2000 intrigue starting madness

My intrigue will not start. The electrical just seems to be going nuts on it. Sometimes it will act like it is going to work. What I mean by that is that the car will act properly with the key in the off position with the door open (Interior lights, key in ignition beep) Same thing in the accessory position (lights, beep, hear fuel pump prime, etc) Sometimes it will do what it is supposed to do in the on Position as well, but sometimes it will start freaking out (clicking, buzzing, the beep sounds strained) But when it's pushed to start if it sounds Ok It will click a single time and then completely freak out when it is set to on. After that, the other positions on the ignition key will also not behave right. clicking when the door is open with the key in and set to off position.

I've already replaced the ignition switch thinking that would be the problem, but it's not changed anything. The old switch was pretty fouled up inside. I've tried juggling the similar relays in the fuse box to see if it would change the symptoms, but no change.

Also when all the noises stop, the gagues usually go nuts as well.

I really need help on this one.

Did you replace the ignition switch with a new one?

How long ago was this?

This still really sounds like an ignition switch problem, so Im unsure.

I just replaced it this afternoon. I've been tinkering around with it some more.. If the key is in the ignition and beeping and I turn the headlights on it worked once and the beeping changed over to the beeping for the headlights being on. Tried to start the car again and now that will not even work. Battery as far as I can tell is perfectly fine. Right now I still have everything torn apart. The clicking sound is coming from the area behind where the gagues would be (also not in at the moment).

Oh, this is bizarre. I just opened up the door and it clicked 7 or 8 times and then started beeping anemically for a few seconds and then stopped. After I closed the door the doors locked all on their own.

Ok...my brain hurts from skimming FSMs but Ill try to compose what few thoughts are running through my brain.

First off, the wiring specific to the starting system is covered in volume 2 of the series, which I dont have, but I know someone who does if youre interested.

With that said, Ill be danged if I cant find it again, but I believe the power locks system grounds out in the door sills, as do several other things. That might be a good place to start, in fact, Ill just give you a list of some grounds mentioned in the FSMs, there are pics of a few of them, but most of them are just described. I know its not much but its a start.

There is one at the base of the battery.

One on the left and right side of the "front end upper tie bar" whatever the heck that is.

There are two on the lower left front of the engine, on the transaxle stud. I have personally seen and taken loose and cleaned these, so I know they exist.

One at the left side of the engine compartment at the base of the left strut tower, with that said Im not sure what they mean by left and right, they describe the battery as being on the right side, when in fact its on the left when in front of the vehicle, so it may be that they list everything as opposite.

One behind the right side of the instrument panel compartment

One below the instrument panel, left side of the steering column

One below the instrument panel, right side of the steering column

Inside the left door sill, forward of the left front seat
Inside the right door sill, forward of the right front seat.

Inside the rear compartment, below the left side of the rear window trim panel.


OOOOOkay, with that said, the only of those ground points that Ive seen on other forums to be troublesome, and that could be especially prone to moisture, corrosion, etc, would be the ones on each door sill. I cant confirm thats where the starting system grounds, because I dont have that FSM at my disposal, and Im not proficient at using the ones Ive got haha.

You need any other info, Ill try and find it for ya, but I wont make any promises, what Ill do right now is pop off an email to a forum member who does have volume 2, and see if he wont chime in here. Or at least tell me where those ground are at.

Ok...my brain hurts from skimming FSMs but Ill try to compose what few thoughts are running through my brain.

First off, the wiring specific to the starting system is covered in volume 2 of the series, which I dont have, but I know someone who does if youre interested.

With that said, Ill be danged if I cant find it again, but I believe the power locks system grounds out in the door sills, as do several other things. That might be a good place to start, in fact, Ill just give you a list of some grounds mentioned in the FSMs, there are pics of a few of them, but most of them are just described. I know its not much but its a start.

There is one at the base of the battery.

One on the left and right side of the "front end upper tie bar" whatever the heck that is.

There are two on the lower left front of the engine, on the transaxle stud. I have personally seen and taken loose and cleaned these, so I know they exist.

One at the left side of the engine compartment at the base of the left strut tower, with that said Im not sure what they mean by left and right, they describe the battery as being on the right side, when in fact its on the left when in front of the vehicle, so it may be that they list everything as opposite.

One behind the right side of the instrument panel compartment

One below the instrument panel, left side of the steering column

One below the instrument panel, right side of the steering column

Inside the left door sill, forward of the left front seat
Inside the right door sill, forward of the right front seat.

Inside the rear compartment, below the left side of the rear window trim panel.


OOOOOkay, with that said, the only of those ground points that Ive seen on other forums to be troublesome, and that could be especially prone to moisture, corrosion, etc, would be the ones on each door sill. I cant confirm thats where the starting system grounds, because I dont have that FSM at my disposal, and Im not proficient at using the ones Ive got haha.

You need any other info, Ill try and find it for ya, but I wont make any promises, what Ill do right now is pop off an email to a forum member who does have volume 2, and see if he wont chime in here. Or at least tell me where those ground are at.

Some info on the grounding locations.

I think the front end upper tie bar ground points are located on the metal radiator support that crosses the front of the car. Just to the right and left of where the hood latch attaches. You have to look down into the holes in this peice of metal and you will see the grounds. I think they are for the headlights.

Location mentioned above are all based on sitting in the drivers seat facing forward.

The main battery ground may be a problem. I have a 2002 Intrigue where the negative battery ground to the car gets wet when going through car washes. This causes headlights and dash lights to flicker. If I air dry it and spray silicone the wire it will remain dry until the next car wash.

I'd try that. It also seems like most of these problems are possibly comming from a body control module. I don't know where it grounds out, but that might be an issue.

Any idea's from anyone on products to seal that negative battery terminal ground wire would be great. Relocation of that wire rather than being down by the top of the wheel well might also be an option.

Good Luck

Thanks for the feedback guys... But I've ran out of time to mess with this on my own. She's shop bound. I'll let you guys know what it turns out to be. The grounding wire at the base of the battery was dirty something awful, and when I put it back on the metal was so soft in the threads that it stripped. :(

My car had very similar symptoms...gages would go crazy, beeping, clicking start then no start and it was screwed up. It turned out to be a bad connection on the battery post. I didnt bother to actually clean the posts as i just took them off and they werent corroded so i put them back on, but i guess there was enough corrosion to keep it from making a good contact. I finally figured it out when my car would not start and the battery terminal was red hot. Sometimes a good battery connection is hard to make without really cleaning and sanding the terminals

I agree. The OP didn't state what he did to check the battery.

Definitely remove the cables and inspect the terminals.

my daughter's '99 did something like this. when checking the battery terminals one was completely corroded and broken in the battery. we had to replace the battery and one of the cable ends and bolt.

Yeah, I'd definitly look at the battery more closely. I just bought a 2000 Intrigue and only a few days into ownership it started doing the same thing. The gauges started moving all over the place, the buzzer sounded fuzzy, the lights flickered... thought I had a ghost! Turns out the battery was the original, and after 9 years of service it was understandibly only putting out 9 volts... So I replaced the battery, and problem solved.

Yeah, I'd definitly look at the battery more closely. I just bought a 2000 Intrigue and only a few days into ownership it started doing the same thing. The gauges started moving all over the place, the buzzer sounded fuzzy, the lights flickered... thought I had a ghost! Turns out the battery was the original, and after 9 years of service it was understandibly only putting out 9 volts... So I replaced the battery, and problem solved.

9 volts? well its still good for the smoke alarm in your house dont throw it out :rofl:

Sorry about the delay on letting you guys know what happened on this. My battery failed quite suddenly. Quite odd since it wasn't the oldest I've gone on a battery, and it was a high quality one, but replacing the battery solved the largest part of the problem. The ground wire coming off the negative terminal was also a large cause of some of the other problems. I had to re-thread the bugger and put a larger bolt in it. So far things seem to be working a lot better. It took care of the sluggish electrical performance (door locks, etc.) We'll see if that turns in to a lasting fix since I barely took care of that today since it finally wiggled itself so loose that the car stalled. Only weird thing left is the blower motor not working, and possibly some issues with some issues with some of the dash lamps for the dials and heater controls, but I won't know if thats resolved until I drive it to work in the morning.