Seamus Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Sorry for the absentness! I have been working on a large project for the last few months and have not had a bit of time for much more that a bite to eat and a good sleep. I had a car in the shop the other day and solved an interesting problem that I though I would share. Maybe this may help others with problems in the future. The car is a 2001 V-70 XC. The problem was that nearly every time that customer would start the car in the morning that car would not come out of park. As this problem went on she noticed the lack of brake lights at the same time. Simple you say!! The brake light switch!! Wrong!! This car had this problem for nearly a year with other mystery things coming and going. The car had been to two local dealers and at least two other independent shops. The other shops all blindly replaced all the usual things (brake light switch, ign switch, shifter solenoid…..). The customer happened to hear about me from a mutual friend and brought the car to me. She told me that the dealers both told her it needed a CEM (central electrical module). I have almost never seen a CEM fail, and to replace one and download software is not something you “try” because… You program it- you own it!! To the tone of $1500 or so and it would not have fixed the car!! I got the car and checked all basic things and noticed the headlights not working…Well after a false journey down a 30+ power problem I found the last guy had misplaced the headlight relay in the CEM. One down and a new direction in diagnosing. I happened to catch the car in the act of not working and traced all the power to and from that brake switch OK and quick jump of power to the CEM and I have shift lock and brake lights (NOT a CEM) problem!!) A quick look at that wire diagram and I found the only place there is a break in the wire is in a connector under that dash. This connector is only serviceable with the dash out of the car but I can get to the output side of that questionable pin by reaching up from that foot well., No power!! I stretched and contorted some more and was able to “adjust” (bend!!) the position of the bracket so I can get to the 10mm screw that holds the connector together. Well what do we have here?? That connector screw was loose!! I inspected that terminals and used some contact cleaner and re assembled the connector…Problem solved in less that two hours!! The new problem is that the customer wants me to keep the car for that week and test it daily because she does not trust it is fixed!! I can’t blame her. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AlvinL Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 Welcome back and congratulations on a great job of troubleshooting! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmelviØØ7 Posted February 12, 2007 Report Share Posted February 12, 2007 We had one with an intermitent no start that had the same fix. Weird. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Recommended Posts
Archived
This topic is now archived and is closed to further replies.