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Cadillac Repair/2005 Cadillac DeVille Battery

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Expert: - 8/9/2011


Question
Have a totally dead battery in a 2005 Cadillac DeVille, The key wont even come out of the ignition.  I believe an interior dome light was left on, and the car was not started for over 60 days.
How do I change the battery? AAA repairman said the battery is under the the rear seat in the car, not under the hood, and warned me "Only a Cadillac Dealer" could change it because of a computer reset??  Is this a repair I can do? Tim

Answer
Hello,

Here is your situation: If the car has sat that long discharged, chances are it lost its memory for the transponder key as well. So if you do get the battery changed, engine will not start anyway because your keys will not be recognized by the computer.
Had you changed the battery when you had the initial problem, you could have probably done this yourself.

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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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