1996 Trans Am WS6 Not Starting
 

Hi guys, I'm new to the forum here, but I've been searching since yesterday and want to check that I'm on the right path here.

Saturday I was out driving with my wife and a friend and playing around (well outside of the city) I opened her up and got up to about 130 mph before letting off. Didn't seem to have any problems at all afterward, drove it back home, started it up two more times that same day to get around, and no problem. Then yesterday I went out ready to go and the car wouldn't start at all - won't turn over, won't even make any noise from the starter trying to get it going. So I put the battery on the charger and take it to an O'Reilly's to confirm my battery was in fact shot (7 yrs. old). Bought a new one, put it in - still dead and no noise. I checked all the fuses in the fuse box to make sure nothing had blown and everything was fine, so now I'm stuck.

From what I've gathered after reading around for a few hours, I think the next thing I should check when I get off work today is going to be the ignition switch, as well as testing power from the starter and alternator to make sure I don't need to replace either of them as well. Is there anything else you guys can recommend? I hate driving the beater car (no A/C in Texas) and want to get back in the bird ASAP.

Do you have any power whatsoever or is everything dead?

I have power to everything except the engine, it seems. Lights all work, stereo works, no problem. Just can't get it to even try to turn over.

Jump your starter to make sure it works. If it does then the next thing I'd investigate is your ignition switch. Could be worn and not making contact. If you haven't already, try jiggling the keys in the ignition before attempting to start. You can also put a volt meter to the wire leading to the starter solenoid and see if it's getting voltage while key is in starting position.

Is it a 6 speed? If so I'd check the clutch switch, jump the connector pins together and see if it will fire. I had my clutch switch fail on me and couldn't fire up the car until I jumped the wires.

Yes, it's an M6. I'll check these out when I get off work today and let you know what I found. Thanks for the advice!

Do you hear the starter click when you try to crank, or is there no sound at all?

If there is no click at all where the starter it attempting to engage, you might look at the theft deterrent module. I had an issue with one of those once that was a nightmare.

All of the above is sound advice, just throwing out another idea.

I don't hear any clicking sound at all - just silence. What gets me is that this occurred from not doing anything to the engine at all. I was just driving it and then it died. Replaced the dead battery and still nothing. I haven't even started modding this thing yet (still saving up for a nice bundle of things all at once).

As others have said, check your neutral safety switch on your clutch pedal. Mine was acting up on me a few years ago. Also another problem I had not too long ago was my security light wouldn't turn off randomly and prevented me from starting my car. Check your keys to make sure the "chip" on the side of the ignition key is intact and verify that your security light shuts off after you turn the ignition on.

Is there anything I did that caused this so as to prevent doing it in the future (aka driving 130 or anything else)? Getting it fixed is one part of the solution for me, but I also would like to know if there's anything I can do to prevent it from reoccurring.

I don't think there's really anything you can do to prevent.

If you aren't hearing the starter actually engage, I'd be looking at the NSS and then go to TDR. You would be able to bypass the TDR. The TDR basically grounds the starter solenoid so it will engage. If it goofs, you won't hear the "click" sound of the starter trying to turn.

Good info here concerning VATS and TDR:

http://shbox.com/1/pass_key.html

I doubt that the TDR is bad, but it is worth looking into. I'd try elsewhere first. Just trying to give you another option. I've had problems with mine, but I don't think its considered normal to have problems with.

BTW, if you're new to this, bookmark that site if you haven't already. There is a TON of useful information on shbox.

So the starter is good, getting full 12V. Was able to get the car started by jumping it with a power probe, but still won't turn over with the key. The security light blinks when the car is off, but turns off when the key is in the ignition in the on position. Checked the clutch switch and it's getting normal power as well. I also checked with both keys (I have 2 full key fobs from when the car was bought by the first owner) and neither one works as well.

Clean the pills on the keys with brake cleaner and try again.

The keys are perfectly clean, one stays locked in a safe just in case and the other I keep clean and on me at all times.

Using the power probe, I can get the car on by hitting a pin on the thick purple wire and get it started for now, but I really don't feel like carrying a power probe around all the time to get it started until I get this sorted out. It's not the VATS issue because it starts up and runs just fine once I jump it.

You mention the NSS is getting power. With the clutch no depressed there should only be power on one side of the switch. With the clutch depressed, power should be allowed to go through. . Your explanation of what you checked was a bit fuzzy.

I'd suggest pulled the NSS connector and physically jumped the terminals just to make sure

As of last night, I have tested that the starter does in fact work and will turn over the engine when jumped from the purple wire leading into it. Tested the clutch switch and it gets power on both input and output side just fine. Tested the ignition switch and it seems to be giving out voltage as well, but there's a disconnect somewhere between the ignition switch and the starter, so I'm thinking I am going to have to do the VATS bypass to get this going.

So you won't even try it? Same thing happened to a friend of mine. His key looked perfectly clean. Car wouldn't start. Security light flashed. Cleaned it with brake cleaner and it worked. If that doesn't work then yes, VATS will probably have to be bypassed.

I can try it, not like it's going to hurt anything. I'll let you guys know later when I get home to try it out. If that doesn't work though, I guess I'll be going to RadioShack to build a VATS bypass lol.

Just throwing this out there, but when I had an issue similar to yours (Stereo and everything worked, battery was good) my battery cable wasn't flush to the battery and was slightly corroded. I had to replace the gold plated terminal that a stereo shop put in with a regular terminal.

If you security light isn't on, it could be that one of the wires from the ignition switch is broken instead of the VATS.