New GXP Owner

[kheflw]

Hi everyone, first post. Just picked up an '05 Bonneville GXP today. I'll try to post up some pics this weekend. I'm a lifelong Pontiac fan, 67 Firebird 400 in my garage, Had a 72 Catalina convertible, a 2002 Bonneville (Lease) 2006 G6 (Lease) My midlife crisis was a 2002 Trans Am CETA, bought it used and sold it before I put too many miles on it. This purchase today, I will be turning over my Scandal Diesel VW TDI Passat in a couple months, so I started looking for a replacement, this Bonnie popped up and I grabbed it.

Took it for a very nice inspection before buying, Looks very good overall, but he pulled some codes related to what I know now, is the dreaded Door Actuator. The guy new all about them, said that it's a relatively cheap part but PITA to get to it. Been reading in the forums about them, found lots of info, but now I'm wondering about it.

I have no AC at all, Dual controls of course, but I get mild air out of everything, both sides. The controls seem to move the air, bottom to top, fan controls work, he said he checked the coolant pressure, but honestly, I did not see him do that. Nice guy though, so I can call and ask him. Is it safe to say that ALL Four ( I think there are four Acuators) could they all be bad, and so I do not get the cool air.

I've read that I should be able to see that the system is cooling from the engine side, Any tips on seeing or feeling this?
I've read that you can manually move the actuators. Is there one that I can get to without ripping apart the dash to move it to cool?

Happy to be onboard here.
Any help appreciated.

Hef.

[CMNTMXR57]

You mean GXP

[redfury]

If they ran the wiring the same as they did in 2000, I'd pull the rear seat bottom up and pull the drivers side carpet back and look at the wiring harness in the loom for green corrosion. Of course, if the windows and the passenger mirror work, then it may be something else, but if all those do not work, then you will want to look at the splice behind the drivers seat. I've got pictures in my Dirtbag Bonneville thread.

[kheflw]

GTX - GXP - Got it! Thanks.

Green corrosion? Does that affect the AC? My buddy and I pulled the back seat up doing our first inspection, simply trying to find the battery. Found it, and it's all very clean under there.

This car only has 64k miles on it. Very clean.

[ddalder]

I think that may have been a skimming error... The splice he's referring to won't affect the A/C. Actuators can fail, but I believe it's more likely the system is undercharged. Further diagnostics are required before I'd start tearing the dash apart. With a Tech2 it's possible to cycle the actuators through their entire range. There is a potentiometer that changes resistance based on actual movement. Watching the values on the scan tool can confirm if the actuators are moving through full travel or not.

[redfury]

Ah yes, the gods wand of mechanical GM goodness...the Tech 2. Wish I had one. One surefire way to determine if the A/C is in good shape and that's to put gauges on it and watch them. If pressures are good and you don't have A/C, then you might have problems in the blend door control ( allowing heat to blend with the cool air ).

[CMNTMXR57]

One thing, if there isn't sufficient R-134a in the system, when you turn on the A/C or engage a defrost/defog mode, the A/C compressor won't engage.

A T2 like Darcy said will only command on/off actuators and then you observe their actual status. Say you command Actuator #1 on/open, it should open. If it doesn't then you know where to start looking. Same thing on the inverse, if you command it off/closed, it should do this. But it won't tell you how much is in the system.

[kheflw]

Here is some more info that I got from the inspector of my car. I think it shows what you would expect with the scan codes. He was showing me this stuff as he was doing it, I did not really understand it all, he seemed convinced the Actuators were not doing what they were supposed to.

Codes
B0252 Heat/AC Door Inoperative
B0282 Air Mix Door Inoperative
B1327 Device Power / Circuit Low
B2355 Front Vertical Sensor Malfunction
B2366 Left Front / Driver ? Vertical Sensor Range

Playing around in the car last night, I know that I get some cooling out of the passenger side, not much, as if the coolant pressure is low. I do get heat out of all vents.

There are some strange things electrical things happening with the HVAC. Pressing certain buttons changes fan speeds, like Seat Memory, yes really. Pressing to turn off Passenger system, does not turn it off, but changes things.
I want to look at fuse panels, any descriptions out there of fuse panels, location and listings?

[ddalder]

It's entirely possible that the actuators aren't doing what they are supposed to, but it's exceedingly unlikely they have all gone bad. The codes help. Let me do some research...

[ddalder]

B1327 relates to a test performed by the Dash Integration Module where it checks the difference between battery positive voltage and battery negative voltage. If it is less than 9 volts for more than 1,200 milliseconds this code will be set. How old is your battery? Have you checked the battery connections to ensure they are corrosion free and secure? Low battery voltage conditions should always be resolved before trying to resolve any other problems. You may find correcting this problem will resolve some of the others, especially with a system voltage that low.

B2355 and B2366 are both related to the driver's seat and positioning functions.

B0252 relates to the HVAC Mode actuator.

B0282 relates to the HVAC 'RIGHT SIDE' air temperature actuator in a dual climate control vehicle.

I would suggest you start with the low voltage condition first, then move on to the other problems. You may have two actuators that are faulty, but voltage problems can cause several erroneous issues to occur.

BTW, your profile still shows GTX. Sometimes when people are looking to provide support they will look at this information to know what vehicle you have. You may want to change this.

[kheflw]

Thanks, will change that profile entry.

Forgot to mention, all of these codes that are listed are Historic codes, so they were cleared somewhere along the line.
The battery is very new and very clean looking at the terminals, but tomorrow morning it will be the first thing I do.

Thanks for the info on the Drivers seat, so far my only complaint is that when I get in and start the car, the seat moves to the proper position, and for some reason the right side mirror adjusts down. I set it today, pressed and held the #1 Seat, got the two beeps, and figured I would not see that again, but it happened again. That is the least of my worries right now.

Will check my voltages tomorrow.

Thanks

[redfury]

The passenger mirror going down is a feature of the SSEi/GXP. It tilts the mirror to help with backing up when reverse is selected. Based on what I have started to learn about the electronics in these cars, it seems to me that a control module is either bad, or it is getting bad signals/crossed signals if the battery proves to be okay. Data lines ( brown ) seem to be the link between modules and their respective components. I couldn't tell you where to look personally, but I think you'll find your answer along the way here.

[ddalder]

So in regards to the mirror tilting down when you start the car, it could be a couple of things. Since you've adjusted it and then stored the settings, hopefully the problem is resolved.

For the SSEi and GXP, whenever you open the car with a fob and then start the vehicle the climate control settings, seat position, outside mirror positions and radio presets all adjust to those stored for that driver (either fob #1 or #2 as the case happens to be). Each mirror has both a horizontal and vertical position sensor. At start-up the current position is compared with the preferred setting in the Memory Seat Module (MSM). If the two don't match, the system will try and adjust the position until the mirror sensor positions match what the MSM has stored as the current driver preference.

Clear as mud so far???

If a sensor in the mirror adjuster isn't working it will continue to try and adjust the mirror until it hits the maximum deflection. You may hear repeated clicking coming from the mirror adjuster as it continues to achieve the desired (stored) position, despite reaching it's maximum travel. On the back of the mirror, the sensors attach to the mirror backing plate with a small plastic head. I've seen instances where both the plastic head has snapped off requiring that the mirror assembly be replaced along with cases where the plastic head simply popped out of the mirror backing plate and needs to be reattached.

I posted a write-up of the disassembly/reassembly of mirrors for the 2005-11 Cadillac STS (link below). Although a different car, the mirror adjusters and how the glass is attached (position sensors included) are all the same concept. Look there and you'll see what you may need to check if storing the settings didn't solve the problem.

http://www.cadillacforums.com/forums/ca ... embly.html

IF re-storing the setting and ensuring the glass is attached properly doesn't resolve the problem you may need to consider a defect internal to the mirror adjuster or a defective module in the car. Before replacing any modules I'd still start by ensuring that the other problem with low voltage is resolved first.

[kheflw]

okay then, so simply going to preferences and turning off the mirror option fixed that problem. I guess I see the point, but honestly, that would have annoyed me.

Battery checked out fine, I looked some of the fuses, all look good.

[kheflw]

Here it is.

[kheflw]

[kheflw]

Very happy with my new ride!

[ddalder]

Unfortunately the pics don't show :(

The mirror tilt option is really kind of nice once you've used it once or twice. A problem will still present itself if you have two drivers with different mirror position preferences. While the mirror may not tilt down now when you start the car, recalling position settings for two drives will also not work correctly until the underlying problem is fixed.

How was the battery tested? Typically you want to remove it from the car, fully charge it and then have it load tested out of the vehicle. Sometimes corrosion has been found underneath the rubber boots for the battery connectors. You may want to carefully check there, too. I'll dig into that code a little deeper as soon as I have a chance.

As for the A/C, my guess is that if the system was otherwise working properly you should have cold air on the driver's side since that temperature blend actuator seems to be working (at least based on the absence of DTC's). I'm still suspicious that you may have a freon charge problem or an obstructed orifice tube. It would have been nice to know what pressures the tech was seeing on the gauges. This doesn't mean that there isn't also a problem with two of your actuators.

[CMNTMXR57]

In regards to the curb view feature (the tilt feature of the mirror when in reverse), that is one of the best features of any late model GM vehicle. I can't live without it. I'm so dependent on it, that in other vehicles like my Suburban or the old RGC, I leave that mirror down all the time.