1992-1999 Series I L27 (1992-1994 SE,SLE, SSE) & Series II L36 (1995-1999 SE, SSE, SLE) and common problems for the Series I and II L67 (all supercharged models 92-99) Including Olds 88's, Olds LSS's and Buick Lesabres Please use General Chat for non-mechanical issues, and Performance and Brainstorming for improvements.

My 93 will not start.

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Old 08-17-2006, 04:32 PM
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Originally Posted by Echo SSEI
Originally Posted by 95-SLE
To install the Headunit, we unplugged the negative a few times. Is there just enough power for the nights, but not enough for the starter (and AC and headunit?)

My car is not at my house (where I am now). What would be best to bring with me back to the parking lot to try and fix it?
It is possible that the battery is weak from the install and just needs a recharge. In my car, I had a bad positve battery terminal that had been "reemed"/"chewed" out. I had all power and lights, including remote door locks, but unless the cable was making full contact, it would not start. Bring an 8mm (or adjustable wrench) and take off battery cables, inspect for corrosion (clean off with paper towels or a wire brush), reconnect (be careful not to overtighten and crush the battery post srurfaces) but make sure the "teeth" on each cable bite into the battery post surfaces.

See if it fires up.
Alright, I'll give it a shot when I drive over there. I remember saying when I kept unlplugging, this battery looks pretty dirty. I also turned on the car and drove it about 5 times before it would not crank.

Also, could it be that I'm out of gas? I remember it beeping to tell me to go get gas and I just put in $20 a few days ago.
Old 08-17-2006, 04:38 PM
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Originally Posted by 95-SLE
Also, could it be that I'm out of gas? I remember it beeping to tell me to go get gas and I just put in $20 a few days ago.
That would explain the "not starting"....lol Hopefully a cleaning up and tightening of the cables will fix it. If not, then we need to try other things.
Old 08-17-2006, 05:58 PM
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Well, one of the bolts was stripped, meaning that we could not get the positive off. When I went to the car, the automatic unlock would not open it.

When we tried a few jumping things, we got it to "click" once. Well, make a clicking noise, just for half a second. Also, when we have the car ready to jump, I'm hearing a clicking noise from the passenger side door. Could that be the speaker? All the lights were on during that time, but the AC controls, the headunit and the car would not start.
Old 08-17-2006, 06:07 PM
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Get the battery cables off.. I believe you not only have cable issues..but severe corrosion that didn't manifest until now. When the cables are off..pull the plastic boots off the cable ends (they pull straight off w/o cutting)

Any corrosion on the wires etc where the crimps are?
Old 08-17-2006, 06:18 PM
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Alright, I'll try to get everything clean when I go back there. I'm going to eat, but I'll go back to the parking lot in about an hour and a half to 2 hours. Hopefully a good corrosion cleaning will fix everything.
Old 08-17-2006, 09:23 PM
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It looked like the battery needed charging, so it is out of the car and charging right now. Also the positive had a lot of corrosion. The positive side was only measuring 10 volts. The positive side was also pretty striped, it was a pain to get that piece off.

We did some wiring with the jumper cables from the top of the battery to the end of the screws and the car started cranking, but did not fully turn on.

I am going to go buy some new bolts for the battery connections and I cleaned the rest of it with baking soda. I hope this is all of my problems. If anyone has any suggestions what else it might be, let me know.

I miss my Bonneville already though
Old 08-18-2006, 11:39 AM
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Sounds like you are on your way. I suspect that when the battery is fully charged and you have goosd contact with the positive cable, she will fire up.

Keep us posted.
Old 08-18-2006, 11:42 AM
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While the battery is out...make sure you pull the boots off the ends of the battery end of the cables and look underneath. It'* usually an eye opener.
Old 08-18-2006, 12:10 PM
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You mention that one of the bolts were stripped, were the threads on the battery connector stripped as well? When I first got my car, I had pulled off the battery cable (the - side) and the part of the lead connector came out with it and it had started leaking battery acid all over the place causing corrosion
Old 08-18-2006, 01:31 PM
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The negative bolt was stripped, but the inside looked fine. We got 2 new bolts for both the positive and negative. We are also going to give the battery a good cleaning. The inside the holes, it was not too bad.

I'll try cleaning off under the boots when I go to put the battery back in. I have no idea how old the battery is, but it has to be a few years as it is quite dirty. Maybe it is just time for a new one.

It was weird that it stopped working the day after I put in my new radio. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the radio needs to be plugged into 2 types of power, one for when the car is off and there other for when the car is on?


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