Pontiac: Ignition fuse blowing, pontiac grand prix, grand prix 3
Question1996, Pontiac Grand Prix, 3.1 liter. Why would the ignition fuse continue to blow upon attempting to crank the car? No sooner than I turn the key the ignition fuse will blow. It has been blowing for several weeks and got so bad that it finally would not crank when I replaced the fuse. I had the car towed into an automtive electrical shop and they supposedly traced the problem to the starter. They replaced the starter and since then, the car has blown 10 fuses in a 5 day period. I took the car back to them this past Wednesday and again on the following Friday (they could not repeat the problem) I got it back on that Friday and drove home. I then went to my soccer game and was driving very fast because I was late. The car started fine when I left the house, however, 2 hours later after the game was over, the car blew 3 fuses back to back upon trying to crank the car. I could not get it to crank and I had to leave the car over night. The next morning I replaced the fuse and it cranked just fine. At first I thought the heat may be doing it, but the car blew a fuse a couple of times after sitting in the garage over night. I took it back yesterday and they kept it over night and they cannot get the car to repeat the problem. Basically, I stick the key in, turn the ignition, and the fuse blows. If I am lucky I can replace the fuse and the car starts right up. The car has a new battary and the alternator is about 5 years old. I need to figure out the problem. I cannot afford to trash the car. By-the-way, the car only has 82,000, mile on it and is in very good shape except for the exhaust manifold leak.
AnswerIt is probably a problem in the ignition switch. It is an intermitent short inside the switch. I have seen it several other times.
Do yourself a favor and stay out of those wire repair shops. They usually cause more problems than they fix, and then the car ends up in my stall at the dealer, where you should have taken it in the first place.
