2000 Chevy Cavalier Starting Issue (Power/Electrical)

[ACShoops33]

OK. Thanks in advance. Was driving my car, and came to a stop at a red light, and it just died. All guages went off and the car was no longer running, but the radio remained on. Pushed it off to the side and got towed home. Tried to start in both neutral and park. When the key is turned forward (ON), the guages do not turn on, and it appears as if there is no power. Normally when turned forward, the gas guage goes up and the temp guage. But now, there is no power to this. The radio will still turn on. (Yes... there is gas)

The tow truck guys tried to help, and said this was the first time he's ever been absolutely baffled. We checked all the internal fuses, and the ignition/battery fuses under the hood. Tried to jump it to the battery and to the starter, but there was still no sign of power. Anyone have any ideas out there?

[The_Mechanic_33]

try the fusible link at the starter.they look like wires,give em a slight tug.

[richtazz]

Welcome to AF.

By your symptoms, you most likely have a bad ignition switch (common Cavi problem). The contacts get weak and start to drop circuits. That's why your radio still works, but the guages don't.

Before getting too far into it, check simple things like the battery itself. If you're in an area getting hit by these sub-zero temps, an older/weak battery could have frozen, causing an internal dead short. This can allow low amperage current to circuits like the radio, but not enough for the starter. Many times when batteries dead short, they will draw any power being supplied through the jumper cables and not allow enough for a jump start.