Car won't start.. battery is fine, no gauges?
 

Recently, my gauges have been acting up. THey would 'flutter' every now and then, but it never effected anything.

Now the other night, once i pulled in my drive way, i let me car idle for a little wihle, and it just died and would not start.

My battery still puts out 12.4 volts
When i turn they key to 'on' my cd player works, fans kick on, but the gauges don't move to show any battery juice.

I CHECKED ALL MY FUSES

the car doesn't even crank. Doesn't do anything. No lights on the gauges, no SES light or anything. Headlights work, horn works..etc..etc

Any ideas what it could be? Maybe a bad connection somewhere from corroded wires(hopefully)... does this sound like a computer issue?

Thanks for your time

Jason

Look for corrosion on the battery cables especially the positive one near the battery terminals. Could be a relay, could be a number of things, start with the simple stuff first. Good luck.

i checked the battery cables and the first 'post' that the positive cable goes to after the battery.. both are fine.. i checked voltages on both.

Any idea why my radio/fans..etc..etc woulld be working, but not the ignition or any gauges???

Replace the fuse that would cause this anyway, even know they look good it dosnt mean they are, unless you checked them with a circuit powered test light.. If you did then you need a wireing diagram.

Ignition Switch is a good place to start. I have run into this alot on GM vehicles. Its usually oddball shit like the gauges inop. The fisrt thing I would check if the vehicle was in front of me is the fuses, since you did that, Next check juice at the Ignition relay, which is under the hood in the fuse block. Pull the relay, turn the key to the run position and check for battery voltage at pin 30 (#'s are marked on bottom of the relay). If you do not have power there, its Probably the ignition switch, because it feeds that directly. This circuit controls several things including starting system, injectors and pcm Ign. feed. If you do have power check the starter relay. Same thing pull the relay put a test light on pin 30 again, this should have batt+ voltage with the key in run pos. If not again it's most likely the Ign. switch, This circuit is the same as the one feeding the ignition relay above. Pin 85 should have 12 volts in park/neutral or with the clutch depressed depending with the key in the run pos. This tells you that the clutch switch/ P/N switch is good, which it probably is of the gauges would work. If you have both of those, check pin 86, put one end of your voltmeter/test light on the + terminal, and the other in this pin. It should light when you turn the key to crank. This indicates that the Body controller is sending a proper signal to start. If not It's the Body controller or one of its inputs. If Thats the case get back with me, I may be able to help you some more. I hope this helps. Later.

its the fuse!

I had the SAME EXACT PROBLEM.

GM made this thing where if you pull the fuse to the odometer the car would continue to run, but as soon as you shut it off it wouldnt run anymore. So you cant fool the odometer reading.

This happened to me after my nitrous install and I went crazy trying to see what the problem was. I bought a new battery.. The car sat in my driveway for about 2-3 weeks. I kept checking the fuses but somehow I overlooked this one fuse :confused: :cry:

The fuse is located on the side of the dash on the drivers side. Pull it.. replace it.. start the car up and have fun

:)

what's the fuse labeled as Wycked Camaro?

all my fuses were fine :(

i tried taking a 12volt battery wire and running it to what i believed was the starter wire ( i spliced into it) and no avail :(

If you run power directly to the starter it should crank. If it doenst then your starter is bad

same thing happened to me..car ran fine and i stopped at the gas station and went to fire her up ...and nothing..no cranking,no gauges working nothing..just dead..but i did have radio,lights..ect

turns out to be a bad ignition relay..switched the ignition and starter relay, and the car started but didn't fire..so went to pep boys and 10 buks later she started right up..

i decided i was gonna do a push button start to bypass the ignition switch -- to test it i ran a hot battery wire, to what i believe is the starter wire --- nothing :( ( yellow wire, that runs from a connector from the steering column, down and out thru the fire wall

update :::

found the right wire, lol... i tried connecting the correct wire to a hot wire(battery), and my car started cranking... wouldn't turn over though.. i had the key in the ignition.. any idea why?

Make sure you have the key on, if its just a theft deterant prob it will start then, but most likely your still not sending power to every thing that needs power, which leads back to what is causing it to begin with. Have you tried to swap relays like said above? switch your ignition relay with another one like it in the fuse box and see if she will run. if not try swapping the starter relay the same way. It might just be sticking.

when i go to start it, my gauges still aren't getting power... i was told this has something to do with the ignition switch... i guess if i find the gage power wire, and hook it up directly to the accessory wire, that should work? right?

Bad Dash cluster
 

I had same problem. I took out dash cluster. Unplug it and starts up. Runs good. Now after 3 starts it wont start again. You must take you cluster to a dealer have it program again. And bam your problem fix. I went threw same bs and money.

Your interior lights, brake lights, horn, headlights, turn signals, radio....are not run through your PCM. It sounds like all of the functions of your car that are run through the PCM and the main fuse panel under the hood (the one with the ignition relay) are having a problem. Do you have 12v at the power post off of the underhood fuse panel?

This thread is over 11 years old. 1st post and you're winning

Ignition switch or connectors to ignition switch
 

It is your ignition switch or more commonly the connectors for your ignition switch. Best way to tell is to remove the plastic panel under your ignition and then smack the small part of your ignition under the key slot with a wrench or something metal. If it starts up doing that then that's your issue.

People really love digging up this thread.