1997 buick century Limited odometer reads "Error" Gear shift "2" lit up

[suprnova74]

1997 buick century Limited odometer reads "Error" Gear shift "2" lit up

my daughter's 97 buick century limited had a power failure due to a loose battery ground which was found after a jump start. after i tightened the cable, she noticed the odometer reads "rErro" (Error i resume) with a square orange 2 highlighted. I took it to autozone just to test the batter and see if any codes were tripped. no codes were readable from pcm and battery tested fine. he suggested to disconnect the battery, turn ignition on for 30 seconds, and reconnect, start car and let run for 30 seconds, then see. no luck. someone suggested pulling the cluster fuse again for 30 seconds, no luck.

I also noticed the temperature display is now in Celcius and cannot find a way to switch back to Fahrenheit.

Any suggestions on getting this reset/fixed? I don't have easy access to a tech 2 scanner to see if it's something in the other modules. i hope it's not a fried cluster or bcm. this thing has unfortunately been a money pit since we bought it and i know both of those aren't exactly cheap considering the age of the vehicle.


Here's a pic of the error message:
http://i.imgur.com/VgDVZOn.jpg

 

[ryenie]

Re: 1997 buick century Limited odometer reads "Error" Gear shift "2" lit up

With no codes present I would suspect you have an issue with your cluster.

 

[suprnova74]

Re: 1997 buick century Limited odometer reads "Error" Gear shift "2" lit up

I don't know if there are codes in the bcm as I don't have access to a more advanced odb2 scanner that can access the other modules.

Anyway, The thermostat isn't working right (running hot in 14F weather). While I'm swapping that out, I'll try a more full discharge and see if things get reset. I've read that someone needed to disconnect the battery and connect the red and black together to really discharge the system for about 5 minutes, then reconnect. If that doesn't work, I'll try to get it to someone with a tech2 scanner or look into a new cluster

 

[ryenie]

Re: 1997 buick century Limited odometer reads "Error" Gear shift "2" lit up

The thermostat isn't working right (running hot in 14F weather). While I'm swapping that out, I'll try a more full discharge and see if things get reset. I've read that someone needed to disconnect the battery and connect the red and black together to really discharge the system for about 5 minutes, then reconnect. If that doesn't work, I'll try to get it to someone with a tech2 scanner or look into a new cluster

Are you sure you are overheating? a malfunctioning cluster can present multiple malfunctions including erroneous gauge readings, especiallly it there is a bad ground connection somewhere. Disconnecting the battery for ten minutes is enough time to allow all the current to drain from the system. The current that is needing to be discharged is stored in capacitors, and needs that much time to discharge. If you do the cable touch you disconnect the positive side and touch the red cable to the negative post of the battery to drain the discharge, I've not heard of having to hold them together for a long period, and disconnecting and turning the key is not a sufficient act to completely discharge all the systems. If you disconnect both cables and touch them together it won't accomplish what you're trying to do, and if you touch the negative cable to the positive post sparks will fly. If you have access to a scanner with live data, i would check to see what temp the pcm is stating to verify the overheating.