2000 LeSabre electrical issues

[psiebers]

Hello group,

I recently bought a 2000 LeSabre Limited with 170K miles. In pretty decent shape, and hopefully will last me a while.

I am pretty handy, and I try to keep my cars away from dealerships or mechanics as much as I can by learning and doing myself. I have now stumbled on to something that has me stumped, and I am hoping someone here has had something similar happen and resolve it:

On a normal day, my car functions fine. My side view mirrors for some reason won't hold their programmed settings and droop down. My heated seats don't work, and neither my remote nor the button inside the driver's door will open the trunk. These are stable things that are broken and probably will stay broken until I fix them.

Here is the random part:

• Sometimes right at start up or shortly after driving the car the following things will happen at the same time:
• Radio turns off, can't turn back on
• Heater/fan goes to blowing outdoor air: I can turn on heat, but this will turn of after a minute or so
• Fuel gauge goes to empty
• Engine temp gauge goes out
• CEL comes on
• Service Engine soon light comes on
• Doors lock and won't unlock until car is stopped, placed in Park. AND engine turned off.
• Stability light warning sometimes comes on.
• Transmission won't show the position anymore, even after shifting.
• Fuel stats like consumption and miles until empty show no data
• ABS light comes on.

I don't lose all functions altogether:

• My HUD will still show speed, but with a "Check Gauges" warning.
• My car continues to run great, as do brakes, lights, turn signals, hazard lights, interior lights
• The battery condition indicator shows fine. I happened to look at it while the systems died, and noticed that it went from 13.2V with everything working normally to 14.3 as soon as everything died.

Sometimes after driving a while in this condition the radio, engine temp, and the fuel gauge will come back to life briefly, then die again.

When I bought the car the seller mentioned he put in a new battery; I checked it, and it definitely looks new. I unscrewed the posts and cleaned the terminals. They weren't in bad shape, but as soon as I did this I was able to drive the car for a couple of days without the problem re-appearing. I looked at the ground cable from the battery but it seems fine.

I checked all the relays and fuses, and they all look fine. Connectors are clean and not oxidized.

The ignition seems to be fine; I jiggled it and it did not make the problem occur or disappear.

From reading the archives I have a pretty good hunch that this could be caused by a bad ground. My question is: what ground would I be looking at that could cause this? Where exactly is it located?

Thanks in advance,

Paul

 

[HotZ28]

Check all areas highlighted. In addition, the under-hood positive cable (#1 & 4) should be clean & tight.

 

[psiebers]

Wow... Thanks for that reply! That is exactly what I was looking for!
By the way; where do these drawings come from; a proprietary FSM, or are they available online?

Thanks,

Paul

 

[HotZ28]

By the way; where do these drawings come from; a proprietary FSM, or are they available online?

Click Here

 

[psiebers]

Re: 2000 LeSabre electrical issues -update

I have cleaned all the ground connections except the one to the engine: I need to get my hands on a jack so I can get under the car. The positive terminal had a fair bit of green gooey stuff on it. I scraped every bit of it off with a wire brush: down to shiny copper.

After that, the car ran fine for a day. This morning, I started up the car, put it in reverse and my dashboard went nuts again. 🙁 So now I am back where I started; the car will start and the dashboard will be fine for 30 seconds or so, then the radio will start flaking, and next I lose all my gauges except the speedometer.

I had the battery checked by a local Autozone; it was not necessary to start the car according to the clerk; his device was able to test under load without the car running. The battery tested fine.

I hope to clean the last ground soon, but I am not sure if that will cure the issue. I would expect a bad ground to manifest itself right away, not after the car runs for a short while. Also: it is odd that when I disconnect the battery altogether the issue goes away for a day or so, then it returns. I am not sure what to make of it...

 

[diamondave]

Re: 2000 LeSabre electrical issues -update

I have cleaned all the ground connections except the one to the engine: I need to get my hands on a jack so I can get under the car. The positive terminal had a fair bit of green gooey stuff on it. I scraped every bit of it off with a wire brush: down to shiny copper.

After that, the car ran fine for a day. This morning, I started up the car, put it in reverse and my dashboard went nuts again. 🙁 So now I am back where I started; the car will start and the dashboard will be fine for 30 seconds or so, then the radio will start flaking, and next I lose all my gauges except the speedometer.

I had the battery checked by a local Autozone; it was not necessary to start the car according to the clerk; his device was able to test under load without the car running. The battery tested fine.

I hope to clean the last ground soon, but I am not sure if that will cure the issue. I would expect a bad ground to manifest itself right away, not after the car runs for a short while. Also: it is odd that when I disconnect the battery altogether the issue goes away for a day or so, then it returns. I am not sure what to make of it...

I have been shamed problem with my two thousand buick , lasheber custom

 

[HotZ28]

I have been shamed problem with my two thousand buick , lasheber custom

You are replying to a 13-yr old thread & the OP has not been seen since! Join the Buick forums & start a new thread explaining the problem you are having in the LeSabre forum for more current results & feedback info!