99 bravada electrical problem key stuck in ignition

[minocqa]

hi
i have a 99 olds bravada
i drove the car to the store when i came out i put the key in the ignition turned it and nothing happened.
i couldnt get the key out of the ignition.
i had no dash lights or interior lights,
i had the car towed when i got it home i put a charger on it and the fuse box thats inder the hood started to buss. i then opend the car door i had lights and the key came out.
then i put the key back in and tried to start it it locked up again. the bussing sounds like a alarm ....Beep beep, beep, etc.
any ideas
and how can i change the relays in that fuse box?
do they just pull out or do i need a special tool.
thanks
Don

[biv343]

I had the same problem with my 99 Bravada - the battery was shot. Literally died overnight. I replaced the battery and all has been well since.

Kind of stinks that you can't get the key out of the ignition when the battery is dead. My wife called me explaining what was happening and I didn't believe her, but when there's no juice to the car, it won't release the key.

I hope that the battery solves your issues - otherwise, I really wouldn't know where to look.

[minocqa]

thanks for the advise
thats exactly what happened to me also.
the battery had went dead
i put on battery charger and the lights came on
and the key popped out.
so i pulled the battery the postive side had a liilte corrsion so i cleaned it and had the battery charged and put it all back in and it starts right up. and is running fine.
thanks again for the reply.
Don

[nockam]

I had the same problem but it turned out to be a problem with a car alarm i bought for the car.

[Schrade]

You've got THE ignition switch problem, mino...
And Biv, you're battery was NOT dead, cause current is what holds the switch in the 'on' position... If you'd unplugged the battery, allowed the computer to clear, then re-plugged it in, you'd have gotten the key out. The problem is the ign. switch. I just got this one diagnosed today in mine.
Now I've gotta' replace the switch, so I don't have to unplug the battery every time it trips the fault...

[biv343]

Well, I had the problem last June, and haven't had the problem since. The battery was bad (5 years old, original, 85000+ miles on it at the time). It had been cranking slower in the days leading up to the problem. When I had the issue, the dome lights were barley glowing, and I didn't even get a click out of the starter solenoid.

Maybe I just got lucky since I haven't had the issue since. I've heard of the ignition switch problem, and (knock on wood), I haven't had any other problems since.

[Schrade]

You're lucky, biv... (knock on wood (my head)). I spent this past weekend - probably 9-12 hours - reading posts, and replys, on blazer, jimmy, and bravada mid-90's, and I bet i saw 125-140 posts looking for info on half a dozen problems - some serious, some minor, ALL related to the faulty switch problem. A couple of those who replied, one in particular, 'bowtie_pasta', made a post that gave pretty explicit details about EVERYTHING related to the ign. switch failure, and it's pretty ugly.
And, irrespective of the GM ign. switch problem, batteries are too easy to replace when an alternator or a bad connection could be the problem...

[biv343]

Originally Posted by cbec1999

You're lucky, biv... (knock on wood (my head)). I spent this past weekend - probably 9-12 hours - reading posts, and replys, on blazer, jimmy, and bravada mid-90's, and I bet i saw 125-140 posts looking for info on half a dozen problems - some serious, some minor, ALL related to the faulty switch problem. A couple of those who replied, one in particular, 'bowtie_pasta', made a post that gave pretty explicit details about EVERYTHING related to the ign. switch failure, and it's pretty ugly.
And, irrespective of the GM ign. switch problem, batteries are too easy to replace when an alternator or a bad connection could be the problem...

Maybe I was lucky. But, not every electrical problem on a Bravada or Blazer is due to an igntition switch problem. So far, it appears that both myself and minocqa had the same issue, mine was a bad battery, his was corrosion on the cable. I could say that my turn signals not working was due to an igntition switch, which it wasn't, it was the multifunction switch which shorted out. Maybe somebody else who had that same problem just needed a flasher.

Moral of the story - sometimes you can have two identical symptoms with two separate solutions. That's what keeps life (and especially vehicle maintenance) interesting.