94 Bonneville

[mrsparky637]

My friend has one and it has been a constant problem here lately. He will be driving it and it will just die. Sometimes it starts right up and sometimes you have to wait 15 mins or more. When it dies the windows will not work. After restart, they work fine. He had a new fuel pump and fuel pump relay installed and still the same problem. He's had it to differant garages and no one seems to have the expertise to fix it. Any suggestions? Thank You, mrsparky637

[jkinney]

If you are losing all power as you sound in your description, I would have to suspect something with main power getting from your battery. If you,ve looked into the battery connections and especially the ground connections for corrosion and just plain ole being loose I would have the battery load tested (most auto parts stores will do for free). Dont forget to check the ground straps as well (engine to chassis) if its okay, have the alternator checked.

[thecommi]

That symptom you described is a key one for a bad ignition module. What happens is that the module heats up and either looses connection inside or shorts out. this will kill the car. Sometimes the thing will start right up but if it gets hot enough you have to wait untill it cools down. thus the waiting 15 minuites before it will restart. The module is basically a minature computer but built very poorly. If you were to crack open your module you would see the accuall circuits.... I dont mean the little black chips, but the components that are iside the chips, small squares of silver silicon conected to eachother with jumper wires that are incased in the black epoxy that makes the underside of your module. as you can imagine, if the thing gets to hot, the insides will expand to react to the temp, if it gets to hot you can accually expand to much and break a connection. Its not a bad idea to check the battery cables and ground straps but i've replaced countless ignition modules with this exact symptom.

[jkinney]

Ignition modules on the older styles were characteristic of this behavior, and the coil packs on the 94's will do the same thing on occasion. If the connections check out okay, you can also take in the module and have them check it as well. When they check it, have them do it twice as to get it warm if it is the problem, the warmth will trigger it. Good luck.

[fritcr]

I have a module and coil paks that are known good for a 94 I just sold with this same problem. If you need them I will sell them cheap to your friend. My problem was the starter when this happened to my 94. It would die and all would be dead...windows and everything. I had the starter rebuilt and it was fine after that.
Rob

[mrsparky637]

My friend found the problem! It was a wiring harness underneath the driver side of car. It had shorted out and they rewired it and that fixed the problem. Thanks for your help!

[bridget36907]

was it under the hood or a wire under the dash on the inside? does he know what color the wire was? thanks

[mrsparky637]

The way I understood it was that it was on the outside of the car underneath the driver. I think he said it was harness for ground wires or another wiring harnes that had shorted out. The mechanic removed the shorted out places and twisted the wires back together and he hasn't had a problem since. Hope this helps!