01 ssei intermittant electrical problems

[wdean]

So I was driving along yesterday and my traction off light came on then shortly after that my security light came on. I turned the ign off and everything was fine for a while - repeated this 3 times and each time the same thing happened. Then later on I went to lock the doors from passenger door and nothing happened, tried the driver's door, nothing happened, tried the remote, nothing. So I tried to start it and nothing, just a few dash lights but not all. So I gave the car a shake and it started, but the oil gauge and fuel gauge stayed at zero and a few lights came on. I went to it this morning, and it started great, ran great everything worked as it should but there was a message on the DIC service theft system.

I'm thinking along the lines of corroded wiring in the floor, and hopefully the DIC message is because the body codes haven't been erased...

any ideas would be appreciated.

[Archon]

If you have had any water intrusion into the car, checking the wiring for corrosion would be a good idea. What's the condition of your battery?

[wdean]

Brand new battery in the Spring, gotta pull the driver's seat to look for water intrusion under there, couldn't see any in the back today when I pulled the carpet back, but I didn't fully remove it though. I have rechecked the battery terminals and the ground under the seat and on the transmission. I checked the front sunroof drains this morning and they work perfect.

I drove about 250km today and the traction off light came on twice, then the traction light and security light together, then as I was almost home the chime went off, gas and oil gauge zero'd air bag light, security light, DIC started to say pretty much everything needed service and my radio display blanked out. This lasted about 1-2 minutes then returned to normal with the clock showing the correct time etc. The radio lights other than the display all stayed normal throughout, but the tape deck adapter clicked like the power went off to it when it started and came back to life.

Sorry for the long posts, but I figure the more info to describe it the better

[Archon]

Be certain that you pull the wires out of the wire look, and unwrap them. This is what Harofreak00 found under his.
http://www.pontiacbonnevilleclub.com/fo ... =8&t=23740

If all of that is clear, then we'll have to start looking at grounds, and modules would control all of those things.

[wdean]

So I came home yesterday after it worked perfect all day, parked it in front of the house and no locks, radio display, no start and the cooling fans were running on low speed. I was frustrated but happy at the same time as it was now a solid problem, not intermittant. I noticed as I was driving that when I went over a heavy bump with the left front wheel, thats when things started to go weird. I started to move some things around under the hood with the ignition on, and when I moved the PCM wiring the door locks clicked and the fans turned off.

The Problem:

The car had an e-bay special hot air intake - chrome steel tube with cone filter, which had rubbed through the PCM harness and right through the insulation of several wires exposing the copper. The steel rim on the filter would intermittantly short across several bare wires causing the crazy wiring issues.

An easy fix and a lesson learned.

Returned to the stock air box and removed the e-bay special and heat isolation box...will save up for an intense FWI

Thanks Archon for the suggestions, much appreciated

[Bing]

This is a real good example for the new guys that think the CAI they see on Ebay is a great buy.
Classic example of, you get what you pay for (not you Wdean).

It will always show its poor quality ugly head in the long run though.

[wdean]

[wake]

It will always show its poor quality ugly head in the long run though.

THIS!

glad it was a simple easy fix!!

[Archon]

Good job on troubleshooting the problem.