off when the car is turned off. We have disconnected the battery to see if that would reset things but it didn't. Again, I'm pretty sure this is a fuse/relay problem but don't know where to start with it. I did pull out a few of the fuses on the battery side of the car to check them for which affects the blower (I had inserted the interior fuse) but couldn't detect which was the culprit. Since then, the rear brake lights no longer function, although the red brake light strip at the top of the trunk does.What do you think the problem might be? I'm really comfortable trying to fix this myself as I think it's probably a pretty simple fix. If I could just figure out where to start.... Thanks for your advice, Julie. Answer:You have to keep one important thing in mind Julie... this is a Cadillac. And Cadillac engineers believe in taking the simplest of systems and making it as complicated as humanly possible. In other words a system that has power from point A to device B and ground C (Typical blower motor circuit) they will put 4 fuses, 3 sensors, 2 control units and a partridge in a pear tree into that same circuit. The problem could be in the main Heating and A/C Control Unit or the Blower Motor Control Unit. The good news is the system has a self diagnostic system to help pinpoint the problem. The bad news is you need the GM Tech 2 scan tool to access it. As for the brake lamps, if the Center High Mounted Brake Lamp is working that indicates the brake light switch itself is working. In a nutshell power goes to the brake light switch and then back to the left, center and right brake lamps. However power for the brake lamps branches off. One branch goes to the center brake lamp, another branch goes to the left brake lamp and the other branch goes to the right brake lamp. Since neither the left or right brake lamp works I suspect the problem is in that splice. This splice is in the trunk near the rear lamp assemblies. The brake light wires are colored black with a yellow tracer and shouldn't be too difficult to trace down. If you have a question or comment for me, you can e-mail me at autotechrepair at suite101.com.
The copyright of the article 1997 Cadillac Catera in Auto Tech & Repair is owned by Vincent Ciulla. Permission to republish 1997 Cadillac Catera in print or online must be granted by the author in writing.
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