QuestionQUESTION: Hi again Roland, my power to starter problem is now fixed. I checked at my ignition switch and had 12 volts on the yellow wire. Pulled the starter relay and the 12 V went away. That made me realize that the circuit was not grounding. I replaced the neutral safety switch and that corrected the no ground problem. I put the starter relay back into its socket and a starter started cranking. Replaced the starter relay and everything became normal in the start circuit. Who would ever guess that two components would go out at the same time. Now I have a new problem. When I go to start the engine starts up and idles fine for about 2 seconds then stops. I tried again giving it some throttle and the engine runs up but then dies after about 2 seconds. Looks like I may have had three components go bad at the same time. Any ideas on this one?
ANSWER: Hi Don,
Glad to learn the starter is resolved, and the P/N was involved.
On the die-off, if it seems to be a repetitive 2 seconds, that sounds like the theft system is not disarmed. Try lock/unlock the driver side and if that doesn't work the passenger side door locks using the door key.
If that isn't it, then try for fault codes using the ignition switch, on-off-on-off-on and leave on in 5 seconds or less; then count the flashes of the check engine light. Repeat to be sure of an accurate count.
I'll be interested in what you learn. Thanks for considering another rate/nominate.
Roland
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QUESTION: Hi Roland, I tried to lock and unlock on both front doors. This did not change anything. I should have mentioned earlier I did take the codes and I got 35 twice then the end code of 55. I'm sure that code is because I switched the fan relay out with my starter relay which was faulty. As soon as I put the starter relay into the fan circuit The fans came on. That let me know that the relay was short. The car was fairly low on fuel when it broke down. It's been close to 100° here for the last week. It may just be low enough on fuel that the pump cannot build up enough pressure for the injectors. Could this be feasible? I'll stick 5 gallons in it tomorrow and let you know. Of course I'm going to rate/nominate you for every answer, you're the best.
AnswerHi Don,
It depends on how low the fuel is in the tank. If it seems to be a very definite repeatable time that it runs before die, I would think about the theft system not being disarmed. It needs the ignition off draw fuse to work (fuse 5 in the dash) to arm/disarm and there is a VTSS light in the instrument cluster that would be 'on' if the system is armed (fuse 7 powers that light). You may want to go to bcm to provide a fake voltage signal on the wire(s) that come from the door key switch just in case the wires from those switches are broken at the door hinges. Let me know and I can tell you the resistances needed to do an arm and disarm action that way.
Thanks for the nomination.
Roland
PS: Yes, I now recall your mentioning that you had replaced the bcm before you contacted me. That should have raised a red flag because with a replacement bcm one has to use a diagnostic readout box (DRB) to 'enable' the vehicle theft security system to communicate properly between the bcm and the pcm. That explains the 2 second die-off you experienced after you fixed the starter situation.
