Two problems related to battery dead have been reported for the 2008 Cadillac CTS. The most recently reported issues are listed below. Please also check out the statistics and reliability analysis of the 2008 Cadillac CTS based on all problems reported for the 2008 CTS.
Attempted to start the car while it was parked in the garage, but it would not crank and the dashboard display indicated a problem with the stabilizer. Also, the seats could not be moved, could not place the transmission in neutral, the door would automatically lock, and the lights would flicker off and on. I attempted to use brand new booster cables (positive to positive/negative to negative) at the remote terminals but stopped trying to connect from the charged battery due to sparking as though I was reversing my polar connections; at one point, I saw a flicker of flames and I never started the booster vehicle (12 volt). I had a wrecker attendant to try my booster cables and he attempted to charge with the connection directly to the battery and with the booster car started which created smoke and over heated cables. At the dealership, where the car was taken, I was told the positive cable was useless and the battery had a dead cell. This was very costly. I retrieved my car after about 11 days and parked it directly in the garage. The next day, I attempted to start the car and the same issue surfaced. Had it moved by wrecker again, and I am being told that they jumped the battery and started the car, but had not determine the drain on the battery.
The car has had 7 batteries replaced. It has been towed three times to two different dealships. When the failure occures the door lock, the engine will not start, lights will not work, the car is completly dead. The last time my wife went one mile and the lights,radio, air conditioning and doors locked and would not open. She could not get the key out of the ignition. The door was opened and the car sat for two hours. When she went back to the car everything worked like nothing happened. She drove home and the next morning the battery was dead. It was towed to the dealership and the oder of burning wiring was obvious. One week later the dealer service department called to inform me that the fuse block was replaced and the radio caused the problem. The car was leased and I just returned it with 17,890 miles. We went out and purchased another car when they said the wiring and fuse block was burnt. We just let it sit in the driveway until the lease run out.