Electrical Dies upon Ignition

[mrwags5]

Hello,

I'm having a problem at ignition with my 2K GT. It has 181000 miles on it currently, but I've owned it for a year and a half. When I go to start the car, I turn the key to the point right before ignition, everything is fine, good strong electrical, all accessories work, no problems. However, when I turn the key to ignition, everything goes completely dead. I can't get the key out of the ignition, I have to pop the hood, disconnect the battery and touch the leads together, as if resetting the computer, reconnect the battery, and then try to restart the car. It doesn't do this all the time, but it is becoming frequent enough that I'm afraid it might be serious. I've tried cleaning the leads and the battery terminals, which appeared to help a little, but not so much. Sometimes it takes running through the process a few times to get the car started, but this is pretty rare. Any ideas?

[Brandish]

Sounds like a bad ignition switch... Probably needs to be replaced. Usually not an inexpensive thing to do...

[BNaylor]

How old is the battery? Get the battery tested. When the battery is flaky or there is low output voltage <11 volts it is normal for the key to get stuck due to lack of proper voltage to the key release solenoid.

If you have a DMM you can check the voltage across the positive and negative terminals. Look for around 12.5 volts on a charged battery. And with engine running check the alternator output.