CADDY2K.com

Hi

I would be really grateful for some advice on the following.

I have a 2008 Caddy that was given to me having sat idle during covid and was infested with rats (it was used as a delivery van at my wife's company). The rats had chewed through quite a bit of wiring, but this was "sorted" be a garage so that it was back up and running. They didn't do a great job and some the joins are a bit suspect, so when the side indicator stopped working and the ABS light came on I decided to go through the engine bay loom and fix a number of damaged wires and tidy it up. I removed the cover panel for the windscreen wiper mechanism to gain access to the wiring, and found were the rats had been nesting and some more chewed earth wires!

So...the van was running before I decided to pull it apart and now I have put it back together (with a new, charged battery), I am not getting anything when I turn the key (no dash lights/engine cranking). The headlights work and the radio is getting power. I obviously assumed I hadn't connected something so checked but it's still not working. My OBD11 won't scan it.

There is a complication though.....in the few days before I started work on it, I reversed it out the garage and when I went to restart it I got nothing on the key, the same as it's doing now. I left it for a bit and when I went back it started. So maybe it's an intermittent fault?
My last scan before this happened, and whilst it was still running, gave the following codes (in addition to the ABS fault) -

Steering Column - 4 faults
Terminal 15 - electrical error in circuit - fault code 00576 - static
Ignition/starter switch (terminal S) - electrical error in circuit - fault code 00883 - static
Ignition/starter switch (terminal X) - electrical error in circuit - fault code 00884 - static
Ignition/starter switch D (terminal P) - electrical error in circuit - fault code 01744 - static

Thanks in advance.

Sounds like you could have a faulty ignition switch.
Remove your cowling and check your wires going to the switch for integrity and power.

Many thanks; I replaced the ignition switch as it wasn’t that expensive, and the wires look fine in the cabin side of the bulkhead.

It’s annoying as I’ve fixed a number of wires and now I have what looks like a secondary issue, and I’m not sure if I’ve disturbed something else so too many variables….! I don’t have a wiring diagram so I’m not sure what each of the ignition switch wires does and how to check them. Would the faults I am describing relate (no dash lights/starter etc but radio and headlights still work) to a specific fuse/relay?

I will be honest in that I’m probably at the limit of my abilities with this van, and think I might sell it as spares/repair and look for a newer Caddy in the future. Apart from a dented rear top quarter and wings that need replaced, it would probably make a good project as it has a genuine mileage of 70K.

It will need wires tracing through with a multimeter to check for open circuits.

Whereabouts are you based?

Have you done another scan since changing the ignition switch and if so are all the same faults showing up?

You'll get your diagrams from erwin for your specific van for a few euros.

I think this is the link https://erwin.volkswagen.de/erwin/showHome.do

Many thanks for the reply; I’m near Edinburgh so probably quite far away!

I thought I would give things another try today. I tried another scan but it failed to read again, so I decided to go over all the wiring I had repaired and make sure the earth connections where in place (I replaced these as they had been chewed). I could tell where the garage had been before as they had used plastic tape to wrap up the wiring loom and that is where I had previously inspected the wiring. There was a section of the loom I hadn’t checked underneath the battery tray as this had been undisturbed; I found two small wires with breaks in them so I repaired them and everything works now thanks fully.

I suspect they were causing the intermittent fault before I started work on the van, and finally broke when I was manipulating the wiring loom. It’s a big relief as the van is worth saving.

That's great news, intermittent wiring faults are the worst thing you can get on a vehicle, glad it's sorted now

Thanks for that. I did have a scare after I put the windscreen wiper mechanism back in and did a scan - the wipers weren’t working and neither were the washers….and it was throwing up related codes. After quite a bit of research I found out that the bonnet being open (switch) could cause this so I was relieved when I put it all back together.

I still have the ABS fault code (wiring to rear left wheel); I’ve replaced the connector and tails at the wheel (and the sensor) but it’s still showing up on the dash so will try and check the continuity between the connector and the wheel side of the wiring. I had a wiring diagram for this part of the system and it shows a join of the wires in the engine bulkhead loom (if I’m reading the diagram correctly - a black dot on the line, and it states “connection in engine compartment wiring harness) so maybe there is an issue there.

I’m learning so much doing this, I am definitely going to persevere and maybe start a build thread as I really want to replace the front end to the newer style as it needs new front wings in any case.