2000 Montana, no power to ignition

[chris_eitniear]

I have a 2000 Montana. The battery tests good, I've checked and cleaned the positive and negative connections, checked all fuses, but I have no power to anywhere.

I pulled the positive cable off the battery and let it sit for at least 30 minutes before putting it back on. This got me interior lights and parking lights, but when I turned on the headlights, everything went out.

Also, I noticed that a few seconds after everything went out, the speedometer and all of the gauges tried to go backward for several seconds then went back to their normal positions.

This thing has got me stumped. Any ideas?

[Glen_T]

To be clear, you're not getting any power to any circuits? Does anything work? You might try posting a list of the things that definitely don't work, and maybe that will help narrow it down.

If nothing works, then you need to check the connection at the "other" end of the two battery cables.

If some things work, then you need to check the individual fuses for those circuits.

Rememer, always remove the negative battery cable first. That way if you're wrench contacts the frame of anything, then you're not creating a short circuit.

Post back some more symptoms, and maybe we can all help....Glen

[chris_eitniear]

Originally Posted by Glen_T

To be clear, you're not getting any power to any circuits? Does anything work? You might try posting a list of the things that definitely don't work, and maybe that will help narrow it down.

At the moment, nothing works. No lights at all, no blinkers, no wipers, no radio, when I turn on the hazard lights I get a faint grinding noise from behind the dash, but no hazard lights. I did disconnect the battery for at least 30 minutes and reconnected it, then I had interior lights. I turned on the parking lights and had them. I turned on the headlights and everything went out again.

Originally Posted by Glen_T

If nothing works, then you need to check the connection at the "other" end of the two battery cables.

I've cleaned all the connections; at the battery, at the starter, at the ground on the engine block, at the remote positive post and at the ground on the body. I have 12 volts at the battery and 12 volts at the starter, I also have 12 volts at the remote postive post on the under hood fuse box. If I touch the tester to the positive cable at the battery and on the engine or body I have 12 volts.

Originally Posted by Glen_T

If some things work, then you need to check the individual fuses for those circuits.

I've tested every fuse in both fuse boxes and found no bad ones.

[Glen_T]

Are you sure the battery is good? You need volts and amps, and reading 12 volts doesn't mean you have the amps to power anything.

I'd suggest pulling the battery and taking it down to Wal-mart or a place like that and let them check it for you.

If you don't want to do that quite yet, then you can (carefully) put 12V to the starter solenoid and see if the starter will engage. If it won't, that's a sure indication of a bad battery.

Post back what you find! Glen

[chris_eitniear]

Originally Posted by Glen_T

Are you sure the battery is good? You need volts and amps, and reading 12 volts doesn't mean you have the amps to power anything.

I'd suggest pulling the battery and taking it down to Wal-mart or a place like that and let them check it for you.

If you don't want to do that quite yet, then you can (carefully) put 12V to the starter solenoid and see if the starter will engage. If it won't, that's a sure indication of a bad battery.

Post back what you find! Glen

I have a new battery currently in my old Trans Sport that I'm going to try putting in the Montana. It looks like it should be the exact same size battery. One thing I'm wondering, before this happened I had noticed the headlights having a kind of "strobe" effect while it was running and my wife says she noticed the same with the interior lights while it was running. Could the alternator/voltage regulator cause this kind of problem?

[chris_eitniear]

Well, its not the battery. I pulled the new battery out of my Transsport and put in it, and still got nothing. With the new battery in, I tried jumping across the posts on the solenoid. I got some spark, not a lot, but it didn't engage the starter.

[Glen_T]

I'd check both of your battery cables very closely for breaks or damage, otherwise I don't have many other ideas.

The starter is pretty much directly wired to the battery, so if you bypass the solenoid, it should crank if it has power with sufficient amperage....

...anyone else have ideas?

[Capri22SS]

It would seem to me if the batterys you tried are good, I would replace both battery cables. There could be an internal break caused by corosion that cannot be seen. I would try cables.

Keep us posted....OK

[chris_eitniear]

I found the problem. At some point, someone cut the OEM end off the positive cabe and put a cheap aftermarket connection on it. It was slightly corroded where the copper meets lead, so I ordered a new positive cable from GM (you can't buy them aftermarket yet) and put a new aftermarket connection on the old cable for the time being.

However, I also found that the bolt that goes through the connection and into the battery post was too short to be effective, that is, even with the cable clean and the new connection installed, there was still no power. I found a bolt the diameter I needed, and sawed it to the length it needed to bottom out in the threads in the battery, installed that bolt and it started right up.

The moral of the story is: It may cost $98 for an OEM positive cable, but when your vehicle won't start in the middle of nowhere, you sure wish you would have spent the other $96 to fix it right!

Thanks to everyone for their input!

[montana46]

sometimes its the ignition switch on the steering column it happened on my old trans port .I had dash lights but no power to starter motor or ignition.its a cheap part and not to hard to do.