Thread: Car wont start....mmmm Help!!

Ok I got my Aeroforce gauge earlier this week. And with the weather being really nice today I decided it was time to go ahead and install the puppy! I ran all the wiring, connected the power wire that feeds to the OBD2 plug and then plugged in the aeroforce gauge. NOTHING.......I rechecked all my connections and they were good. So I tried again and turned the ignition on, and still nothing, leaving it on for almost 2-3 minutes before turning it off.

So I took off the Aerofoce gauge and reinstalled my Volts and O/P gauges. I then tried to the car over to make sure they were working. The car fired up. I then rescured the A Pillar Pod and then fired her up again to make sure nothing got bumped in the process. I turned the key.........NOTHING. No clicking of the alternator or anything resembling the car wanting to start up.

So I tried to put the key back into the OFF position and it would not go. I checked the brake pedal and it was hard to push. I tried moving the shifter thinking maybe was off a bit, but it was locked and would not move out of Park. So I thought maybe something happened when the Aeroforce gauge didnt work. So I went and took the power cuppler off the battery for about 10 minutes and then reseated it. Didnt work. I then tried to take the negative off for about 30 minutes and then came back and reseated, still the same results.

So when my roommate got home I thought I would hook up my jumper cables and see IF maybe somehow I drained the battery. The lights however were nice and bright before I tried it, but I felt I had to try and see. So I hooked them up and then tried to get the start, still nothing. So I decided to wait till tomorrow, it was getting really dark out and cold, of course my car was parked infront of the garage door and not inside so I couldnt really do anymore work.

So now I have disconnected both PCM cupplings, the battery again and I am going to leave it sit over night to see what happens. Of course with my stupid key sitting in my ignition. Luckily I live in a good neighborhood!

Any suggesstions would be most appreciated!!!!!!

Originally Posted by 19SE92

Sounds like what happened to me when my car decided not to let me have the keys back there is a reset switch inside the shifter column that will let you get the keys out

Ok I will try that tomorrow. But if I do get my keys back and the problem still exits what next? Bad starter or ingnition switch???

I looked up the price for starters at ORiellys and Autozone they are both in the $150 buck range. And for for the ignition switch. I have to look further into that.

Man I am dreading this

Originally Posted by Toasty

need to check the BTSI fuse... then if that is ok, disassemble the console and inspect the BTSI connector and it's wiring at the shifter.

I didnt smell anything like burnt wiring when working with the Gauge Pod. I just dont know what i could have done unless when pulling the cable back out from underneath the dash I pulled something on that side of the car, there are a bunch of control type modules over there. But I had the Aeroforce wiring up through that space, the car started up. So something happened after I removed the gauge and the connection from the OBD2 and the power lead off the OBD2 that runs the gauge.

I am just at a complete loss on this one Usually I am pretty good at the hardware side of things with our cars, but with electrical, I am ti*s up

To get the key out of the Ignition, take something long and skinny like a screwdriver, under your steering column below the key switch there a little round plastic cover pull that off (a flathead will get it out), now theres a hole, stick the skinny object in that hole (it won't go in too far), while keeping that pressed turn the key and the key will go to the off position and come right out guarantted.

That won't help with everything, but it'll atleast get the key out.

Thanks Iron I will do that in the morning. I have a couple members of the St. Louis club coming over to go over the car with me to see what the problem might be. I will keep everyone up to date as best as possible!!

Thanks all for your input!! And more is always welcomed!!!

Let us know what it is. I had a problem with the Aeroforce gauge I had when I installed it too. But mine would start up, then die after a second or two. Unplug the Aeroforce and all was fine. The aeroforce gauge was bad, that much I know and the person I bought it from would never own up to it.

But I never had any problems getting the key out or any of that stuff. I was going to suggest that perhaps a fuse had blown as Toasty suggested.

What is BTSI? And Sir James, are you up and running yet?

Originally Posted by IndeedSS

What is BTSI? And Sir James, are you up and running yet?

BTSI= Brake Transmission Shift Interlock... essentially, that's what keeps you from shifting out of park unless the key is in the run postion, and keeps the ignition key from being able to be removed---no power, no remove key.... in the run position, you SHOULD be able to shift out of park. if you can't then something is wrong with either the BTSI circuit (fuse, connector @ shifter) or the ignition switch. (check fuses first)

Ok just got back in from outside. I rehooked everything up but nothing still turns over. I got spark and you could hear the door locks activate when the negative was reattached to the battery. But when I go into the car to try and start it up, I put the key all the way forward to start it. Everything goes blank. The DIC LEDs disappear and everything. But when I release the key, back to the middle position before lock, where you can remove the key, the LEDs in the DIC come back.

I also watched my VOLTS gauge on my pillar pod and it did not move or come on, nor did any other other gauges.

I am gonna pull the battery and run it upto Autozone to test it to see if that might be the culprit. Its the original battery that came with the car, and its an 03, so the battery has had 5 years on it. I know that is the "iffy" time for batteries to maybe go?

Any suggestions??

Also testing the MAIN fuse panel in the engine well revealed that some fuses would light up completely on BOTH sides where you can put the tester on it. Others would only light up on one side. And I had some that did not light up at all when testing, but when pulled they appeared to be intact at the Horseshoe arch within the fuse.

Any clues on that?

Thank you all again!

Thanks for explaining the BTSI

Some of the underhood fuses wont show any power unless the key is on. Did you check all the fuses in the glovebox to make sure none of them are blown? Also you said you have spark..... If it wont turn over how do you know it has spark OR do you mean it cranks but wont start???? I would investigate where you connected the power wire for the scan gauge and make sure the wire isnt broken or damaged and that you didnt blow a fuse unhooking it or connecting your other gauges back up. The whole key getting stuck problem at the same time is pointing towards no power going somewhere. I love diag'n this stuff but its kinda hard to do with no car lol.

So I took off the Aerofoce gauge and reinstalled my Volts and O/P gauges. I then tried to the car over to make sure they were working. The car fired up. I then rescured the A Pillar Pod and then fired her up again to make sure nothing got bumped in the process. I turned the key.........NOTHING. No clicking of the alternator or anything resembling the car wanting to start up.

He already mentioned that.

FIRST OFF A BIG THANKS TO Aaron who found the problem!!!!!

Ok I went and checked all the fuses in the MAIN box in the engine bay and the 5th fuse, a 40amp fuse that is for the Ignitition system, would only light up on one side and not the other of the fuse. I called a person and asked them about that and they basically said if it it lit up it was ok. So I did not bother pulling that fuse.

Aaron, Kel and Chris from the Club came over and I told Aaron what I had done and the discovery of that one 40amp fuse that lighting up half way when I tested it. He went and pulled the fuse and look at the picture below. I think it will explain the rest.







As you can see the fuse was totally cut. I must have touched something when reinstalling the gauge pods after the Aeroforce did not work. I did not have the ground removed from the car after trying to get the Aeroforce to work. I guess in my frustration of it not working I did not bother to remove the negative side of the battery and thus my problem happened.

Aaron pointed out that I may need to reroute some of my wiring on my gauges and my radar detector cause they running all off one line, the ignition line. All the lights are also hooked up the ignition line off one main line I used to hook up all my gauges. And he thinks that it might causing to much stress as well. So I went to ORielly's and got a new 40amp fuse and some new 16gauge wire to take the gauge lights off the ignitition line to help with reducing the load on that line.

So now I can breath a bit easier. And a big thank you to you all who contributed information to this problem!!!!!

Glad you guys were able to figure it out James! Time to kick back and ease your mind now....

I think it was today or yesterday that I posted in a thread that I thought it was a good idea to use the Add-A-Circuit to keep from loading up one line too much.