2000 Cadillac Deville Battery

FRANCISSMITH

MEMBER
2000 CADILLAC DEVILLE

Electrical problem
2000 Cadillac Deville V8 Two Wheel Drive Automatic

Hey Guys,
My wife needed to go out this morning, but the battery was dead. I checked to make sure nothing had been left on unintentionally. Nothing. I have a battery charger I use on my truck. Does a great job. I hooked it up to the Cadillac battery and the hood light came on. So far so good. Then I looked at the dial on the charger and the needle was jumping back and forth, plus the hood light was flickering in time with the needle on the charger. I checked to make sure I had the connections hooked up correctly three or four times. Yep, hooked up right. So, I get in the car and inserted the key in the ignition without turning it. Then came a noise that sounded like a bull horn. I removed the key and the noise stopped. I inserted the key again. Same thing. Something's not right. Checked the charger hookup. Disconnected the negative wire of the charger from the battery. Thought I would try a different location to make sure I had a good ground. I touched it to the hood latch and sparks flew like I had a heavy load on the electrical system, which I didn't. I rubbed the connector over several parts of the grounded body and it does the same thing. Sparking.
It's like something positive has gone to ground.
Any ideas? Would you recommend taking the battery out of my truck (unhooking the car battery) and try starting it with that? Could it be the alternator? I'm just not sure.
Francis

2 Replies

FACTORYJACK

MECHANIC
4,159 POSTS

The noises and such are normal for having extremely low voltage. When you were trying alternate grounds, was the charger still on? I would sidconnect a cable from the battery, and charge it at the lowest amps for a few hours. Usually most chargers, unless they are trickle type, have a low amp rating of around 10 amps which is fine. If the battery still don't take a charge, it is probably shorted.