Starting Issues

[redline06chick]

Alrighty... This is the third time my car has had to be towed to the dealership.

First time was about two weeks ago. We used the Redline to jump start the Laser (because our old truck lacked the power) and we used it several times due to the fact that the Laser has been sitting there for a while and kept dying. Well that was on a Monday when we had to do that. Then Wedensday night, Kendall tried to start the car, but nothing happened. It worked that whole day and the day before, but *sigh*.... Anyways, Thursday morning I called the whole Saturn Roadside Assistant thing, and got a tow to the dealership. Later on, the service guy called me back and said that the crank fuse had blown and asked if we jump started another car, I explained to him that we did, but it was two days beforehand to which he replied that that was weird because the fuse probably should've blown at that time. We got the car back later that day and everything was fine. THEN....

On Saturday, we used the car to jump start the Laser again, yes it was stupid, but the service guy at Saturn told us what to do so that the fuse wouldn't get blown again if we needed to jump start a car. So we did what he said and everything was alright. So we thought. That night, we stopped to get gas on our way out to Westheimer. Well, as we were about to leave, Kendall started the car, but it died, and then the starter was still trying to start. Kendall took the key out, it still wouldn't stop trying to turn over. He opened the hood, got into the fuse box, fumbled around looking for the right fuse, and then took it out. By that time, the starter was smoking (according to Kendall) and smelled oh-so-lovely. But even though the fuse got taken out, the starter still kept going and going and going. So finally, Kendall took the cable off the battery in the trunk. He then got back under the hood, and tried to see if the ABS fuse would work, but it didn't and that fuse got blown too. So being that we were out a crank fuse and an ABS fuse, we called the Roadside Assistant people again, but they told us that it would be about an hour or so before we would get a tow, and being that it was late and the Dealership was closed, our car would be towed the tow place til Monday. Then Kendall told them that we would try to Roll start it, and bring it home and just get them to tow it on Monday from our house. They put the tow on hold and blah blah. It took a few tries, but we finally got it started and then brought it home. On Monday, I called the dealership, explained to them what happened and what not. They ended up keeping it overnight and on Tuesday, the service guy called and said that they replaced the starter and the fuses. We got the car later that day... and everything was dandy. And I decided that we were NO LONGER gonna use my car to jump start the Laser again so we wouldn't have to worry about all this...... BUT

Yesterday, as I was backing out I killed the car (stupid me) and as I started it back up, it died and the starter kept going and going... AGAIN! Kendall took the fuse out, and undid the battery cable in the trunk. After putting that back together and putting the fuse back in, the car started up fine, like nothing happened and I went along my merry way since I had things to do and the car worked fine the rest of the day. Then, today after washing the car, I went to start it and nothing.... NOTHING! Kendall called the dealership, explained to them whats going on, and they said that they are gonna have the tech guys look at it this time. So I get to go another day or two without my car. What's frustating, though, is that nothing should have caused the starting issues this time.

Has anyone else had these kind of problems? The service guy said that Ions are known to blow the crank fuse when jump starting but I didn't jump start anything this last time....

[Sp00ner]

Well, are you jumping the car off the battery, or are you using the underhood block? The underhood block is the WRONG place to do it. Wop just commented on a similar situation before. You should only jump from the battery, unless it's simply impossible.

The starter will crank until the car starts, why is the car not starting? The only reason the starter keeps cranking is because it's not started. Are you turning the key to off while it's cranking or something?

[redline06chick]

We were using the one in front. The service guy told us that when we jump start another car, as soon as the other car starts, to take the jumper cables off which we did. But that obviously didn't stop the problem.

As for the starter that won't stop....*shruggs* I don't know what the deal with that is. I mean, all I do is put the key is, turn it over, and it starts. But yesterday and that Saturday night, I put the key in, turned it over, and it started, but immediately died and the starter kept going.

Hopefully the Tech people will be able to figure it out...soon

[dacoolist]

You unhook the battery from the car then hook it back up and try it again?

[redline06chick]

Originally Posted by dacoolist

You unhook the battery from the car then hook it back up and try it again?

Kendall just took the battery cable off to stop it from trying to crank and then put it back on and the second time we had to do that, it started back up because the fuse wasn't blown..yet.

Well, we got the car back yesterday. I don't know what exactly was all wrong because I didn't talk to the service guy the first few times, but according to the work sheet thingy we had to get a new battery because it wouldn't hold a charge (damn Laser took all of my car's power) The service guy said that when the battery is low on charge that it can cause the starter to hang up or keep trying to crank so yea, we got another one of those. We also had to get another BCM because ours would not hold information correctly or reprogram, and then the car threw a code and on the paper it says "Found Lock Cylinder Binding" and they replaced the Ignition Switch.

Yesterday they called me about 11ish and said it was ready but then about 20 minutes later they called back and said that the car wouldn't start again and said something about something shorting out the BCM? But apparently they got it fixed since I got the car back and HOPEFULLY I won't have to worry about this stuff anymore...

[John]

I thought my tech was crazy when he said someone was running a roadside assistance...LOL He said someone kept jumpstarting with it. Ya basicly what was happening was the redline battery was getting sucked dry causing low voltage issues, starter hanging was probably caused by signal to start But the battery didnt have enough power to run the fuel pump, so crank no start issue. Hopefully youll be cool from now on. Thanks for being so patient...

[TheWastedYears]

I'm never going to jumpstart anyone. Ever I don't care how the lady is... it's just not gonna happen.

Thanks for posting this.

[Project_Redline]

I have jump started a couple of times, but I only use the actual battery to jump the car.

[Synth]

After reading this, I'm definitely staying away from jump starting someone's car unless it's someone I know. And even then...

[redline06chick]

Originally Posted by John

I thought my tech was crazy when he said someone was running a roadside assistance...LOL He said someone kept jumpstarting with it. Ya basicly what was happening was the redline battery was getting sucked dry causing low voltage issues, starter hanging was probably caused by signal to start But the battery didnt have enough power to run the fuel pump, so crank no start issue. Hopefully youll be cool from now on. Thanks for being so patient...

It's sucked being without the car, I missed the pretty whining noise, but it's all good. Now what sucks though, is that our car isn't running the same amount of boost it was before. We have the stage II on the car and just about everyone says they are running only like 14.5 psi, give or take. Well, on our car, we were running 17 psi. While I was driving earlier, I decided to downshift and when I did, I noticed that I was only running 15 psi...and no more than that.... I'm sad now.. I miss that extra 2 psi. Would replacing the BCM do something to the boost? I don't know what exactly the BCM is on our car so that's why I'm asking.