I've had this problem for a while now and I don't know what to do. Sometimes my car wont start (no crank, anything), even after replacing the battery, starter, and cables. I have made a few important observations that could help you guys solve this for me:

- The car will start just fine after waiting ~30 minutes, which implies a heat-related problem, right?

- Despite point one /\ ; the car can be started immediatedly if properly jumped by another car, which implies a weak electrical component problem, right?

I can think of a few tricky things that can cause a situation LIKE this, including a VATS problem, a short or ground somewhere that is zapping power, or a neutral safety switch or something, but it seems a though any of these "tricky" conjectures are negated by either the "waiting fixes it" factor or the "jumping it fixes it" factor, know what i mean? What should I do guys? Thanks for looking.

 

i got something like that happening now. id replace your park/neutral safety switch. i left my car at a buddies house over night becuase it wouldnt start on the weekend. later the next day it flashed up like nothing, than wouldnt start the next time. i just give the shifter a little bump and it will flash right up. with mine, everything works, except there was no crank. even the lights would dim as if trying to start. i have yet to replace the switch - so im not going to guarentee thats whats wrong, but im pretty sure thats whats wrong. good luck

 

yeah id be checking in the dash column area too, sounds like could be safetye neutral start switch for one, make sure wires tight at solenoid and all grounds tight too, do you ever have just clicking when you try to start the caR ?

 

Solenoid's good (wires), and you can hear the click from the relay, you know, that's in the engine compartment but really close to the steering area, if thats what you mean, but as for anything from the starter or something, no. The fuel pump is working too, you can hear it prime up, but thats a moot point since the clues dont indicate a fuel pump problem.

Is there a way I can "rig" a push-start button around all the bullcrap that can go wrong in the steering column area, because I have a ton of problems with my steering column and related and I do believe something in this area is causing the problem. I'd like to just take two wires and hook them up to a push button if i could, like hot wiring it ya know. I think this is possible, I may need to include a resistor to simulate the key resistor but I bet some of you know how to do this.

 

As far as I can tell, this problem has been SOLVED. I ended up installing a remote starter solenoid, even though I did not think it was the source of the problem. The fact that my car could be jumped did not line up with the normal heat soak problem. However, I think I heard someone say that when a car is jumped, the voltage may be the same but the amperage to the solenoid is increased, which, in theory, is what allows it to "bust through" the added resistance caused by the heat. Does this make sense?

Regardless, I've been on a couple of decent-sized trips since I did this mod, and after turning off the car, immediately tried to start it again. Before, it would have done nothing and I would have had to wait at least 30 minutes, yet these times it started on what had to be the first tooth of the flywheel it grabbed! I'm talking IMMEDIATELY! So I think its solved. However, I would still like to know if the "extra amperage" theory holds up. Thanks.