Intermittent Electrical issue, Trans wont shift, Dash goes dead, engine cuts off
willquinnett
10-07-2005, 09:52 PM
Wow, this has been a tough one, but I finally think it's fixed . . . thanks to you guys posting here on this site. Here is the story.
I bought a used 1997 Olds Bravada in 1999, it had about 18,000 miles on it. Real nice truck, all the bells and whistles. It ran great for several years. Then about 3 years ago, I was towing a boat for several hours, after unhooking the trailer, when I shut off the key, the heater fan continued to run. Very strange. I did my best to find the problem, but finially had to break down and pay the Chevy Garage to look at it. The found the problem in about an hour. One of the wires to the keyswitch had overheated, and shorted to another keyswitch wire. So even though I shut it off, this circuit was still on.
Ok, this make sense, problems fixed . . . NOT!
I started having a weird problem where the engine appeard to just shut off and restart in about a second. The dash gauges would bounce down to 0 (like I had shut the key off), then bounce back to the normal running position. The seatbelt light would come on, and the seatbelt alarm would sound (oops, I often done't have the seatbelt on). So it was just lie I shut the key off, then turned it back on.
The problem seem to be more prevalent in the cold weather.
It happened very infequently, so I knew this would be a problem to find. I took it back to the Chevy dealer, but he advised it would be problematic to find. So, I've just been living with it. For the last few years.
Well, two days ago, the car just went wild, the transmission would not shift right, it seem to stay in second gear all the time . . . then it wouldn't start. When I turned the key, the radio and heater would work, but the guages did not power up. It would crank, but not start.
I went online and enter Bravada Transmission Problem into Yahoo search. It got me to this website. I noticed several posting concerning the keyswitch. The symptoms sounded very much like the problems I was having, so what the heck, I spent $85 at Autozone and bought a keyswitch. It seems to have fixed all the issues.
This is a thanks to you who preceed me here and gave some great advice.
I bought a used 1997 Olds Bravada in 1999, it had about 18,000 miles on it. Real nice truck, all the bells and whistles. It ran great for several years. Then about 3 years ago, I was towing a boat for several hours, after unhooking the trailer, when I shut off the key, the heater fan continued to run. Very strange. I did my best to find the problem, but finially had to break down and pay the Chevy Garage to look at it. The found the problem in about an hour. One of the wires to the keyswitch had overheated, and shorted to another keyswitch wire. So even though I shut it off, this circuit was still on.
Ok, this make sense, problems fixed . . . NOT!
I started having a weird problem where the engine appeard to just shut off and restart in about a second. The dash gauges would bounce down to 0 (like I had shut the key off), then bounce back to the normal running position. The seatbelt light would come on, and the seatbelt alarm would sound (oops, I often done't have the seatbelt on). So it was just lie I shut the key off, then turned it back on.
The problem seem to be more prevalent in the cold weather.
It happened very infequently, so I knew this would be a problem to find. I took it back to the Chevy dealer, but he advised it would be problematic to find. So, I've just been living with it. For the last few years.
Well, two days ago, the car just went wild, the transmission would not shift right, it seem to stay in second gear all the time . . . then it wouldn't start. When I turned the key, the radio and heater would work, but the guages did not power up. It would crank, but not start.
I went online and enter Bravada Transmission Problem into Yahoo search. It got me to this website. I noticed several posting concerning the keyswitch. The symptoms sounded very much like the problems I was having, so what the heck, I spent $85 at Autozone and bought a keyswitch. It seems to have fixed all the issues.
This is a thanks to you who preceed me here and gave some great advice.
drdd
10-07-2005, 10:27 PM
do you mean ignition switch?
faulty ign switch will cause all the problems you described ...
it sounds like you fixed it though ...
Wow, this has been a tough one, but I finally think it's fixed . . . thanks to you guys posting here on this site. Here is the story.
I bought a used 1997 Olds Bravada in 1999, it had about 18,000 miles on it. Real nice truck, all the bells and whistles. It ran great for several years. Then about 3 years ago, I was towing a boat for several hours, after unhooking the trailer, when I shut off the key, the heater fan continued to run. Very strange. I did my best to find the problem, but finially had to break down and pay the Chevy Garage to look at it. The found the problem in about an hour. One of the wires to the keyswitch had overheated, and shorted to another keyswitch wire. So even though I shut it off, this circuit was still on.
Ok, this make sense, problems fixed . . . NOT!
I started having a weird problem where the engine appeard to just shut off and restart in about a second. The dash gauges would bounce down to 0 (like I had shut the key off), then bounce back to the normal running position. The seatbelt light would come on, and the seatbelt alarm would sound (oops, I often done't have the seatbelt on). So it was just lie I shut the key off, then turned it back on.
The problem seem to be more prevalent in the cold weather.
It happened very infequently, so I knew this would be a problem to find. I took it back to the Chevy dealer, but he advised it would be problematic to find. So, I've just been living with it. For the last few years.
Well, two days ago, the car just went wild, the transmission would not shift right, it seem to stay in second gear all the time . . . then it wouldn't start. When I turned the key, the radio and heater would work, but the guages did not power up. It would crank, but not start.
I went online and enter Bravada Transmission Problem into Yahoo search. It got me to this website. I noticed several posting concerning the keyswitch. The symptoms sounded very much like the problems I was having, so what the heck, I spent $85 at Autozone and bought a keyswitch. It seems to have fixed all the issues.
This is a thanks to you who preceed me here and gave some great advice.
faulty ign switch will cause all the problems you described ...
it sounds like you fixed it though ...
Wow, this has been a tough one, but I finally think it's fixed . . . thanks to you guys posting here on this site. Here is the story.
I bought a used 1997 Olds Bravada in 1999, it had about 18,000 miles on it. Real nice truck, all the bells and whistles. It ran great for several years. Then about 3 years ago, I was towing a boat for several hours, after unhooking the trailer, when I shut off the key, the heater fan continued to run. Very strange. I did my best to find the problem, but finially had to break down and pay the Chevy Garage to look at it. The found the problem in about an hour. One of the wires to the keyswitch had overheated, and shorted to another keyswitch wire. So even though I shut it off, this circuit was still on.
Ok, this make sense, problems fixed . . . NOT!
I started having a weird problem where the engine appeard to just shut off and restart in about a second. The dash gauges would bounce down to 0 (like I had shut the key off), then bounce back to the normal running position. The seatbelt light would come on, and the seatbelt alarm would sound (oops, I often done't have the seatbelt on). So it was just lie I shut the key off, then turned it back on.
The problem seem to be more prevalent in the cold weather.
It happened very infequently, so I knew this would be a problem to find. I took it back to the Chevy dealer, but he advised it would be problematic to find. So, I've just been living with it. For the last few years.
Well, two days ago, the car just went wild, the transmission would not shift right, it seem to stay in second gear all the time . . . then it wouldn't start. When I turned the key, the radio and heater would work, but the guages did not power up. It would crank, but not start.
I went online and enter Bravada Transmission Problem into Yahoo search. It got me to this website. I noticed several posting concerning the keyswitch. The symptoms sounded very much like the problems I was having, so what the heck, I spent $85 at Autozone and bought a keyswitch. It seems to have fixed all the issues.
This is a thanks to you who preceed me here and gave some great advice.
Chris Stewart
10-08-2005, 08:25 AM
Thanks for the info, it'll help someone down the road.
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