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What could the cause be of my electrical issues? (Many symptoms)

Tiny
JUNKIE2100
  • MEMBER
  • 1987 CADILLAC SEVILLE
  • 130 MILES
I have been having electrical issues I havent been able to resolve and I know this but I never thought it would go this far, I have had a little trouble keeping the readout on the digital info center for my battery voltage at the correct level, though when tested at the battery and alternator gives a good strong reading with a volt meter, and also have had my engine temp sensor flickering and or even staying on when the car is off and it seemed to go on and off when I hit bumps and it liked to dim and sometimes go off at higher rpms, it should never stay on when the car is off though I would think so im guessing that is a key factor, then one day everything fell apart, my dashboard went completely out, smoke poured from out of it and my gauge cluster was done for, also taking out my dic and climate control but only the display seems to be out on that I can still turn on and off and I believe even adjust the climate control, I suspected the bcm or cps central power supply the unit that supplies voltage to the lcd displays so I replaced them both, swapping chips in the bcm of course I did it correctly, and put in a new gauge cluster, different resistors went up in smoke but the same general thing happened. Smoke, gauge cluster #2 done for, and I have no clue what to do but I have no speedometer or gas gauge so im stuck. Also I will add that I have read that aftermarket radios can cause issues but this issue didnt start rearing its ugly head till a year after I put in the new stereo and I had it removed when I put the new cluster in, and I also added an aftermarket antenna relatively recently which goes to the remote wire of my stereo and an amp controlled by a relay I put in myself which also runs to the remote wire neither of which always engages it sometimes seems to not get enough voltage across to hit the switch, and one last adjustment I have made to the car is an upgraded cs144 alternator, from the old style 120amp to the new style 140. As far as replacing things distributor is all new guts, alternator I rebuilt with a heavy duty rectifier, plugs and wires may be bad, battery is brand new, new power and ground cables 4ga wire. Any clues or suggestions would be more than welcome I am at a loss
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Wednesday, September 7th, 2011 AT 1:43 PM

19 Replies

Tiny
JUNKIE2100
  • MEMBER
  • 62 POSTS
Engine temp warning light is what is flickering, sorry there are alot of issues and I tried to get them all in so you could have a better idea of what is all going on, but apon checking the temperature via the dic it was at normal operating temp and at times the light would stay on with the car off, keys out, even left for hours untouched
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Wednesday, September 7th, 2011 AT 1:49 PM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,885 POSTS
Check for bad grounds. Check wiring to the main power block under the hood. There are so many issues here, I feel a body ground or weak battery connection is related.
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 2:41 PM
Tiny
JUNKIE2100
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  • 62 POSTS
I will see what I can find, I thought it might be ground related but I wired up all the main ground connections with new wire and the battery connection is good, my main issue is really just the gauge clusters literally burning up on me, I can drive it if I can just get a gauge cluster to work and not start smoking and burning components, and if its a bad ground I dont really see how it could cause that, less ground would mean less amps passing through the connection and less likely to overload and burn the circuit up I would think
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 2:48 PM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,885 POSTS
It could be the cluster itself. However, I'm looking for a cheaper solution.
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 3:06 PM
Tiny
JUNKIE2100
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  • 62 POSTS
Replaced the cluster, they both burned up and smoked
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 3:08 PM
Tiny
JUNKIE2100
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  • 62 POSTS
Even went to the trouble of replacing the bcm and the central power supply(from what ive heard this is responsible for powering the lcd lights in the cluster and the dic which is also out, the dic however may just require the cluster to work) before putting the new cluster in, still it burned
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 3:12 PM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,885 POSTS
Yes, the BCM does that. I would check to make sure grounds are all there and then have the cluster itself checked.
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 3:13 PM
Tiny
JUNKIE2100
  • MEMBER
  • 62 POSTS
I have gone through two clusters though, I got a new one put it in and it fried just like the first immediately, and though the bcm does the outputs for readouts there is actually a seperate module specifically for power output to the lcds lighting, called the central power supply, I replaced all 3 things, making sure to swap out the chips in the bcm, all components matched they were from an 88 eldo, and the boards were fine on the new speedometer the car had just been wrecked I pop it in and turn the key and there goes the new one, and it wouldnt even stop smoking when the key turned off I had to yank it to stop the smoking
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 3:18 PM
Tiny
JUNKIE2100
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And at this point checking the clusters would be useless anyhow, they both literally burned components, resistors burnt half way through, capacitors swelled, they are both done for after me starting the car
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 3:20 PM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,885 POSTS
If that is the case, are you sure the alt isn't putting out too much power?
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 3:23 PM
Tiny
JUNKIE2100
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  • 62 POSTS
Im pretty sure its not, it usually hovers around normal range according to my volt meter, though the digital readout in the car always likes to say its running low, but I could be wrong its not the stock alternator I can check that but ive never seen it out of range. But I dont even think I started the car when I tested the new one, I just turned the key to on if I remember correctly.
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 3:27 PM
Tiny
JUNKIE2100
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  • 62 POSTS
I swapped the cs144 120amp for a cs144 140amp, and rebuilt it myself with a heavy duty bridge rectifier, I mean yea it puts out 20 more amps but I wouldnt think that should cause a problem if the cluster isnt sucking more amps and its still getting normal voltage
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 3:30 PM
Tiny
JACOBANDNICKOLAS
  • MECHANIC
  • 109,885 POSTS
We normally only recommend direct fit parts. As long as you are not putting out too many amps.
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 3:35 PM
Tiny
JUNKIE2100
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  • 62 POSTS
Yea I mean it runs at pretty much peak voltage, 14.76 is where it maxed out as I revved it high but holding the throttle it quickly evened out to 14.68 and held, it never bypassed the 14.8 limit
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 3:37 PM
Tiny
JUNKIE2100
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Yea I just wanted something heavier duty, its still a stock gm alternator other than the bridge rectifier just a slightly better cs144, connections plugged right into it and everything no modifications needed other than the mounting which took a while to get the correct bracket. Took that off a buick roadmaster. But yea, it held the correct voltage and its only a 20amp increase in output, I mean I guess that could have been the issue but I really dont think I even started the car when I tested the second cluster, in fact im 99% sure I didnt, I just dont understand why it would do that especially when the battery was probably at around 11v by that time, it had been sitting and it takes a good amount of power to start up all the components
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 3:45 PM
Tiny
JUNKIE2100
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  • 62 POSTS
The amps have never done that before either that alternator has been I the car for more than a year but I recently replaced the bridge rectifier on a part buying spree, that was in there for months before the dash blew tho
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 3:48 PM
Tiny
JUNKIE2100
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  • 62 POSTS
Ok I have a question that may help figure this out, the temp sensor that controls the warning light on the dash, there are two one I would guess gives the temp readout the other controls the light because the light was coming on when the engine wasnt hot or even on, the digital readout read fine though. Is there constant resistance no matter what the temp? And does the resistance go up or down as the heat rises? Because if it is never supposed to reach 0 resistance and the thing shorted out inside then that right there would probably be it due to gms wonderful cross wiring of almost everything in the dash, almost every wire on every component of the dash from the cluster to the warning lights to the controls for wipers, headlights, mirrors, is connected to 2 other wires or at least 2 other pins on this junction box inside the dash, and then those two pins are connected to more pins etc. Its made a simple wire test into a nightmare
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 4:07 PM
Tiny
JUNKIE2100
  • MEMBER
  • 62 POSTS
Ok well I think I answered my own question about it going up or down via google, but I still dont know if it should ever reach 0ohms, my car is built to run at 210 degrees and according to a chart I found for a car that ISNT made to run that hot it has 185ohms at that temp, and at the same time I dont know the specifics of this particular sensor, it has two seperate sensors on it and im not even sure where they are exactly, but I mean do you know if it should ever reach 0ohms full open circuit or if that is likely to be my issue?
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 4:14 PM
Tiny
JUNKIE2100
  • MEMBER
  • 62 POSTS
Junction block from hell, this sits in between my radio and my gauges and every warning light, mirror/headlight/cruise control/windshield wiper control, and even the gauge cluster is wired into this then out to wires that run down to god knows where, so one problem could cause countless things
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Thursday, September 8th, 2011 AT 5:43 PM

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