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Cadillac Repair/'95 caddy concours wont start and no power

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Expert: - 2/25/2010


Question
I went to start my car(1995 Cadillac deville concours 4.6 lt.) and nothing happened no lights on the dash turned on no power locks engine wont turn over nothing! went and had battery checked and autozone said battery is ok and fully charged came back home same thing no power,no lights on dash engine wont start do you have any ideas??P.s. checked again and battery makes bad smell and one cell smokes as soon as i plugged in positive cable to battery (this happens almost instantly when the wire touches the positive terminal) could this be alternator bad battery passkey system????

Answer
Hello,

One of the worst places one can go is to the discount parts stores. They sell parts, they are not capable of diagnosing anything.

The battery should not be smelling of acid. The first thing I would do is replace the battery. Then check the voltage at the battery with engine running. Voltage should be 14.2.
If that is good and you still have problems and you need to check for a parasitic draw.
Try the battery first.

Good luck,

Rob

Cadillac Repair

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Rob Painter

Expertise

Alarm system questions cannot be answered on this forum. These systems are not what I can answer. Without being physically at the vehicle and not knowing what kind of electrical service has been done on the vehicle, there is no possible way to give an accurate answer over the internet. My expertise is in Ignition/key based anti-theft systems. These issues include GM VATS (resistor chip in key blade) PASSLOCK (MRD)-ignition lock rotation based, no special ignition key and the PKIII Transponder (computer chip in key) systems. These systems are not alarm based and are integral with the starting of the engine. This is why I cannot diagnose alarm problems without physically looking at the vehicle: Alarm systems are a completely different annimal than ignition key/lock based anti-theft system. Many alarm questions come from vehicles 10 years old, and since older, many hands that had been involved over the years.I am an expert in all GM factory (ignition/key based)systems. Alarm system questions pose to many situations beyond my knowledge as to what has been done to the vehicle over the years. Some guy may have actually wired the stereo into the alarm system. Who knows? Over my past 30 years in vehicle wiring repair, I have seen unbelievable wiring disaters done by guys that consider themselves "mechanics." I have seen stereos and alarms intalled using surgical tape. I have seen modules burn up, un-fused circuits, wiring jambed between the doors and even lamp cord used for a starter kill. To answer alarm questions over the internet without examining the vehicle is like asking; What does it take to remove a dent?

Experience

Education/Credentials-ASE certified. 11 years with a GM dealer and 17 years with a repair facility dealing with only the repair of theft recovered vehicles.

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