95 Grand Am died

[karnak4462]

Hello everyone...I have a 1995 Grand Am with a Quad 4 that suddenly died while sitting in traffic. It just spit and sputtered like it was running out of gas and lost all electrical power. Seems like everything that powers on when ignition switch is on does not work, no power to starter, wipers, blower motor, radio, turn signals, and the like. Only things that do work are things not powered on by ignition switch like headlights, horn, dome light, etc. Naturally the battery is up and all fuses are good. Could this possibly be a bad ignition switch or a computer problem? I'm a pretty good mechanic but this has got me stumped. Any help would be greatly appreciated. Thank you...

[MikeCStig]

A 20 year old Grand Am died... RIP, now get a different car. Seriously, even if you do figure out this issue, at this point in your Grand Am' s life, it will just be one problem after another. Mostly electrical problems of many different types, the frame and other parts of the underside will start to rot. The whole thing is going to fall apart, get rid of it. It will save you a lot of headaches the sooner you get rid of it.

[karnak4462]

Car only has 72K original miles, well kept and no rust, thats why I bought it. Besides, can't afford new car right now. Been running perfect for over a year now.

[liya_leacree]

I only know the possible problem of batter, can you check it carefully? Hope you can solve it soon. Good luck.

[Tech II]

If the headlights are bright, battery should be ok....but check the battery cable connections, for ha-ha's making sure they are clean and tight....

Next, turn key to on and go to the fuse box.....check both sides of all fuses for power....if you have a series of fuses with no power to them(use a test light), it could be an ignition switch....

Check all grounds.....

Check for codes.....

Car does not crank with the key in the crank position? Do you hear a click? Can you manually rotate the engine? Then work your way backwards from the starter solenoid(purple wire), checking the circuit through the P/N switch(yellow wire) to the ignition switch for power with the key in the crank position....

[karnak4462]

Thanks for the info but I've tried most all that...headlights bright, no crank, no click, all connections good from what I can see.

[MikeCStig]

Originally Posted by karnak4462

Car only has 72K original miles, well kept and no rust, thats why I bought it. Besides, can't afford new car right now. Been running perfect for over a year now.

Well, that's a little bit of good news, at least when you do fix it, you can sell it. Seriously, you don't want a 95 grand am in your life as time goes on, you'll find yourself in this situation over and over even with just 75k miles.
Just don't tell that to the buyer...

[karnak4462]

Still trying to figure this out. Was under car checking out wiring to starter and found a suspicious wire. See pic attached. Is this just a splice or possibly a fusible link? This wire comes from the battery to the starter solenoid. And yes I noticed the red wire with the insulation scraped but no evidence of burning or breakage, that I can fix.Thanks for any help.

[karnak4462]

The Grand Am lives again. Found it to be a fusible link at the starter. $2.69 fix at Auto Zone. Thanks everyone for your help. Good thing I didn't scrap the car over $2.69 huh MikeCStig...

[MikeCStig]

Originally Posted by karnak4462

The Grand Am lives again. Found it to be a fusible link at the starter. $2.69 fix at Auto Zone. Thanks everyone for your help. Good thing I didn't scrap the car over $2.69 huh MikeCStig...

Ok... well done and congratulations, but I would still recommend caution and being prepared for future issues. The Pontiac Grand Am (of any year) doesn't exactly have a reputation for consistent reliability.