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2004 Pontiac Grand Prix electrical problem...won't start


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Nikki32
New User

Sep 2, 2015, 4:52 PM

Post #1 of 4 (1106 views)
2004 Pontiac Grand Prix electrical problem...won't start Sign In

I have a 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix GT, 3.8 L engine with 194,037 miles on it that i have had for 9 years now. A few weeks ago my dash lights and radio started cutting off and then back on whenever I would back out of a parking space, turn the wheel to the left ,put the car in drive and drive off. This happened about three times over a course of a month. I recently had my car serviced and everything seemed fine because I hadn't had anymore problems. Afterwards I parked this car in the garage and drove my other car for about a week. This past Saturday I went to crank up the Pontiac and it had no dash lights,headlights,radio, brake lights or interior lights and my alarm light was solid red instead of blinking as it normally does. Only the wind shield wipers and the fan to my AC was blowing. I disconnected the battery and took it to O'Reillys to have it checked. I was told that the battery was good but needed to be charged. I was surprised as I had just purchased the battery in July. Once the battery was charged i connected it back in the car and tried to crank it up again and still only the windshield wipers and the AC fan were working. I then checked all of the fuses in the car and none of them were blown.Also, i tried leaving the key in the ignition turned to the on position for 20 minutes to see if it would start then but still nothing. Please, any advice?


Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Tom Greenleaf profile image

Sep 2, 2015, 5:16 PM

Post #2 of 4 (1100 views)
Re: 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix electrical problem...won't start Sign In

Not sure but I think a domino effect of troubles. Short somewhere leading to a low or very low charge on battery may have set off or enabled theft device/system and taking battery out must have. Did you reset it to operate and is it a factory set up or aftermarket something?


Why the heck did you leave key in "ON" position? If you mean where it would be while running if running you just took a good bit or lot of the charge out of that battery again.


May be a parasitic drain the is the primary problem and now a confused alarms system on top,



T



Nikki32
New User

Sep 2, 2015, 5:27 PM

Post #3 of 4 (1094 views)
Re: 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix electrical problem...won't start Sign In

The alarm is factory and I also had Lojack installed but I have had that for years. Also, there was a mechanic that had some electrical knowledge so i thought that recommended trying to reset the key by leaving it in the on position. He said that if that didn't work i would have to call a locksmith or have my computer reset. None of this made any sense to me but I' m not a mechanic I'm just trying to get some advice. I think there should be some way to find out where the power is being losted in order to fix this issue.


Tom Greenleaf
Ultimate Carjunky / Moderator
Tom Greenleaf profile image

Sep 2, 2015, 5:42 PM

Post #4 of 4 (1089 views)
Re: 2004 Pontiac Grand Prix electrical problem...won't start Sign In

First things first - it doesn't even crank the engine as it is so finding a drain IMO would be something to find after you can get it to run at all and prove it's not messed up in some other way.


One common GM side post battery terminal problems is the rot out unseen under hard rubber covers and deliver little amps to crank but may light some lights and things. Car would think alarm was set while requesting starter the huge battery draw even reset clock and any presets. Gotta look right at them as they can look OK at a glance and not be. It's an eyelet in there held by a bolt so bolt only really goes to battery if eyelets are trashed not on to operate the car.


IDK about this leaving a key on for any reason? 20 minutes ignition, fuel pump and more was empowered so drained battery some as said. I can't think of a reason why a problem would be solved by draining battery with that trick?


Check those cable ends. If they are trashed it might have suffered some quick like battery disconnected and spike voltage out of alternator when contact was restored just that quickly? Can't know now but you should be able to get a starter to crank engine even if jumping to the trigger wire. If nothing then too connections of cable at starter (bat+ cable) or starter bad and don't forget the engine block end of bat- cable as well.
Can you put a test light on trigger wire at solenoid at least to see if that gets power when starter requested? If not this may get more involved?


T







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