I'm pretty sure I've got a ground fault somewhere and I'm looking for some suggestions about where to find it.

My problems started with the sun roof failing to open. Then [I think] the climate control unit started operating on its own with the key out of the ignition which drained the battery. I think that feature that runs the a small fan when it gets hot got access to the whole unit.

Jump started it and now no guages, no electric locks or remote, no electric windows, no gas cap release, no blinkers. The radio and the climate controls work [the latter without ignition being on] and the car runs.

Any ideas?

Thanks!

 

Have you tested your battery?

 

I have not. I assumed that if it can start the car, its fine. Is that not the case? Can a low battery take down the whole system like that?

Thanks for the tip.

 

bad battery will mess with the ECU and possibly put you into limp mode, a good simple place to start. You should see 12.6V or so across the battery posts with engine off, if you can start the car, you should see 14V at the battery or so with the engine running. Did you check fuses and relays as well?

 

I'm sorry....what is the ECU? "Electrical Control Unit"? What and where is that?

Also, what is "limp mode"? Units are taken off-line to compensate for low-voltage?

I have checked many fuses but am not certain how to test a relay. Also there was a chart that indicated that the fuse box in the engine compartment might have more fuses underneath. I thought it unlikely that you'd need to take apart to the box to get to fuses...the idea of a fuse is easy access.

Thanks.

 

Engine control unit. Essentially a small computer that controls the engine.

In the event that the ECU detects something really wrong that it can't figure out, or if it detects a serious fault of some kind, it goes into "limp mode", which means that it reduces the power that the engine can provide to protect it from further damage. The car just limps along until the problem is repaired.