Anyone up for a challenge? 96 Grand Am SE is psycotic!

[JgrStewart20]

Hello Everyone,
I have a 96 Grand Am SE, 3100 SFI V6, Automatic trans. I have owned the car for about 6 years. I left home to p/u my niece from school, car was fine. When I started the car at the school and put it in drive the passenger side air bag blew, all of the lights on the dash except for the check engine indicator came on and the tach and water temp guages quit working. I immediately shut off the car! after about an hour I restarted the car and got it home, i restarted it several times. After doing some troubleshooting a friend told me to disconnect the battery, wait 30 minutes and see if I/P returned to normal. Well it did not and now the car would start for a second and die! After more searching, I found some info about disconnecting the battery, waiting again, connect the battery, turn the ignition to the on position without starting and wait 10 minutes then try starting it. after 3 times it started but when I shut it off it's back to the same condition as before. I have gotten the last steps to work a couple of times, it always returns to the same problem when it is shut off. Anyone willing to take a shot at this? all leads will be greatly appreciated.

[xeroinfinity]

WOW! Did you jump when it blew? Lol

You hav some issues if that bag blew on its own thats for sure!

Anyone been in the dash working on anything electrical recently?
Sounds like you are going to need to take it somewhere(or get it towed) to get it looked over.

The security feature is whats keeping it from starting properly. Could be an ignition switch, but with these cars its hard to tell with out some good investigating.

Some where in the GA forum thier is a by pass proceedure for the passlock system, try a search (in the GA forum) for "Passlock reset".
IMO I'd just take it in, rather then cut wires to by pass the system.

Good Luck and Welcome to AF !

[JgrStewart20]

If I had T-tops or a sunroof I would have landed on my behind on the street! Lol
Well the only electric work done since I have had the car was the recall for the ignition switch. It has not even blown a fuse in the 6 years have had it. The heater core has been replaced and fuel rail has also been replaced. I have never smelled any burning odors.

[brocsbar]

I had a similar problem with a car I was working on in my shop. All the guages would jump around and after extensive searching I found that the airbag module under the passenger seat was getting wet for years from the bad water problem on many grand am/prix. And after a while the car wouldn't even start cause the module was shorting and the car tought someone was stealing it.It can be disconnected and everything should work normal again except you Won't HAVE AIRBAGS!

[xeroinfinity]

brocsbar STOP bringing up old threads !

Also posting the exact same thing repeatedly is considerd spam, if you continue this behavior your account will be suspended!


this is closed!