What do yachts, polo, and dancing have to do with Cadillacs?

Everything. If you were around in the 1980s, then you surely must remember seeing these commercials for Cadillac at the time. They used every symbol of the upper class they could find and put them in the commercials. Yachts, shooting, aerobic dancing, polo, and horse back riding. It was all there! Even a Fleetwood Brougham pulling a dual axle horse trailer. It was a great time for car commercials and a great time for automotive jingles. Now all we get are remixed pop songs. The only way to travel, truly was Cadillac Style!

Connections

In my travels I do a fair amount of straight up electrical work. I see my share of shorts, drains, and inoperative components at shops. I have always liked electrical work and it something for the most part shops tend to shy away from. Usually, tracing a short or getting into a battery drain is not as profitable as a brake job and can take up a lot of the techs/shops time. In todays vehicles there are literally hundereds of connections strewn throughout the vehicle. I wanted to share with you a couple I have encountered recently with a common theme-bad connections.

First up is a 2007 Cadillac Escalade EXT with climate control seat issues. This vehicle has both heated and cooled front seating with a mini blower motor for each seat. This is all controlled by the CCSM (Climate Control Seating Module) under the passenger front seat. I first became involved with this when the shop called asking me if I could program a new CCSM they were going to install in this vehicle for the problem of no operation of climate controlled seating. The dealer told the shop it needed to be programmed. Most GM modules do need to be programmed. A quick check of service information revealed this did not need programming it was "plug and play". I advised the shop of this and they installed the new CCSM and still had no climate control seat operation. That is where I came in. I first verified proper inputs to the CCSM with my Tech2 and also backprobed powers and grounds at the CCSM. All were good. Why wasn't it working?
Let's disconnect the connector and check for pin deformation, etc.

Well here we go. The main power feed terminal for the CCSM is smoked. I checked resistances of the seat heaters and blower motors from the disconnected connector. All were in specifications. I then amp drawed the circuits to check them dynamically and again all were good. A lot of current under the best of circumstances goes through this terminal. Better to be safe than sorry. A call to the dealer revealed they had this pigtail in stock-no suprise there, huh? A new pigtail was installed and we can now keep our butt warm in the winter and cool in the summer. How did we ever do without this?

Next up is a 2003 Toyota Sequoia that the battery would go dead overnight intermittently. The customer swears the headlamps turn on by themselves causing this. The shop has already installed a brand new battery and has never seen this phantom headlamp issue. I get called in and for the first couple of minutes of me manipulating switches and harnesses nothing happens. I turn my head and then look back and the headlamps are on and the switch is off and I have the keys in my hand. A second look and actually the DRL (Daytime Running Lamps) are on. DRL operation is controlled by the Body ECU. I hook up my Toyota Techstream scantool and I see no reason the Body ECU should be putting on the DRL lamps. I try to toggle the DRL relay on and off through the bi-directional functions of the scanner and they just stay on. Could the Body ECU be bad. Well, it is easy enough to disconnect. I do so and the lamps stay on. Do I have a stuck DRL relay? I don't think so since the vehicle should not have had the DRL lamps on to begin with key off. Hmm. Whenever I see phantom issues like this I think of two things-resistive shorts caused by moisture intrusion or bad grounds backfeeding. A quick voltage drop of ground circuits reveals excellent grounds. I am going for the resistive short. I start wiggling connections at the inerior fusebox which also serves as a junction box for many circuits including the DRL's and the lamps flicker. I trace the circuit to a particular connector at the fusebox. I cannot get this connector out of the fusebox. I have pliers on it and I do not want to break it off. I pull an adjacent connector at the fusebox and there are signs of moisture. There is green corrosion all over. I tell the shop owner he needs a fusebox. We finally get the connections out-here is the fusebox.

Taken on some water here for sure. A tech in the shop told me that this vehicle sees a decent amount of beach time in the summer months. Maybe, he got caught in the waves one time. Or, perhaps an old windshield leak. Here is another shot.

The moisture migrated into the fusebox and caused circuits internal to have continuity when they should not have. At first the shop owner asked me if we could save this fusebox. Not a chance!

This next one is from a body shop I service. It is a 2001 Ford Windstar with no rear lighting. Front lighting is operative. This vehicle uses a REM (Rear Electronics Module) to control the rear lighting. It is nestled over in the right rear of the vehicle behind a trim panel-see below.

I hook up my scantool to make sure it is communicating and getting proper inputs and to test the outputs. It is communicating and getting proper inputs. When I try to do output tests for the relays that control rear lighting via the REM-I hear nothing. A look at the diagram tells me that the relay command wire goes straight from the REM to the junction box under the left side of the dash. There are no connectors in between! So no divide and conquer mentality can be used here. To make matters worse the interior of this vehicle is fully intact. Usually, when I get a call from a body shop the interior is torn apart which makes it easier for me. This harness goes across the interior of the vehicle. So, I am thinking is a harness chafed on a seat anchor or rotted right in the middle of the truck. The nightmare scenario of taking this Windstar apart is gnawing at me. I know that the connections at the REM look good. I jump out the relay at the junction box and the rear lighting comes to life. So I know there is an issue at the control for the relay. Let's head for the junction box connector on the back that has the control circuit wire.

Well lookey here. I knew something was up when the connector was a bit of a pain to get out. Yes, water intrusion and Yes there should be four terminals on the top row and four terminals on the bottom. See what is missing?

There is the missing pin welded into the female terminal of the connector. This Windstar I believe has a windshield leak that started this ball rolling.

Finally, we have another fine GM vehicle. A 2006 Cadillac Escalade with complaints of no rear wiper and no rear defroster operation. I hooked up my Tech2 expecting to see a LGM (Liftgate Module) and start my diagnostics from there. No LGM showed up. A check of the wiring revealed no LGM on this vehicle and basically was old school from switch to wiper motor. With the rear liftgate open and the shop owner manipulating the rear wiper switch the interior lamps would come on or go out. That was my first clue where to go. Remember, phantom issues either resistive power shorts or bad grounds. I checked the ground at the wiper motor and depending on where the rear wiper switch was it was anywhere from 2.0v to 10.0v back to battery negative using voltage drop. Ok, we know we have a bad ground. The ground itself is behind the right rear interior panel. I really hate pulling panels when I do not have to. Lets check it at the liftgate connector that is easier.

I move this connector and my voltage drop fluctuates. Lets check the connector ends. I smell bad connection.

Here is one side of the connector.

The other side of the connector. Sorry, for the blurry pictures-you get the idea. Again, a substantial amount of current goes through here. Any loose connection, added resistance, etc will cause this. Terminal repair to the connector and this vehicle was back in action.  

February 2012 Meeting Minutes

AWA MEETING MINUTES FEBRUARY 2012

Welcome Members/Visitors:
Margaret Ragan, (AWA President), Tigard SUV and Automotive; Rebecca Chipres, Clark College Student and Broadway Kia ; Sarah Heidler (AWA Secretary) , Tom Dwyer Automotive;  Liz Dally , owner  Hawthorne Auto Clinic,  Terica Devoreh-Spratt (AWA Treasurer), Hawthorne Auto Clinic,  Tonia Haney,  Clark College , I-Car and Les Schwabb,  Katie Grace, PCC Student and Tigard SUV and Automotive;  Janet Gallegos Serratos, Kadels Autobody and   PCC Student ; JZ, Metro Car Care and PCC Student:  Dana Withrow, Macs Radiator

PTOA Report 

Terrica represented AWA at the Portland Triumph Owners Association Awards Banquet on February 25, 2012.   The PTOA board elected AWA to be the recipient of their yearly donation to an automotive related organization.  Terrica reported that the people were friendly and enthusiastic and the food was excellent.  The gift is much appreciated and it will go into our general fund for scholarships.  We are thrilled to create this affiliation and will add them to our list for inclusion in future events.  Sarah is charged with making contact and including photos for them to see who we are.

 Treasure Report:

Checking account total is $1,252.23 after adding the PTO donation of $272.60

 WIT Fair:

Tonia Haney of Clark College has graciously accepted the responsibility of heading up our presentation at the 2012 Women in Trades Fair, which is May 17th, 18th and 19th.
May 17th is for middle school girls, and we will not be present
May 18thTonia will do a presentation geared toward high school girls.
May 19th is for women of all ages and we will have a booth for that day.
We took down volunteers for those days, and we need at least one more Volunteer for Friday May 18th to help Tonia.
Other things that need prepaired:  The "who we are" display board needs updated.
We should consider a game/ prizes and gather current information pamphlets for our table.

Plant Sale/Rummage Sale:

The Annual Plant and Rummage sale will be Saturday May 12th, in the parking lot of Hawthorne Auto clinic.
Margaret will create a flyer for the plant sale and purchase some plants as she has done in years past.
Start saving your good, lightly used items for the sale.

 New Items/ Open Discussion:

* College/High school Outreach- should we have more involvement at these levels?  What would/should that involvement look like?
* Dipstick 101- we use to have a basic car care class we gave, but the numbers of people who want to take that class have dwindled over the years to the point where it's not worth us doing.  Many of us feel there is still a need for it, but what should it look like now, how should it be updated and where is our audience, what is the need?
*Ms. Betty Kindle is healing from a broken leg and therefor is not in attendance at the meeting.  She has been nominated for a Golden Alumni Award at PCC.  Congratulations to her, she deserves it. 

Next Meeting:

March 28th, 2012                6:30 pm- Join us!

Old Nascars rock!

Kind of like the saying that some things get meaner as they get older. Vintage Nascars were much cooler than their counterparts of today. Take a look at this photo from the fine folks over at Hemmings Motor News. This shot taken in 1956 at the Holman-Moody shop in Charlotte, NC. This shows the then new, and essentially stock 1956 Fords campaigned that year. Two sedans and two convertibles. This was when stock car racing was really exciting since you could go and buy the same cars you saw tearing up the tracks. Things were so much simpler then.

Source: Hemmings Motor News

The Car Show on Speed: Canceled

This one is a little hard to swallow. If you're a die hard car guy like me, then you undoubtedly tuned in for The Car Show. It has come to my attention that the show has been canceled after one season. Speed channel's answer to Top Gear, The Car Show was hosted by all around car guy Adam Carolla, auto journalist Dan Neil, friend to AAM and Smoking Tire.com founder Matt Farrah, and at one time former NBA star John Salley, The Car Show was a practically perfect mix to be a true U.S. version of Top Gear. It was almost a perfect storm for everything to work against the show. It was on Speed, but didn't focus on Nascar, circle track, or drag racing, but instead focused on cars and car guys. Then there was the removal of John Salley from the hosting team. Which I can understand, you could tell he was really out of his element. Salley may have liked car, but he seemed like a small fish swimming in shark infested waters with the die hards of Carolla, Farrah, and Neil. Another big blow was the steady schedule changing. Speed changed the format of the show and took it from an hour and cut it down to a half hour show. The Discovery Channel reformatted their HD Theater channel and turned it into Velocity which is another network that is catered to car guys. There's some other non car shows on the network, but the car shows they have cater to the true automobile enthusiast. I know that I'm really upset to see The Car Show canceled, and I don't normally voice my displeasure unless it's absolutely necessary, so I voiced my opinion to Speed via their feedback page, and I would highly, highly recommend that you do to if you are a fan of The Car Show. Let the folks over at Speed KNOW what kind of shows you want to see.

Image source: Speed.

2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee

Here is one 2004 Jeep Grand Cherokee with 88,656 miles on it. The issue here is no passenger side door functions such as power windows or power door locks. The other issue is no RKE (Remote Keyless Entry) functions as well from the key fobs. The drivers side operations work correctly. The Grand Cherokee platform is definitely one of the more popular vehicles I encounter. They have various issues both common and uncommon.

The shop has done some checking before I got there. Various panels have been removed in an effort to narrow down the search. The first thing that catches my eye is the aftermarket alarm module dangling. I am always wary of aftermarket alarms and their installations. I have seen many issues caused by either bad alarms or the installation. Let's have a look at the wiring diagram.

The system utilizes door modules in each door that communicate through a data buss called PCI ( Programmable Controller Interface) buss. It is very much like GM's Class 2 data buss. It is a peer to peer network meaning that any module on the network has the ability to communicate on it's own. Both the DDM ( Drivers door Module) and PDM ( Passenger Door Module) share a common power and ground feed as well. Looking through the service information I also come across this- I underlined the important tidbit of information.

The DDM and PDM each utilize integrated circuitry and information carried on the Programmable Communications Interface (PCI) data bus network along with many hard wired inputs to monitor many sensor and switch inputs throughout the vehicle. The PDM also receives inputs through an integral Radio Frequency (RF) Remote Keyless Entry (RKE) receiver. The DDM and PDM control and integrate many functions and features of the vehicle through both hard wired outputs and messages over the PCI data bus. 

We also know that at least our source for power and source for ground is good since we have proper drivers side window and lock operation. So what is next?

This is what I do. I reach for my DRB3 and go into this menu. Factory tools do so many functions that the aftermarket tools may not have. I hit the enter button.

This is the next menu. What the DRB3 is going to do is look for any modules that are communicating on the PCI data buss and report. Such a great feature.

This is the first page. As you can see it is in acronym form so you have to know your Chrysler modules. Let's check out the next page.

Well we see a Driver Door Module but no Passenger Door Module. So, we know that the PDM is not reporting on the PCI buss. Let's get right to the PDM.

Pulling the passenger dise door panel gives me access to the PDM. I want to check power, ground, and whether it is receiving PCI buss messages. Lets first check for PCI data messages. I grab my scope and backprobe the PDM.

We have communication. Like I said just like Class 2 on a GM vehicle. We have a 7 volt square wave slightly off of ground to help with noise. So we know we dont have an issue with the PCI wiring to the PDM. Let's check power and ground.

This is the wire that is supposed to have battery voltage. We have a problem. Checking the ground wire at the PDM and that is good. So we have a power feed issue no doubt. But, is that all?

So, backprobed at the PDM I run a fused jumper from battery positive to the PDM. Lets rerun the PCI buss check.

Hello there PDM. I check passenger side window and lock operation and all is well. Now, it is time to find where the loss of voltage is. I know where I am going right away.

There it is a broken feed wire in the passenger side bellows between door and A pillar. Checking the other wires in the harness and they were all good. A quick repair of the wire and reassembly and all is well. The RKE worked like a charm as well. The shop owner was more than happy. This car was fixed with no parts and quickly. It is a bit unusual to see this sort of failure on the passenger side. I see it all the time on the drivers side however. Think about how many more times you open the drivers side versus the passenger side.
 

James Bond's Aston Martin DB5 returns to the big screen

James Bond fans of the world can cheer in the return of the iconic silver 1964 Aston Martin DB5 that has come to symbolize Agent 007. This picture has surfaced from the set in Scotland of the latest Bond flick "Skyfall", showing current Bond, Daniel Craig behind the wheel of the classic 1960s sports car. Fans will instantly recognize the BMT 216A registration that has been shown on the DB5 since it's launch in the 1964 classic Goldfinger. This year celebrates the Bond film series' 50th Anniversary. So maybe there will be some other Easter Eggs dropped throughout the film when it's released this fall.

Source: World Car Fans