Originally Posted by Weeg

However, when I put the fuse back I decided to check that all the rest of the fuses and relays were in nice and tight. A couple slid in a little more but one of them seemed to be pretty far so I pushed that one in and made sure all the rest were in good. I then decided to try and restart the car and it started up!!!

Originally Posted by Weeg

What I cannot figure out is that even with a bad new battery when I tried to jump start the car I could not get it to start.

Originally Posted by Weeg

:?: Thanks for all the input and suggestions regarding the problem. Friday night a friend and I decided to do a little more checking.

First we checked all the battery connections/terminals/wires, the readings were all fine. Then we decided to check the volts that the starter was receiving from the battery. The reading was under 10 volts. We tried to bypass the starter wires with jumper cables to see if possibly the drop in volts was related to the wires. The readings were the still the same. It did not seem as if the starter was getting enough volts upon trying to start.

However we did notice that the battery was emitting a sulfur smell upon trying to start and that there was a bubbling/popping noise coming from inside the battery. All indications pointed to either a bad battery, but the volts read fine. It appears that something was shorting out and that was causing the battery to cook. The bubbling or popping noise of the battery evened occurred when we just tried to turn on the front lights without the key in the ignition!

We then starting going thru the shop manual trying to troubleshoot. The manual said to find the right hand inside passenger side fuse block. It wanted us to pull one of the fuses that would prevent startup but also test whether or not the starter was bad. We pulled the fuse out but the volts/amp readings to the starter indicated that the starter was fine. The shop manual now said to proceed to the next step. However, when I put the fuse back I decided to check that all the rest of the fuses and relays were in nice and tight. A couple slid in a little more but one of them seemed to be pretty far so I pushed that one in and made sure all the rest were in good. I then decided to try and restart the car and it started up!!!

We wanted to be certain however that we had found the cause of the problem. But no matter what we did, we still could not determine which fuse or relay in this fuse block would cause the conditions that the car would not start or give the battery that popping or bubbling noise upon start. We tried pulling out some of the suspected fuses that could have been loose but none would regenerate the condition of the no start.

The car started up three or four times while up on the floor jacks. Thinking that we had possibly "found" the problem we then buttoned everything up, lowered the car off the floor jacks and decided to call it a night. I was also going to drive it all week to see if the problem reoccurred. Well first thing Saturday morning I tried to start the car and it would not start!

I think we have isolated where the cause of the problem is, but we are unsure as to what fuse, relay or short in this area would cause the problem of not starting??? I will have to take the kick panel off later tonight or tomorrow and see if I can find which wire, etc is shorting that could cause the no start.

Any additional help or comments would be appreciated.

Louis
97 Bonneville SLE

Originally Posted by itsmy_wifescar

The problem that we had with my wife'* 98, is the same - nothing happens when turning the key. Lights come on, but no starting. Then there'* that "security" light.

The dealer says that the key switch on the steering column has an intermittant connection, and the security system is locking us out.

We have not yet replaced the mechanism in the column, but find that putting the key in differently or just turning the key with pressure in different places on the key (while turning) will make it start and run.

Fred