Car wont Turn over

A while back in fall I was cleaning out my car and pulled it in the shop to vacuum it out. Then I went to start it after I backed it out and when I turned the key it cranked over a couple of times and It made a pop out of the muffler so I went to start it again and it kept cranking over on it's own but wouldnt fire even when I took the key out. I figured the starter went out on it so I took the starter out and had it tested before I bought a new one and the starter's still good. I tried a new igniton switch as well. When I go to start it it wont even try to turn over. While It's been sitting I replaced a leaky brake cylinder. I need help. Anything would help at this point. Thank you. Brad

The year and your engine would be helpful,
and the mileage too.

Thanks!

Oh right. Sorry about that. I wasnt sure where my head was when I typed that. It's a 97 grand am gt with the 4 cyl 2.4l 2 door. It has about 130k but it's been well maintained.

The "Pop" you heard was a bakfire, possibly through the throttle body, and could have dislodged a vacuume hose. Check all you connections and check for spark and fuel pressure while cranking and get back to us.

ya I figured it was a backfire but could that have something to do with it? The prolem is when I turn the key it wont crank over, turn over. The dash lights up like normal, stereo comes on and it acts like a vehicle out of gear when you go to try to start it, It wont do anything at all. The most noise I get out of the engine is the fan.

If the engine is not cranking check for corrosion under the battery terminals and check the battery voltage (should be upwards of 13+V)

I agree check your battery and terminals especially the ones on the starter :grinyes:

The back fire makes me think a bad spark plug wire but that don't really explain the cranking problem. If you don't want to spend much money than you might want to have it plugged in at a dealer. To see if its a sensor that might have come undone.

could a sensor really do that though. I scrapped off the battery terminals, consulted chiltons and done about everything I can think of, other than hook up a computer to it and replace the ignition switch which I belive is good.

check for fuel and spark while cranking

Well to turn th eengine over you need a good battery w/12-13volts and good clean connections.

If its a cranking over and not starting then you may need to do a relearn for that ignition switch you replaced.
Sometimes you have to do this or you'll not get spark and possubly no fuel.
I guess you'd call it a "safety" feature :lol:

first make sure your battery has 12 -13 volts, a low battery could be the problem ... if so you should have your alternator and battery checked.

I assume your cars an automatic right? If its not a low battery I'd check the neutral safety switch in the counsoul ... if you have power there and its getting thru the safety switch i'd think it could be in the ignition ... don't forget to check all of your fuses

if the motor isn't turning over im thinking your problem has to be electrical ...

I narrowed it down to being an electrical problem. I'm assuming a wire broke up off somewhere in the miles of wiring in it and I got thinking. Why not just put in a push button start. Wire a toggle switch in the car, so all I have to do is push the switch till it fires up and runs. I ran wires from the possitive and negative on the starter and ran then straight to the battery. It makes a click when I touch the wires to the battery but wont turn over. I need some help on how to go about wiring up a switch in the car and why the starter wont fully engage when I touch the wires to the battery. Does wire size matter? We checked everything, every fuse, in car, under hood, even disconnected clips and tested them. Not sure how to get to the neutral saftey switch either. Where's that at?

You need big wire and a relay to do what you are trying to do.
Most likly its mess with the passlock and you'll be stuck with no start. :eek7:

I just basicly want to get it running again. I dont want anything really fancy, just a way I can get it to fire up. I know when we first started messing around to try to find out what the problem was, we took a wire straight to the battery and then to the starter and it started cranking over. Is there a way I can do that to get it running so I can get it to a shop or wont it start up?

I'd say change the cables and wires in the starting system rather then trying to "jerry rig" it. Be easier and cheaper.

You dont want a togle switch either.

You would want a button to push.
Or a toggle that doesnt lock into the start position.
If it does then you could grind/break teeth off the flywheel when it started.

when you say the starting system, are you talking about the ignition switch. we decided that's where the problem is. It's somewhere in one of those relays or harnesses that run through the firewall.

No I meant the starting system as in wires to the starter/alternator in stead of trying to bypass the ign switch.

You need a scann tool to see what codes are stored !!
This might help trouble shooting the short.
Other wise just keep tracing the wires down by the steering column.

electrical gremlins are hard to catch :grinyes:

I was talking to someone and they said If I hold the key on there should be a wire going to steering colum that when I test it I should light up when the key's on like I'm going to start it and should turn off when the key's off. So far I only tested the top harness and i'm getting ready to test to bottom harness on the steering column. After I finish replacing a leaky toilet, and finishing a drywall project. Got any Idea's as to which wire it would be to save me time?

I got the starter to engage and the car fires up but now it wont stay running.

have you changed your starter relay it could be just that if you go back to the being of your post you said that when you tried to start it it would not stop turning over with the starter. that would indicate a bad relay the contact being stuck to gether.
this would tell me that you have more then one problem.
see if you have spark at the spark plugs. if not it could be a number of differance thing.
map sencor. hose off intake. bad coil, crank sencor. etc.

I put another wire on the starter and ran it to the battery. What I was planning on doing was running the wire inside the car and bypass all the relay's and wire it into the ignition switch. Before we decided to wire it up inside the car we wanted to make sure it would work. We touch it to the battery and it turns over now but it wont stay running. I dont even think I'd say it starts. It's fires and even with a foot on the gas it dont start up and run.

then you still have some electrical gremlins hiding out :sly:

How did you get the starter to engage?

well for right now, i ran a wire directly to the battery, once I find out if I can get the car started and running, then I'm going to wire into the ignition switch. Basicly bypass all the relays, and wire right into the harness under the steering column. The ignition switch wire was the one that wasnt getting power to the starter so we got the figured out. What other wires could there be that wont let the car fire up and run?

alright thanks for your help guys. I pulled a stupid and had the key in the "run" position instead of the "start" position when touching the wire to the battery. Once I rigged up a way to leave it in "start" when touching them together it fired right up and its in the garage running. Thanks again for all your help! If I need anything else I will definatly be back. Atleast now we know for the future!! WOOOOOHOOOOOOO! I got my baby back!