We are finally getting up to 50* this weekend with sun, whoooohoo!

I was going to start killing the gremlins (hopefully) that popped up with the colder weather. Very basicly I have a host of warnings, flashes, and scary things pop up, TCS/ABS, reduce engine power, loss of radio sometimes, gauges go flatline (gas, oilpress, temp) but the constant in all these is I loose my driver side door panel control, lights too.

In looking over the stickys and reading threads and other posts, plus the fact that, if I play with the conduit (wiring) from the body to driver's door, I get door/window panel back. I can clear codes and things run fine until the next time.

80% of the codes (when things go wrong) are communications codes with just about every module in the car. It is my understanding that the bare wire (with a clear tube insulator) is the serial data bus wire that runs throughout the car to all computer modules. If ture, this is a really dumb idea, but it is what it is. I could go on about this, but.......designed service revenue...... OK i'll stop.

So i got me my liquid insulator juice, DMM, contact electrical cleanner, and am going gremlin hunting. I'ma looking for possible shorts in this part of the harness first.

Some questions for those that my have done this before:

Best way to get at the connection for the door panel harness? Just pull the conduit out both sides and pull the harness out from the body side?

Best way to get the ground points of G201, G202, G301, G302.

What grounds would most likely be culprets?

What other sugestions would anyone have for hunt'in these pesky gremlins?

Is best to disconnect battery, or use the available voltage from it to find problems?

Would removing door panel help in this adventure/hunt?

As always, any input would be much appreciated here. If I can get the help, I'll try to take pics and post my findings later. Thanks for any input!

 

First off.. charge your battery BEFORE you even turn the key on.
Secondly, (after the battery is fully charged) clear the codes and then read the codes that come back.
After that, and you still suspect the grounds, the one on the back of the passenger side head is fairly accessible from underneath the car.

Don't go into it further than you need. You could start more problems than cure.

The gas gauge and oil pressure gauge problems are covered in the Tech section sticky. Actually, several of these are covered there.

The "loss of radio" and lights may be the ignition switch. You have to assess it from a switched 12v line.

 

If your battery is going bad, it can cause a whole lot of things to go haywire with the electrical system.

 

Sounds like the battery to me. C5s love to throw codes when the battery is on its last leg.

 

Glad to see your in the fifties good luck with the bugs

 

Thanks everyone for the input. The battery is good, new just a few months back and have not had a single problem starting. I did with the old bat (original 02). This started happening a few months back (month after new bat) and has even shown itself after hitting a bump. I can always play with the wiring in the conduit (accordion tube) to the DS door and get control of the door panel again and clear codes and they stay away for a while. Sometimes weeks, sometimes right away.

Most times everything does not go wack - but loss of DS door panel is always a part of it when it does. I've been looking over the electrical sticky (long sticky, but good) and I think I'll attack the door harnesses and local grounds first. This weekend will be my first chance in months to take a look at it.

Any extra advice, I'm all ears yet. Thanks for the input.