Hi everyone, my 2001 auto has been a jem up until today.... It just killed 5 times on the way to work, very random..... It died at red light, and even while driving on the interstate....once I noticed the engine shut off I just put it in neutral and turn the key an it fired right up, it started right up every time it killed ..
now when I was leaving work, it took a minute to get it to start....what I noticed was when it didn't want to start, my cluster was acting up, the digital readout wasn't lighting up....
As I kept trying to get it to start, I noticed the last time I put the key in, the digital readout lit up and the car fired right up and ran fine the whole ride home... There are no codes ...
Any help or advice is appreciated, hopefully we can get this solved and it will help someone else... Thanks

 

I'd start by checking battery terminals and grounds.

 

I'd suspect grounds as well. My next thought would be fuel related as it dying randomly sounds like fuel cutting out...but just shooting from the hip. If wrenching or diag aint your thing...it's time to get that car to someone who can put a scanner on the car and look at live data. Anything anyone else says....me included...is just guessing without live data of what the car is doing. the $200 bucks you pay in diagnosis will save you the $800 in parts and labor or shotgunning parts at the problem until it goes away or cures...only to return cause the problem was never solved.

My 2 cents,

Joe

 

There have been a number of threads over the years where similar situations were from the ignition switch. Sadly, the good ACDelco replacements are no longer available, replaced by Chinesium ACDelco boxes. If we do a search we will find threads on switch cleaning that has helped some.

 

Thanks for the tips everyone, I can totally wrench , at first I did suspect fuel but it immediately cuts off, then at the time I could immediately start it back up...so then I started thinking electrical especially after what was going on with the cluster last night ...
I did read quite a few old post on similar issues so I'm gonna trouble shoot this today and will keep you posted on what I find....thanks

 

Good man Good man. Probably something silly. But when problems appear out of nowhere...i always ask myself...what did I do last that was different? Could be a fluke but break it down logically so you dont go down the rabbit hole. Keeps us updated

 

Yea I'm hoping it's something silly, last thing I did was fill it up last month and the gas gauge went to zero, I put techron in it and the gauge started working again.....so yesterday I decided to drive it work, while I was driving it died and the gauge said I had 90 miles left but I thought maybe it's wrong and I'm out of gas, so I turned into a gas station and filled it up but as I was leaving the station it killed again...that's the last thing I did .....so today I will be checking everything out that I am aware of and will post my findings,, thanks again everyone

 

battery , alternator and grounds totally agree.

 

I am currently going through all the ground wires, I have to say a lot of my issues are similar to others that had ignition switch problems...... Could it also potentially be my ignition switch????

 

Ignition switch is pretty likely, especially if there are no codes after it dies.

 

Ok everyone alittle update, I cleaned three of the grounds under the hood and no difference in what's going on, so next I move to the ignition switch, the contacts are burned, but my concern now is the end of the cylinder, the piece that reads the key popped off, it looks like it just kinda crimps on the cylinder, and the black plastic trim piece holds it in place, anyway, am I ok with just putting it back in place as long as it stays or will I need to get another one...???? Thanks

 

First I’d check for any stored trouble codes…If you’re seeing the fuel gauge going to “E” and the car is a “no start” or a “start and stall” I’m thinking a serial data bus issue…when all this craziness is going on there are a few ways to try to diagnose this but I don’t to disturb anything so what you can do is take a voltmeter and check pin 2 on the DLC…if NOT a data bus issue you will see the voltmeter dance around between .2 to .3 volts…if you see 12 volts (short to power) or 0 volts (short to ground) that’s not good….now you can disconnect the battery and using the ohm meter setting of your DVOM you should see more than 350 ohms between pin 2 and a good ground.


https://www.youtube.com/live/f_NEEdgZSlE?feature=share

 

thanks for the quick response, I know you are very familiar with these cars, I will trouble shoot this as you recommend and let everyone know my findings to hopefully help someone else that may have similar issues

 

Basically what happens if when one of the cars modules lose power or a ground that power or ground back feeds onto the serial data wire and all hell breaks loose…you can look for any stored “U” or communication codes.

 

Juat a thought,, Just helped someone (yesterday) with a very simular issue. Before you get too wrapped around the wheel in time and parts, Give this a look see. Hell,, Its FREE!

The Ignition switch has TWO large connectors that plug into it. DISCONNECT THE NEG BATTERY TERMINAL!!! Remove both of the connectors. Carefully examine All of the FEMALE connectors in each harness connector. Look for Loose, Spread, Burnt, Corroded female pins or a burnt plastic housing around each pin.. It is highly recommended to conduct a PIN PUSH/PULL test on each female pin. Get a new or old used bad fuse. Snap the fuse in half. Each blade of the fuse is the same THICKNESS as the male pins in the Ignition switch. You will have to use a file to reduce the WIDTH of one fuse test pins to test the smaller/narrow female pins. When you insert the blade of the fuse into the female pin, there should be a nice firm grip on that fuse pin. If there isn't any grip, (resistance to insertion/removal) that pin is spread and is no longer making proper contact with the male pin inside the switch.
You can de-pin the connector one wire at a time and clean and reshape the small tong that makes contact with the male pin.

Let me know what you think. This happens A LOT and many people do not know to examine the female pins when troubleshooting electrical issues. There are MANY MORE well known female pin trouble spots in our C5s.. Wheel Speed Sensor circuits, Door Wiring Harness Power Plug 6 Pin Connectors, and All of the Chassis ground connectors.

Bill

 

wow, I really appreciate all the help I get on this forum, I have already disconnected those plugs and removed the ignition switch, I will go back and look at those connectors when I get home from work however I did see the burnt contacts on the ignition switch, I will update tomorrow and let everyone know what I find... Thanks again to everyone

 

Just alittle update, so far I have checked everything everyone has advised me to check ,,
all is good with all of that, I changed the ignition switch and so far so good but it's alittle early to break out the champagne,,,
I will update as time goes by and hopefully all is good now and this may help someone else out in the future... Thanks again to everyone who has advised me and pointed me in the right direction.....

 

I wanted to give another update, it's only been a few days since I got it all back together but I have been driving it everyday and all is good, the new switch feels a lot tighter than the old one when the key is in and turned, no other issues other than my ac stopped working, now I will be trouble shooting that one next.....I want to thank everyone again for all the help...