98 Buick Regel troubles with starting

Mistyrose · #1 09-08-2005, 03:23 PM

I have a 98 Buick regel that I was driving when it cut out on me this happend a few times then it wouldnt start again. After 4 hours of sitting outside waiting for someone to come help me I found the following problems. 1 if I turned on the right signal lights it cut the all power to the car. 2 The car completly locks up cant even put it in neutral. 3 It will start after 45 mins to a hour. 4 Sometimes if it doesnt start you turn head lights on and it works. I have tried charging the batt to playing with the wires and nothig seems to clear the problem. I had the car read with a tester and its showing nothing that wouldnt make it start. If you have any answers or suggestions please message me or leave a message on board.

BNaylor · #2 09-10-2005, 10:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mistyrose

I have a 98 Buick regel that I was driving when it cut out on me this happend a few times then it wouldnt start again. After 4 hours of sitting outside waiting for someone to come help me I found the following problems. 1 if I turned on the right signal lights it cut the all power to the car. 2 The car completly locks up cant even put it in neutral. 3 It will start after 45 mins to a hour. 4 Sometimes if it doesnt start you turn head lights on and it works. I have tried charging the batt to playing with the wires and nothig seems to clear the problem. I had the car read with a tester and its showing nothing that wouldnt make it start. If you have any answers or suggestions please message me or leave a message on board.

Sounds like there's a short in the steering column. Could be the turn signal assembly or a defective ignition switch and harness assembly. Whatever the problem is its affecting the BTSI shift-interlock circuit.

Mistyrose · #3 09-11-2005, 02:40 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bnaylor3400

Sounds like there's a short in the steering column. Could be the turn signal assembly or a defective ignition switch and harness assembly. Whatever the problem is its affecting the BTSI shift-interlock circuit.

We have the streeing colum apart and theres a black box with 8 wires on it and if we push up on it the car will start. Sometimes we have to push on it a second time to ge tthe lights to come back on. GRRRRRRRrrrrr all this new puter stuff

BNaylor · #4 09-11-2005, 09:28 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mistyrose

We have the streeing colum apart and theres a black box with 8 wires on it and if we push up on it the car will start. Sometimes we have to push on it a second time to ge tthe lights to come back on. GRRRRRRRrrrrr all this new puter stuff

If it looks like this, it's the ignition switch and harness assembly. The electrical contacts in the black module are bad or carboned up.

Mistyrose · #5 09-11-2005, 09:52 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bnaylor3400

If it looks like this, it's the ignition switch and harness assembly. The electrical contacts in the black module are bad or carboned up.

Yes thats it but we cant get in the black module box any ideas there?? they said i have to replace it and 700 bucks and im saying its a short (loose wire) reason i say its a short you puss on the second wire in fron the dash and thats whats making the care start

BNaylor · #6 09-11-2005, 09:58 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Mistyrose

Yes thats it but we cant get in the black module box any ideas there?? they said i have to replace it and 700 bucks and im saying its a short (loose wire) reason i say its a short you puss on the second wire in fron the dash and thats whats making the care start

The GM part number is 26068757 and it lists for $118.37. I know of one guy with a Pontiac Grand Prix that took his apart and cleaned the contacts or repaired certain wires, put it back together and it worked. Its probably better to purchase the part and try to do the work yourself because the labor is what makes it expensive.

BNaylor · #7 09-11-2005, 10:13 AM

BTW - Here's some info that may be helpful. Good luck!

EXTRACT

All of these things get power through the ignition switch, specifically the RUN terminal (when the key is in the 'RUN'position), which is an orange wire on the bottom of the switch. When the problem was occurring I was getting fluctuating voltage on the RUN terminal (measured with a multimeter), jumping anywhere from .5 to 10, but usually hanging around 1 or less. When it was working properly the voltage read normal battery voltage, 14 or so. When the problem was occurring and I jumped that terminal to an always hot terminal everything came on and worked perfectly. So great, it's something in the switch.

Being the curious type I took the switch apart, figuring at worst I'd have to buy a new one... Would you believe the problem is carbon buildup a little larger in size than a pinhead? It's actually kind of nifty how they made this switch. When you turn the ignition key it turns a spring loaded plastic shaft in the switch. On this shaft are 6 lobes sort of like a camshaft, though not as tall. Each lobe has a rocker-shaped piece of metal spring loaded to rest on the lobe. As the shaft is turned when you turn the key it causes the various rockers to move out due to the lobes and make connections with terminals laid out by either side of the shaft. So, turn the key to RUN and the shaft turns moving the rocker out to make connection with the RUN terminal.

The beauty of this mechanism is how it can turn on or off certain terminals depending on how far the key is turned. An example of this is when you turn the key from RUN to START. The lights and fan go off because the RUN rocker is coming back down off the other side of the lobe as the START rocker goes up and makes its connection to send voltage to the starter relay.

It is this on-off-on action of the RUN rocker every time you start the car that I believe causes the problem. At the point where the rocker makes the connection to the terminal some arcing is taking place due to the volts and amps being drawn, causing a carbon buildup at that point. The more carbon that gets built up the worse the connection gets. Since the fan draws its voltage through this terminal more arcing is taking place if the fan is running when you turn the key. As a result there is more carbon buildup as compared to the other rockers that had very little or none at all since they do not have such high voltage/high amp devices to feed. I cleaned off the carbon with a soft wire brush and juggled around the rockers so the relatively 'unused'ones found themselves switched with the 'overused'ones.

Mistyrose · #8 09-13-2005, 08:03 AM

Quote:

Originally Posted by bnaylor3400

The GM part number is 26068757 and it lists for $118.37. I know of one guy with a Pontiac Grand Prix that took his apart and cleaned the contacts or repaired certain wires, put it back together and it worked. Its probably better to purchase the part and try to do the work yourself because the labor is what makes it expensive.

Wow great reading there thanks

I have a problem with the pink wire but im sure its the same problem. Im going to figure out how to get this off and clean it up before i get into 700 bucks worth of part and labour. I thank you very much for all your time and help.

PyroLithic · #9 10-16-2005, 11:50 PM

I'm having those exact problems with my 97 regal. I tried to go to work friday, I remote started my car, got in put in the key and it was alright till I used the turn signal.. Then I tried to crank it with the key and it wouldn't crank.. I was pretty upset.. I took it to the garage at work today and ripped the dash apart, thinking maybe a wire got tangled in the column and shorted or something but couldn't find any problems.. I had the battery disconnected, when I reconnected it; it seemed to work. I put everything back together and the problem was back.. I'm so confused. Though its nice to hear that someone else has had the same problems.. Hopefully I can get it fixed tomorrow.

Mistyrose · #10 10-17-2005, 09:07 AM

I fixed the car myself . they wanted all most 1000 to fix it. all we did was changed the ign switch and the car is right back to normal.

PyroLithic · #11 10-17-2005, 01:11 PM

did you just use the ign switch they reccomended up top?

Mistyrose · #12 10-17-2005, 02:07 PM

Yes i got it from the auto recylers for 90 bucks the dealer wanted 260. one we got all the steering apart it was really easy to change. I cant believe they wanted to stick me with a 1000 bill

PyroLithic · #13 10-17-2005, 05:20 PM

I just started taking off all the panels so I can get that out. I'm waiting for the airbag caps to discharge then I'm going to try cleaning it before I buy a new one. Though I was looking online and I found a place that sold that part for $60. Which wouldn't be bad, especially looking at it, it seems to be an easy fix. Lets hope so

PyroLithic · #14 10-17-2005, 06:03 PM

alright so... I got the underpanels all taken off, found the box and got what seemed to be the harder part (near the breaks) off. Now I'm trying to get the top part off and it won't budge, Is there a trick to this? My haynes manual says nothing about how to do any of this...

BNaylor · #15 10-17-2005, 06:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by PyroLithic

alright so... I got the underpanels all taken off, found the box and got what seemed to be the harder part (near the breaks) off. Now I'm trying to get the top part off and it won't budge, Is there a trick to this? My haynes manual says nothing about how to do any of this...

Here's a link to a procedure for turn signal assembly replacement for a Buick Regal. It should give you some insight on getting the panels off although you'll be repairing or replacing the ignition switch. Good luck!

http://www.clubgp.com/cgi-asp/mods.asp?modid=141

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