'93 Buick Lesaber No start, Not Battery. Please help.

[machred23]

I have a 1993 Buick Lesabre that was running great. went out to lunch with my wife and when we came back from eating the car would not start at all.

I checked the battery and even tried a battery pack jump starter to just to be sure, and thats not it. I pulled all of the fuses to double check that none were blown and all are good.

It won't even crank, I get power to everything and I've tried starting it in Park as well as Neutral and nothing works. I can here the fuel pump prime when the key is turned on, so it's something electrical in between the ignition switch and the starter is my guess. I suppose it's possible that is might be a transaxle position sensor ( or whatever it's called) that tells the car its in park and it's ok to start, but I don't even know how to check it or where to go from here.

Any suggestions as to what I should look at to determine what the problem may be would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks you all for your time.

[HotZ28]

This sounds like the starter! Have you tried hitting the starter with a large hammer? You might also try jumping the pink wire on the solenoid to battery positive, then see if it will turn over.

[spinne1]

As HotZ says, check the starter. How? The easiest and safest way to me is to use a set of jumper cables and hook the red clamp to the positive on the battery. Hook the OTHER END of the BLACK clamp to the small post on the starter solenoid (where the smaller wire goes on the starter--there are only two--a big one and a small one). Now, take the other end of the black side of the cables and hold it in one hand and hold the other end of the red cable in the other hand (which are from opposite ends of the jumper cables, and which red end should have been sitting loose on the ground). Gently and quickly touch the two metal ends of the jumper cables together. Does your starter crank the engine? If yes, your starter is not the problem. If no, check your battery charge first, then if okay, replace your starter (or first have it checked again at an auto parts store to make sure you didn't screw up the test somehow).

If your starter is not the problem, it could be your transaxle switch. A preliminary test is to isolate where the problem lies. Firstly, lets assume your starter is good. Now, check the wire going from your transaxle position switch to your starter solenoid. Is there 12V when in the start position (of course there wouldn't be or else your starter would crank, right? But it is always good to be methodical and precise in your testing)? If not, you need to check the wire itself. Is it damaged in any way? If it looks good, look to adjust your transaxle switch. There is a groove on the top of the transaxle switch near the center rod where the shifter linkage attaches that is designed to line up with a similar groove on the switch body itself. If you were looking at it you'd see what I mean. You use a small drill bit to line them up (or just eye ball it like I do). You'll have to loosen the two bolts holding the switch in place in order to twist it back and forth for adjustment purposes. You do not need to remove the linkage unless it is in the way of the two bolts, which I can't remember if it is or not.

If you find that it is adjusted properly and the wire is okay, then you need to determine whether you have a bad transaxle position switch, or whether there is a problem in your ignition system between your ignition switch and the transaxle position switch. You basically need to check and see if the proper voltage is being delivered to the transaxle position switch when you turn the key to the start position. I don't remember which wire it is, but Alldata.com will have the info you need if you subscribe to your car.

It is also possibly either a loose or corroded battery connection.

[imidazol97]

Originally Posted by machred23

I have a 1993 Buick Lesabre that was running great. went out to lunch with my wife and when we came back from eating the car would not start at all.

I checked the battery and even tried a battery pack jump starter to just to be sure, and thats not it. I pulled all of the fuses to double check that none were blown and all are good.

It won't even crank, I get power to everything and I've tried starting it in Park as well as Neutral and nothing works. I can here the fuel pump prime when the key is turned on, so it's something electrical in between the ignition switch and the starter is my guess. I suppose it's possible that is might be a transaxle position sensor ( or whatever it's called) that tells the car its in park and it's ok to start, but I don't even know how to check it or where to go from here.

Any suggestions as to what I should look at to determine what the problem may be would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks you all for your time.

What does the security light do when you turn the key? Could it be the VATS system reading the key chip and not letting the car crank?

Does the security light come on steady when you turn the key to the ON position? Then it should go out after several seconds if you don't turn the key to start before then. That indicates a good key resistor reading.

If there is not a good value reading for the resistance of the key chip when you turn to start the third time, the security light will be on flashing and block any further attempts to crank because it's got a bad key; that's the theft deterrence at work. After 3 minutes it's reading for another reading from that key or a different key.

If you're getting VATS indications do you have another key to try? Clean the contacts on the chip.

You didn't mention hearing any kind of click indicating the starter is trying to engage, that's why I think of the VATS system.

[machred23]

No there is no click, here is an update. I went back to evaluate the starter condition when i hopped in it to see if it would start by sure chance. and it did. It ran fine for about another week and this past friday it would not start again. I think it may be a faulty ignition switch, but i can't seem to find any information on it anywhere. There is a small solenoid switch down on the steering column that when you turn the key from off to on if moves a little arm down into position, from my understanding from my father, who was a machininst and mechanic for 35 years, from there it should either push a pin or make contact somehow when you turn the key to start. It's not moving any further once you go from on to start. Anyone have any idea what this is or if that may be the problem. I have looked online under all the switches I can find and can't seem to find anything that even remotely resembles this switch (or whatever it is.) Does this sound like it could be the problem?

[Mickey#1]

I don't think that solenoid has anything to do with starting. It might prevent the key from being removed if the car isn't in park.

Does the security light stay on for more than 5 -10 seconds when the key is turned to the run position? We have to know this.

[machred23]

Ok so I got the Starting issue resolved. It was a bad starter solenoid. An easy fix once I finally narrowed it down. Thanks to those of you that offered your advice.

I have another issue now. Not as serious yet thankfully, but i would like to get it fixed sooner than later.

Ok so here is what I know as of this point. The car ('93 Buick Lesabre Limited) over revs and idle high one you touch the gas, whether in park, neutral or drive. If you get in and start the car it idles @ about 800-900 RPM, which should be about normal. If you touch the gas whether in park or neutral it will rev up to 2000-3000 RPM and sit there. the longer you drive the car (presumably the hotter it gets) the higher it will rev. When you have it in drive and come to a stop it will idle at about 1500 RPM. going down the road without using the gas pedal it will stay at about 2000 RPM. I am not sure if it is a sticky throttle control cable, or a faulty TPS, or something with the fuel system.

The one thing I did notice today which was something I hadn't noticed before (since my fiance was driving the car before) after I filled it with gass it seemed to iddle close to normal and run closer to normal RPMs. It would drop back to normal RPMs when I let off the gas. It still reved up to 2000 RPM when I put it Park when I got home though.

Any advice would be much appreciated. If i need to split this off to new thread please let me know.

Machred23

[HotZ28]

You could have a vacuum leak, sticking idle air control, sticking throttle body plate, or a bad TPS.

Now if you want to check the TPS, start with the spring return. The TPS lever should move with the opening of the TB and return with spring action as the TB closes. If that is OK, check the TPS voltage with a DVM on the blue wire to see if you have .5v with TB closed. In addition, check voltage through the range from closed to WOT. You should see a smooth linear progression from .5v to 4.0v. If all that checks out, you need to hook it up to a scanner to see how the ECM interprets the TPS voltage. If the ECM shows a different voltage than the DVM, you may have a bad ground or positive feed to the ECM. If all the wiring checks good, the next thing in line may be the ECM has gone defunct!

Remember to follow the “KISS” principle, when doing diagnostics!