Electrical problem
1999 Cadillac Deville V8 Front Wheel Drive Automatic 117000 miles
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My 1999 Cadillac DeVille has been doing something strange lately. When it Rains ALOT the car will die at stop signs etc, when I have it in gear and my foot on the break. Once it warms up totally, it stops doing it. Also it never does it when it hasnt been raining outside.I had a way older car that did this once, and it was a cracked Distributer Cap, but this Cap looks weird, real long and, well different. I am assuming it is electrical, there wasn't a catogory for "Stalls in the rain until it warms up" Anyway, Do you know what can cause this? I am very poor, and hear these Cadillacs are expensive to work on. I know a little about cars, but not alot about ones newer than the late 70's or so. Thanks Jack

Bassmusician wrote:

Electrical problem 1999 Cadillac Deville V8 Front Wheel Drive Automatic 117000 miles ---------------------------------------------------------------- My 1999 Cadillac DeVille has been doing something strange lately. When it Rains ALOT the car will die at stop signs etc, when I have it in gear and my foot on the break. Once it warms up totally, it stops doing it. Also it never does it when it hasnt been raining outside.I had a way older car that did this once, and it was a cracked Distributer Cap, but this Cap looks weird, real long and, well different. I am assuming it is electrical, there wasn't a catogory for "Stalls in the rain until it warms up" Anyway, Do you know what can cause this? I am very poor, and hear these Cadillacs are expensive to work on. I know a little about cars, but not alot about ones newer than the late 70's or so. Thanks Jack

hi Bass man, well to start out you need to pull the codes, push off and warmer on your heater controls at the same time, with your key in the on position. this will put it into diag mode. look at the insterment panel message center for the codes and write them down here so I can see them

all cars now are distributorless, they have coil packs, that is what you see, crank sensors and cam sensors are your distributor now, off the top of my head I would say its your crank sensors, did you do a tune at 100k? may need spark plug wires also

Hello Buzzsaw,
First off, thanks so much for replying to my question.
I did what you asked, and got those codes for you. It took me awhile, as they go by really fast. I went through the procedure several times writing as fast as I could and am pretty sure (99.9%) I have them correct. Here they are as appeared:

NO PCM
NO IPC
NO ACM
NO SDM
NO TCS
PZMB2719 CURRENT
NO IRC
NO RFA
NO MSM
NO MMM
PCM?

Thats what I got from it. Also in answer to your question about the 100k tuneup, I just bought the car in January, and it had 115,000 when I bought it. I really doubt it's ever been tuned up, as the wires are factory wires, and they dont look new. Also, right after I bought it, like 2 weeks or so, it started backfiring, so I took it to a local mechanic who installed 2 new spark plugs and charged me 85 bucks. He then told me that he thought it had a leaking head gasket, as he said these cars are notorious for that. (I could tell he just plain hates Cadillac's) Anyway, I talked to a friend of mine that works for GM, and For many years he worked on the large Buicks, and he told me that those engines come out with the red "dexcool" Antifreeze, and stop leak pellets from the factory. He said someone had changed the antifreeze recently and put the green in, and suggested that I buy these pellets and put them in, and just leave the green antifreeze in as it looks new. I did what he suggested. The car has never lost antifreeze, except when I overfilled it, it then dumped it out the overflow, otherwise, I've put around 2000 miles on it since then. No water in the oil either. I think the Head Gasket is fine myself.
Oh ya, I had asked That guy at the garage where I took it for the backfiring, why he didn't change ALL the plugs when he discovered 2 bad ones, and he got smart with me and told me that would cost 300 bucks to tune up a Cadillac. I've done business with them for years and they've always been super nice and reasonable, but for some reason he hates Cadillacs. Anyway, hope you can help me with this, as I said, I'm pretty poor, I bought the Caddy because I'm a Big man, 6'3" tall, I thought I got a super buy on this car, I LOVE the way it rides and drives, and other than this dying when it rains, until it warms up, is like a new car. Suprisingly, I have been getting between 21 and 25 miles per gallon as well. (Not just by the thing that tells one the MPG, I checked it myself between fillups, I DONT trust its gas gauge). Sorry for rambling. Thanks in advance,Jack

Bassmusician wrote:

Hello Buzzsaw, First off, thanks so much for replying to my question. I did what you asked, and got those codes for you. It took me awhile, as they go by really fast. I went through the procedure several times writing as fast as I could and am pretty sure (99.9%) I have them correct. Here they are as appeared: NO PCM NO IPC NO ACM NO SDM NO TCS PZMB2719 CURRENT NO IRC NO RFA NO MSM NO MMM PCM? Thats what I got from it. Also in answer to your question about the 100k tuneup, I just bought the car in January, and it had 115,000 when I bought it. I really doubt it's ever been tuned up, as the wires are factory wires, and they dont look new. Also, right after I bought it, like 2 weeks or so, it started backfiring, so I took it to a local mechanic who installed 2 new spark plugs and charged me 85 bucks. He then told me that he thought it had a leaking head gasket, as he said these cars are notorious for that. (I could tell he just plain hates Cadillac's) Anyway, I talked to a friend of mine that works for GM, and For many years he worked on the large Buicks, and he told me that those engines come out with the red "dexcool" Antifreeze, and stop leak pellets from the factory. He said someone had changed the antifreeze recently and put the green in, and suggested that I buy these pellets and put them in, and just leave the green antifreeze in as it looks new. I did what he suggested. The car has never lost antifreeze, except when I overfilled it, it then dumped it out the overflow, otherwise, I've put around 2000 miles on it since then. No water in the oil either. I think the Head Gasket is fine myself. Oh ya, I had asked That guy at the garage where I took it for the backfiring, why he didn't change ALL the plugs when he discovered 2 bad ones, and he got smart with me and told me that would cost 300 bucks to tune up a Cadillac. I've done business with them for years and they've always been super nice and reasonable, but for some reason he hates Cadillacs. Anyway, hope you can help me with this, as I said, I'm pretty poor, I bought the Caddy because I'm a Big man, 6'3" tall, I thought I got a super buy on this car, I LOVE the way it rides and drives, and other than this dying when it rains, until it warms up, is like a new car. Suprisingly, I have been getting between 21 and 25 miles per gallon as well. (Not just by the thing that tells one the MPG, I checked it myself between fillups, I DONT trust its gas gauge). Sorry for rambling. Thanks in advance,Jack

well the plugs at the dealer are around 8 bucks a peice, napa is around 4, the wire set is about 180 at the dealer, I know its alot but that is where I would buy the wires from, plugs go to napa, putting cheap parts on that caddy will cost you later. I would do the wires and all plugs, and then wait till it rains and see what happends, if it still does it replace the crank sensors, and a relearn will have to be done at the dealer

headgaskets: yes they are bad about it, if it overheats do not drive the car, shut it down and get it fixed. most people continue to drive it, thats why they have problems, and its not the headgaskets that go bad its the headbolts, they pull out the threads when it gets too hot, then they need helicoiled, I had a 99 Deville it got 25-30 mpg thought it was great. Would I buy a caddy yes I would

[/quote] well the plugs at the dealer are around 8 bucks a peice, napa is around 4, the wire set is about 180 at the dealer, I know its alot but that is where I would buy the wires from, plugs go to napa, putting cheap parts on that caddy will cost you later. I would do the wires and all plugs, and then wait till it rains and see what happends, if it still does it replace the crank sensors, and a relearn will have to be done at the dealer

headgaskets: yes they are bad about it, if it overheats do not drive the car, shut it down and get it fixed. most people continue to drive it, thats why they have problems, and its not the headgaskets that go bad its the headbolts, they pull out the threads when it gets too hot, then they need helicoiled, I had a 99 Deville it got 25-30 mpg thought it was great. Would I buy a caddy yes I would [/quote]





Ok, I think I can do the tuneup myself, if I can get to those back plugs. Any special tricks? I suppose since it has no Distributer, theres no rotor bug or anything other than those crank sensors and relearn that you mentioned.
I worry about messing with these plugs, as I had a friend who tryed to change plugs from a old Plymouth with aluminium heads, and they were so rusted in, that he messed up the threads in the head. Maybe I'd be best off to let that mechaic do it, or take it to the local Chevy dealer, as we don't have a Cadillac dealer nearby. (The Chevy dealer cut me a spare key for it for 21 bucks total, and I was told they would charge me 85)
Oh ya, did those codes tell you anything? I am dumb when it comes to "computer" cars, and I dont even know what codes are.
I hope I can get it all straightened out, because we are taking a trip the first week of June to Michigan to visit my wife's mother, around a 650 mile trip one way, still I'd hate to break down somewhere I'm not familiar with, and I'd hate for her to make me drive her Cavilier, as I said I'm 6'3" tall, sucks to drive bent over.

As for overheating, this car has NEVER ran any hotter than 205, usually it runs at 189 is that a good temp? The mechanic told me that was normal.I noticed on my reply to that other lady, that you are not a fan of those pellets, my friend told me to crush them, and disolve them before putting them in, so maybe thats why I had better luck, also thanks for warning me about those bolts, that sure eases my mind, as I know that Head gaskets are a fortune on most any cars, much less a Cadillac. Do you think he was correct to advise me to leave that Green Antifreeze in as well? Cadillacs manual seems to demand the red stuff, "Dexcool" but I've noticed some antifreeze says "works with any color" YET I seen some Prestone that was more expensive that said "meets Dexcools requirements" But as I said, its NEVER overheated, and I cant see the full mark on that weird radiator/overflow all in one, and I filled it to the top, thus causing it to dump out the excess, thats why I smelled antifreeze back then, my own fault. Now it doesnt spit any out, and doesn't lose any, also no white smoke.
I don't know if its me or what, I've read the book, but I have troubles with the Heater/AC controls. I wish it just had the old time kind, AC on Heat on etc.. I can't say, force the AC to run, but when it got to 78 a few weeks ago, it worked great, but say it's 70 outside, I cant make it blow thru the vents and blow cold. In fact when I bought it, I had to take that guys word that the AC even worked. I guess I'm just stupid to this "Climate Control" thing. I had a 1968 Olds 98 many years ago that had climate control, but it also had manual controls like most cars.
I'm glad you too like Cadillacs. Do you think I got hurt buying this? I paid $4100 for it, and it bluebooked for alot more at the time. (Jan 2008)
Hey man, I want to give you points etc for answering me, but I tried and it wouldnt let me, it said "You cant give more points than you have" Just want to give you a good word here for helping me.
Take Care, Jack

Bassmusician wrote:

well the plugs at the dealer are around 8 bucks a peice, napa is around 4, the wire set is about 180 at the dealer, I know its alot but that is where I would buy the wires from, plugs go to napa, putting cheap parts on that caddy will cost you later. I would do the wires and all plugs, and then wait till it rains and see what happends, if it still does it replace the crank sensors, and a relearn will have to be done at the dealer

headgaskets: yes they are bad about it, if it overheats do not drive the car, shut it down and get it fixed. most people continue to drive it, thats why they have problems, and its not the headgaskets that go bad its the headbolts, they pull out the threads when it gets too hot, then they need helicoiled, I had a 99 Deville it got 25-30 mpg thought it was great. Would I buy a caddy yes I would [/quote]





Ok, I think I can do the tuneup myself, if I can get to those back plugs. Any special tricks? I suppose since it has no Distributer, theres no rotor bug or anything other than those crank sensors and relearn that you mentioned.
I worry about messing with these plugs, as I had a friend who tryed to change plugs from a old Plymouth with aluminium heads, and they were so rusted in, that he messed up the threads in the head. Maybe I'd be best off to let that mechaic do it, or take it to the local Chevy dealer, as we don't have a Cadillac dealer nearby. (The Chevy dealer cut me a spare key for it for 21 bucks total, and I was told they would charge me 85)
Oh ya, did those codes tell you anything? I am dumb when it comes to "computer" cars, and I dont even know what codes are.
I hope I can get it all straightened out, because we are taking a trip the first week of June to Michigan to visit my wife's mother, around a 650 mile trip one way, still I'd hate to break down somewhere I'm not familiar with, and I'd hate for her to make me drive her Cavilier, as I said I'm 6'3" tall, sucks to drive bent over.

As for overheating, this car has NEVER ran any hotter than 205, usually it runs at 189 is that a good temp? The mechanic told me that was normal.I noticed on my reply to that other lady, that you are not a fan of those pellets, my friend told me to crush them, and disolve them before putting them in, so maybe thats why I had better luck, also thanks for warning me about those bolts, that sure eases my mind, as I know that Head gaskets are a fortune on most any cars, much less a Cadillac. Do you think he was correct to advise me to leave that Green Antifreeze in as well? Cadillacs manual seems to demand the red stuff, "Dexcool" but I've noticed some antifreeze says "works with any color" YET I seen some Prestone that was more expensive that said "meets Dexcools requirements" But as I said, its NEVER overheated, and I cant see the full mark on that weird radiator/overflow all in one, and I filled it to the top, thus causing it to dump out the excess, thats why I smelled antifreeze back then, my own fault. Now it doesnt spit any out, and doesn't lose any, also no white smoke.
I don't know if its me or what, I've read the book, but I have troubles with the Heater/AC controls. I wish it just had the old time kind, AC on Heat on etc.. I can't say, force the AC to run, but when it got to 78 a few weeks ago, it worked great, but say it's 70 outside, I cant make it blow thru the vents and blow cold. In fact when I bought it, I had to take that guys word that the AC even worked. I guess I'm just stupid to this "Climate Control" thing. I had a 1968 Olds 98 many years ago that had climate control, but it also had manual controls like most cars.
I'm glad you too like Cadillacs. Do you think I got hurt buying this? I paid $4100 for it, and it bluebooked for alot more at the time. (Jan 2008)
Hey man, I want to give you points etc for answering me, but I tried and it wouldnt let me, it said "You cant give more points than you have" Just want to give you a good word here for helping me.
Take Care, Jack



[/quote]

you shouldnt have any probs doing it your self, just remember to take your time and do the spark plug wires one at a time to get them in the right places. the spark plugs will come out easy dont over tighten them going back in, just snug.

Yes some green coolant meets dexcool standards, its safer for animals

I believe you got a steal on it, and hope its a good car for you

Thanks again Buzzsaw,
I feel the tuneup is sound advice. I'm glad you think I got a great deal on the car too. I really love the car, in fact, I like its looks better then the newer ones. (as stated, my dream car is a 1959 with those 21 inch tailfins, but I'll never be able to afford one) I once again tried to give you points or feedback, but it won't allow me to. I only have .4 as I'm new here, I tried to give that, but it said why give zero points? I dont know what the scale is, so I dont wanna mess up your feedback.
Thanks and have a great day!
Jack

Well, I finally have the money to replace my plugs and wires, my BIG question now is, How do I access those back 4? It looks as if I will have to take that Coil Pack? is that the "newer car distribuitor"? to get to them, but I also notice on the front plugs they are really deep, does one need a special tool?
Man I have been upset over this whole thing. My wife wants to go 600 miles to visit her Mom in 2 weeks in Michigan, the car is still doing exactly what it was doing ONLY when it rains, I took it to the only 2 mechanics in this little town, and they both have different opinions and want to charge me over 200 dollars to install my wires and plugs and they both claim that wont fix it, yet they have no clue what the problem is, as it gives no codes or lights.
the one guy wants to replace something called a mass flow sensor thing, but he dont know if that will fix it. I've already spent almost 200 in their trial and error things, and as I stated, the one guy hates Caddys. Ive done business with him for over 20 years and now that I have this Caddy, he acts all ticked off at me. Anyway, the car still runs great after it dies 1 to 3 times, then stops doing it, and still NEVER does it if it hasnt rained. Do you think I'll be ok taking the car on a 1200 mile round trip? Thanks again, Jack

Buzzsaw wrote:

you shouldnt have any probs doing it your self, just remember to take your time and do the spark plug wires one at a time to get them in the right places. the spark plugs will come out easy dont over tighten them going back in, just snug. I believe you got a steal on it, and hope its a good car for you

Well, I finally have the money to replace my plugs and wires, my BIG question now is, How do I access those back 4 plugs? It looks as if I will have to take that Coil Pack? is that the "newer car distribuitor"? to get to them, but I also notice on the front plugs they are really deep, does one need a special tool? Will I have to mess with other stuff like remove other stuff? I worry that I might mess something up.
Man I have been upset over this whole thing. My wife wants to go 600 miles (one way) to visit her Mom in 2 weeks in Michigan, the car is still doing exactly what it was doing ONLY when it rains, I took it to the only 2 mechanics in this little town, and they both have different opinions and want to charge me over 200 dollars to install my wires and plugs and they both claim that wont fix it, yet they have no clue what the problem is, as it gives no codes or lights.
the one guy wants to replace something called a mass flow air sensor thing, but he dont know if that will fix it. I've already spent almost 200 in their trial and error things, and as I stated, the one guy hates Caddys. Ive done business with him for over 20 years and now that I have this Caddy, he acts all ticked off at me. Anyway, the car still runs great after it dies 1 to 3 times, then stops doing it, (apparently something is drying out) and still NEVER does it if it hasnt rained. Do you think I'll be ok taking the car on a 1200 mile round trip? Thanks again, Jack