I was driving my car to at 7:30 this morning. It was a Cold, Crisp morning. About 5 mins into my drive, I decide to turn on the windshield wipers to get the frost off the windshield. Seconds after that, the car dies. When I try to start it, nothing. I wait a few seconds thinking about what I should do, then decide to try starting it once again. It starts. Turn the corner, and turn on the wipers again to finish the previously failed job, and it stalls again. This time it wont come back. I had the car towed back to my appartment and there he sits, dead.

The symptoms:

Won't turn over, no clicking of the starter, no nothing.
NO headlights (motors wont even come up - firebird)
No radio
No blinkers of any kind.
No power locks (however the relays down by the clutch pedal ARE clicking)
Alarm DOES still work. Except the doors do NOT lock with the alarm. It still chirps when alarmed, and chirps when un-alarmed, and still goes off regularly.
Dome light DOES come on when the doors opened.

Any ideas or comments welcomed.

KZad

 

One more thing -

The Starter & Alternator are both relatively new.
Alternator this summer, Starter last summer.

Possibly a bad battery, but would that cause my problems?

I am at school and dont have a volt meter to check the battery. Would the car start if I jumped it?

 

If the alarm works normally and has it's normal volume I would say that you probably don't have a dead battery. Did you get a check engine light before it died? Have you checked the fuses yet?

 

i would think it sounds like a short of some kind, like they said before, if the alarm chirps, then battery has juice.

what about the battery cables? maybe those are bad, so your alarm is getting power form the battery, but the car is not.

 

It most likely is a bad connection. I would go over my battery connnections, my starter connections and yes the alternator too..why not? Even though the alarm still chirps, does't mean the battery isn't dead. A alarm doesn't need ahywhere close to the amount of power to chirp as the car needs to start. I've seen car that the radio still workd fine but the battery doen't have enough power to start it. Just my 2 cents.

KZad It sounds like a bad connection or your battery is dead! I need more info...Year of the car and engine would be a good start. Check your connections though cause this is most likely what the problem is. HTH

Keiran

 

1. Alarm works fine, normal volume.
2. Didnt notice a check engine light.
3. Fuses all look fine.
4. I checked the battery terminals where the cables connect to the battery, and they are tight.

Maybe the battery cables are broken along the lines? Could this be possible?

 

I have a feeling you're overlooking the obvious.

You have a short in the steering column somewhere. By turning on the wipers, it's obviously (<---the obvious part ) shorting out the ignition switch wires somehow. After all, they're bunched together like a can of Pringles.

 

CamaroDriver -

I have an odd feeling that you are right. After all, I have pretty much checked everything else. If that IS the problem, how in the world would I go about fixing it. I am going to go out now and try adjusting my steering column and see if that moves the wires any. Hopefully he'll start.

I'll update a little later.

Kurt

 

Put in a new battery tonight. No change.

I also realized that when I turn the key forward, the fuel pump does not start. (doesnt make the usual noise)

Also, if it were a problem in the steering column - would that really stop my headlights from poping up?

 

I would start by trying to figure out where your power ends, get ahold of a multimeter ($20.00 at radio shack) and see if there is power getting to the fuse panel, is there power to the winshield wiper fuse, how bout the radio fuse, if so you know the problem exists after the fuse box. If there is no power to the individual fuses, check to see if the master power to the fuse box is on and tight.

Also try looking at your flasher relay, if my memory serves me correctly there will be a hot lead into that, see if you can find it. You may want to look at one of your buddies to see where things should be hot and where they should not.

This is definitely a strange fenomenom (sp?) There are a few things on your car that should work without the keys in the ignition, the lights (interior and headlights), and the alarm. You say the interior lights work, but not the headlights. The alarm is another beast in of itself, it should get power from the battery, ask the people that installed the alarm.


Does anything work if you put the turn the keys into accessory mode?
Can you turn the dome light on with the ***?
Do the windows work? (Careful dont bring them down too far and find out they wont go up!)
Is there power to your amp?
Does your cigarette lighter work?
Do your dash lights work? Did they ever?

 

DONT FORGET TO DISCONNECT THE NEGATIVE FROM THE BATTERY IF YOU START PLAYING WITH THE MAIN LEAD INTO THE FUSE BOX.

 

Have you checked if the in-line fuse hasen't blown?


Akshay

 

Have you checked if the in-line fuse hasen't blown?


Akshay

 

Think about this for a second....

Everything that has to have some sort of control from the sterring column doesn't work.....

It's the sterring column that has a short, and if you roasted your starter wires then the headlights would still turn on...

There is a short somewhere just start looking around the sterring column, But I'm almost 100% certain it's a short....

 

For a while now, my tumbler has been bad. It started by me being able to pull my keys out while the car was running, and now, you dont even need keys to start the car.

Possible that this is contributing to the problem?

Where exactly is the inline fuse located?

Do we have any fuses under the hood?

Thanks,

Kurt

 

It might also be a fusable link.

 

It's near the battery. There's a wire connected to positive terminal of the battery. That wire contains the inline fuse. For example, amp power cords and car alarms have there own inline-fuse, which explains why your car alarm works...I hope.

But if the inline-fuse is not the problem, your lights, radio, blinkers might be connected to a common circuit. Get a wiring diagram and find the circuit. That could be your problem as well.

Akshay

 

sounds like 1 of 2 things short in steering column or a bad ignition switch.

 

You know what, the dome light and cigar lighter are all connected to the same circuit (I have the same problem), which is why they still work. Your the cigar lighter does work...right? And I've heard that the tail lights, turn signals, and some other stuff are connected to the same circuit. You'll just have to follow AFBryan's advice and trace the short with a multimeter.

Happy hunting
Akshay

 

I havnt had a chance to put the volt meter on it yet, however I did find someone here in DE who can help me out with that. Its just a matter of finding time to get it done.

Someone threw out another idea ...

In the fuse box, there's those bigger metal fuses. Supposedly they are circuit breakers that separate when they blow, and come back together when they cool??? And that when these things get older, they dont come back together??? DOES THIS SOUND CORRECT???

I remember when I got my car, the power locks didnt work, and that was the culpret.

I have 2 of them up in there, maybe the other one's finally toasted???

ANYONE WHO CAN SHED SOME LIGHT ON THIS IDEA, PLEASE DO.

Kurt

 

Self resetting Circuit breakers. Wouldnt hurt to pull them, run some voltage thru them, and see if the connection still works. You should be able to do it with a multimeter. Any electrical Engineer or Computer Engineer should be able to help.

 

I was thinking exactly that! If possible, get yourself a multi-meter and learn how to use it. The main uses include voltage testing. Ground connections (resistance), finding shorted wires (battery ground disconected), and amps for small stuff. The amps isn't really all that important unless you want to find out the watts on like a headlight (very useful in this case).
Let us know what the problem is. I have a feeling it's a shorted wire but with a thirdgen you never know.

 

UPDATE:

I took out both of the metal circuit breakers that are located up in the fuse box. When I had them out, that car acted the same as it does with them in. Put in new ones, no change.

I am having a friend who is pretty good with the electrical stuff take a look at it hopefully thursday morning.

THIS SUCKS.

Kurt

 

Is there power to those circuit breakers? Is there power to the main fuse box? You need to find the break in power. If you need help getting ahold of the wiring diagrams for your car, I can help, although your chiltons manuals should have a wiring diagram. Check the hamilton township library for manuals for your car, they keep all the manuals in stock.

 

Maybe It's your alarm.Mine went up on me
and I was stuck,it may have shorted out some
of your other things.