A new mother’s spooky car troubles gave rise to an automotive investigation that took weeks to solve and involved an unexpected culprit: electromagnetic interference from overhead power lines. Dealership Life (@mymechanicsaid), a mechanic who shares automotive stories on TikTok, recounted the bizarre case in a video that has garnered more than 5,100 views since being posted on Sunday.
The one-minute and 37-second video shows the creator speaking directly to the camera from what appears to be his home, sharing a story that demonstrates how even experienced mechanics can encounter problems that defy conventional automotive troubleshooting.
“If you like crazy, weird stories, this one’s for you, because this is a crazy story,” Dealership Life begins his tale about a customer whose Cadillac Escalade was exhibiting unexplained electrical behavior.
Late-Night Light Show: Cadillac Escalade Won’t Stop Powering On
According to the mechanic’s account, the trouble started when a woman who had recently purchased an Escalade began experiencing disturbing nighttime electrical activity.
“So, this woman buys an Escalade, and she calls me one day, and she’s like, ‘Hey, you know, I’m up at 2 a.m. feeding my newborn, and my whole backyard is just illuminating,” Dealership Life explains in the video. “The headlights just keep coming on on the Escalade, and nobody’s near it.”
The customer described a pattern of lights randomly turning on and off throughout the night, creating an eerie light show in her backyard while she was inside caring for her baby.
“You know, I’m inside, my husband’s asleep, everyone’s asleep, and the headlights just keep coming on, illuminating my whole backyard, and then it goes off, and it goes on, and it goes off,” the mechanic recounts.
The woman was rightly concerned. “She’s like, what the heck is going on?” Dealership Life recalls. When he asked how long the problem had persisted, she revealed it had been going on “for like two weeks.”
Two Weeks of Diagnostic Frustration
What followed was an automotive mystery that challenged some experienced technicians. When the customer brought the Escalade to the shop, the problem completely disappeared.
“Brings it in—it’s with me for two weeks—does not happen once, not a single time,” the mechanic explains with obvious frustration. “We park it inside, outside. We watch the security tape to make sure it’s not happening, nothing. There’s no codes. There’s no anything. There’s nothing.”
The shop tried multiple approaches to recreate the issue, including having the shop foreman take the vehicle home overnight. But the headlight problem never manifested at the shop or at the foreman’s residence.
Intermittent electrical problems rank among the most challenging scenarios in automotive repair, where symptoms that occur in one environment completely fail to appear in the controlled setting of a repair facility. As automotive diagnostics experts note, these sporadic malfunctions leave technicians questioning whether they can trust diagnostic trouble codes, which rarely identify intermittent problems definitively without replicating the exact conditions during testing.
The Breakthrough Question
Fortunately, the shop’s new service manager had experience with a similar case at another dealership.
“The new service manager said, ‘Ask her if she lives under a power line, like if there’s a power line that goes over or near her house,’” Dealership Life explains. “He said, ‘Because we had this issue at Porsche where this vehicle would have weird electronic issues every time it passed under a power line.’”
This led to a crucial phone call that pointed to a solution. When the mechanic contacted his customer to ask about power lines near her property, the answer was immediate: “She said, yes.”
The Power Line Connection
The mechanic explained the Porsche precedent to his customer, suggesting she try parking the vehicle in a different location to test whether proximity to power lines was the cause.
“So, I explained to her what happened with that Porsche,” he says. “I’m like, I don’t know if that’s what it is, but it could be. Maybe park it somewhere else and see if it happens.”
The power line theory was confirmed in dramatic fashion. “A week later, the transformer on that power line blew, and when they came out to fix it, it stopped happening,” Dealership Life reveals.
This was proof that electromagnetic interference from the faulty transformer was causing the Escalade’s electrical system to malfunction, triggering the headlights at random intervals during the night.
Electromagnetic Interference in Modern Vehicles
The case highlights the susceptibility of modern vehicles’ complex electronic systems to electromagnetic interference (EMI). Contemporary vehicles rely heavily on computerized control modules that can be affected by external electromagnetic fields. Modern vehicles can have up to 150 electronic control unitd (ECUs) managing everything from engine performance to safety systems, with embedded software in these ECUs continuing to increase in complexity.
Power lines, cell towers, radio transmitters, and other sources of electromagnetic radiation can potentially interfere with vehicle electronics, causing symptoms that range from minor inconveniences to significant safety concerns. High-voltage transmission lines generate electromagnetic fields, which can produce radio noise and interference with nearby electronic equipment. The most common malfunctions from EMI affect audio systems, engine control units, GPS navigation systems, antilock braking systems, air-bag controls, and car alarms.
The fact that the problem only occurred near the customer’s home and stopped entirely when the faulty transformer was repaired demonstrates how location-specific EMI issues can be nearly impossible to diagnose without considering environmental factors.
Community Experiences with Similar Issues
Viewers shared their own experiences with EMI-affected vehicles. Kevin Smallwood650 provided historical context: “Back in the 90’s, Chrysler had issues with the LH platform cars that would do a similar concern. Stray RF signals would open the trunk, set off the alarms and all kinds of weird things.”
The Chrysler LH platform, which debuted in the early 1990s and included models like the Chrysler Concorde and Dodge Intrepid, was known for incorporating advanced electronics for its era, though specific documented cases of widespread RF interference issues are difficult to verify through official sources.
AJ shared a related experience: “Had a corvette that intermittently wouldn’t start, only happened in the owners driveway. it was interference from his motion sensor lights.”
Some commenters described even more unusual interference scenarios. Robert Winter23 recalled, “Back in the 80s my Grandparents garage door would open Everytime the neighbor would drive by with his International H farm tractor.”
Professional Insights
Professionals in the automotive field recognized the challenge this type of problem presents. Rezavardog, identifying as an industry professional, noted, “Yes, sir, that is a real thing. She spent two weeks in your CTA Loaner for you to collect .3 on an NPF. You lucked out that your new service manager had some experience with the weirdness of powerlines. I’ve heard the stories so it’s always one I keep in my pocket.”
Nate B offered another common cause for similar symptoms: “I had one that was doing that but it was a bad key fob. Customer would lock it and it would randomly lock or unlock and turn on the approach lighting.”
The Rarity of the Diagnosis
Dealership Life’s conclusion emphasizes just how unusual this type of problem is in typical automotive diagnostics. “I would never in a million years guess that that was what was going on with her car,” he admits.
This case demonstrates the value of experienced technicians who can draw upon diverse backgrounds and previous encounters with unusual problems. Without the service manager’s specific knowledge of the Porsche case, the Escalade’s problem might have remained unsolved indefinitely. As industry experts note, experience plays an important role in solving elusive electrical problems that standard diagnostic equipment cannot detect.
The story also highlights the importance of environmental factors in automotive diagnostics. Sometimes the answer to a vehicle problem lies not within the car itself, but in its surroundings.
When asked by a commenter about the specific model, Dealership Life confirmed it was a “Gas ESV,” referring to the Escalade ESV extended-length variant with a gasoline engine, rather than an electric vehicle.
Motor1 reached out to Dealership Life via TikTok direct message for additional comment. We’ll be sure to update this if he responds.