Stalls, cranks, no restart

2002, 2.2L, 4cyl, Alero with 29,000 miles. About two weeks ago, turned key to start, the dash lights lit normal but nothing happened (no click, no crank, nothing). Tried again and same thing. Tried the third time and the car started perfectly normal. One week later, drove twenty miles, stopped at store for couple of minutes and this time the car would crank strong but no start. After two minutes it started normal. I cleaned and inspected the battery terminals but they looked fine to begin with. This morning, the engine just quit while driving at 35mph and I drifted into a parking lot. The car cranked strong but would not restart for 30 minutes so I gave up. When the tow truck arrived 3 hours later, the car started normal. Had the car towed to a dealer and they want to replace the fuel pump under the extended warranty. The mechanic stated that he checked the pressure on the rail and could see it drop as the car would stall. The fuel pump would not have caused the original no crank condition that started two weeks ago. Would the fuel pump be intermittent? GM is picking up the tab ($0 deductible) so I authrorized the repair. I'll let you know how it turns out. It almost sounds like a security passlock issue, but I never saw the security light flash. I also questioned the fuel pump relay, but the mechanic said that checkes out fine.

my 99 did something similar, quit while driving through a parking lot. Had to call a tow truck then. My fuel pump was not working but it wasn't the fuel pump. My ignition switch had gone bad causing the fuel pump to have a power loss. It would crank all day but no start because the start circuit was fine, the pump circuit is what failed, no security light either. A new ignition switch fixed mine. Has run fine since.

let them change it for free.
Then if it does it again givem hell!

But I would say your ignition switich is queit poosibly the no start issue culprit.

But let them replace your pump first ;)

Yes, I agree. A problem with the ignition switch makes a lot more sense to me too. I left the dealership with a new fuel pump but not a lot of confidence that the problem is solved. I don't leave home without my cell phone and the free road side assistance number. Time will tell, hopefully before the warranty expires. Thanks for the inputs.

Here we go again. As we all figured, it wasn't the fuel pump. The car still has the intermittent crank with no start and the occasional stall while driving problems. It's back at the dealer for another look and they ordered a new under hood fuse box this time. I once again suggested the ignition switch as a possible solution but the dealers must be smarter than us, not. Apparently GM has deep pockets since they are paying for these repairs. How can GM afford to replace perfectly good fuel pumps? When I get the car back, I will post the results.

Good Luck with that.

Makes you wonder if dealerships even bother troubleshooting... Forget finding the real problem, just keep replacing parts until it's fixed. :screwy: I agree with xero on the ignition switch. There are two main ignition wires coming from the ignition switch, and if either one is losing power intermittently, it will stall the car. This happened to me when I had my key cylinder replaced at a dealership. They "drilled" out the old one because the mechanism was locked up inside (key popped out while ignition was on), and when they were finished with it the car would no longer start. Naturally, they blamed the remote starter, so I spent nearly two hours in the parking lot with the GM technician troubleshooting. I disconnected the Passlock bypass module, and still no start. He even tried to tell me there may be no fuel in the tank. I started testing the ignition wires with a DMM myself, and found that one of the ignition wires was no longer showing power with the key on. I thought this funny, because I never had a problem with it before. They wouldn't do anything for me until the next day, but I was from out of town, so I had to leave. This was about 6pm, so naturally they were all wanting to go home for the night. So after a $600 bill, I get one problem fixed and leave with another. I stuck a paper clip in the ignition harness to jump power from ignition 1 to ignition 2 to get home, and then hardwired the connection later on. What a joke... Anyways, sorry this turned into a bit of a rant, just dont want to see you go through the same kind of thing. :) Good luck.

And the saga continues. The Alero is still at the dealer's shop because obviously the fuse box was not the problem. Supposedly they are now dealing with GM factory technical advisors. Now I'm really worried! I think they are at the point now where they actually attempt troubleshooting instead of just replacing. The only credit that I can give the dealer is that they are not just returning the car to me when it is still broken, although they did do that the first time. I received the extended warranty free when I bought this GSA car at auction, and now I'm almost sorry I have the warranty because it 's like I'm trapped letting them fool with my car. Thanks for the inputs and I will update.

This is not that hard, there are not that many components in the crank circuit, like I said, sounds like a bad ignition switch to me. There are only so many components that can cause the starter not to turn over.

It all points to the ignition switch. I am sure I will eat crow on this but every symptom you have can be caused by the ignition switch, not the key cylinder but the actual electrical switch. I feel sorry for you. Even if it is not the switch there is still only so much in the crank circuit.

Good Luck.

that was the point I was trying to make.
the electrical portion of the ignition switch is most likly the problem.

I know I have replaced several Ignition components on GMs that were having the same symptoms as you are madeintheusa.

Me being on the aftermarket side of things with remote starters, I too 2nd the thought of it being the ignition switch.

Thanks to everyone who replied. At my persistent prodding, I finally persuaded the dealer to replace the ignition switch, and quess what. The problem has been solved! The car starts and runs great now.

Congratulations. It is ashame that anyone has to go through the trouble you did to get something fixed. But, you are not alone. I was once told by a dealer that if they could not prove a part was bad, they were not authorized to replace it. Thus, your car would not be fixed. I understand that in theory, but once a dealer has nothing to go on but they still know they have a problem, they MUST either shotgun the problem (throw parts at it) or actually get someone to work on it that knows what they are doing. It seems that many times shotgun is their answer.

Again congratulations and I hope you have no further problems with it. I own a 99 alero with the 3.4 that I have had since new. It has had several problems, the common ones, but it is a good strong car. Good luck!