Electrical ?

[wdad6277]

I have a 2003 grand am and for some reason when I put the key in to start the car sometimes the dashboard and other electronic components do not come on(radio,heater/ac). After waiting a little bit everything comes on. The car will still start and run fine. In fact you can actually start driving the car but the dashboard is dead (no speedometer, gas guage, or anything) This does not happen all the time. I have tried a differnt key and that doesn't solve it. Does anyone have any idea as to what is causing this?

[justin0717]

I havent seen anything like this on a grand am, but i have replaced the Instrument Panel Cluster(IPC) on many Chevy Silverados for the same sort of issue. OR possibly a bad ignition switch. OR possibly a bad BCM, the BCM is whats called a power mode master. It tells all the other computers when to turn on and what ignition mode the car is in (acc,run,crank). So if it wasnt sending the correct message to the IPC, then the IPC wouldnt turn on and light up. Best bet, get it diagnosed by someone with a Tech 2 or other scan tool, that can communicate with all computers in the car.

[xeroinfinity]

I know older GAs had alot of troubles with the IPC.
And I have heard alot of people saying thier 99+ IPC are not functioning properly like yours.

I have seen bad ignition switches cause this,
but as justin0717 stated best bet is to get it scann with the proper equipment.
Other wise you'll just be throwing money at it, not good


and Welcome to AF.

[Degtr]

Infinity is right, start with a scan. However, I had this on my '99 Grand Am and it was the ignition switch, and the scan didn't show that. I figured it out through trial and error by tracing all of the problems back to one of 2 common control points for everything that was not working--the BCM and the ignition switch. I didn't even have to replace the switch. I removed the switch from the dash and took apart the back to get to the contacts inside. When you turn the key core, you will see that different copper contacts either protrude or retract depending on whether the switch is in off, acc, on, or start. These pins hit metal plates to make a circuit, and the information is relayed to the BCM, ignition, etc. to tell the car what it should be doing. My contacts were corroded so that the pins that told the engine to start and run were working OK, but those that told other accessories such as the dash, HVAC, and power windows were no longer making contact consistently. A little cleaning and reassembly fixed the problem for the remainder of the car's life, which was about another year.

[SEREGA784]

Previous post say that the cluster not coming on at all, but what if it seems to come up, but only speedometer works, gas gage, and the heater gage works backwards. What causes that? Sometimes you can reset the car and it comes up? Does ignition switch controls more then one thing on the cluster? Or is it just bad cluster? Help.

[xeroinfinity]

Ignition switch controls several things that only work when the key is on.
A GM tech II scanner will show whats wrong, a cheap scan tool will not show whats wrong.

[SEREGA784]

Previously I had scanned by mechanic, when my abs sensor went off, he did not see any additional error that would tell the problem with ignition switch.
Also when I say switch controls other thing, I mean things on the cluster, how many things that are on the cluster itself controlled by the ignition switch, not other parts of the car.

[xeroinfinity]

Not all scanners can read B DTC's, so unless a Tech II GM scanner was used then your mechanic would not see anything.

The cluster is either on or off.
Everythings wired together, but if the gauge is moving backwards,
then you have a bad cluster or the PCM or BCM is malfunctioning, which both need a Tech II scanner(or equivalent) to read the appropriate DTC's.

[wdad6277]

I have done some invetigating and the problem occurs when and only when i leave the heater/AC fan on. If I start the car or turn the ignition on with the blower in the 1 or any other setting the dash, radio, nor the blower itself will come on. If I turn the fan control to off then turn the ignition on everything works. I have also had a service engine soon light come on when i am having this trouble. I unhook the negative side of the battery for about 2 mins hook it back up and everything seems to work for a few weeks. Not sure if it is a coincidence or not?