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While driving I have experienced a complete electrical shutdown with almost immediated restart. The engine quits, the HUD resets, and the radio resets. I thought this was a charging problem as the DIC was only reading 12.5 volts while driving, however Autozone did a charging system check and everything was OK. The battery is two years old. This is on a 2002 vert with 87000 miles. Any help appreciated.
Ignition switch is a serious suspect, known to cause both inaccurate voltage readings and intermittent loss of power. Getting ready to change my quite soon.
The voltmeter reading does not come directly from the battery but through the IGNITION 1 circuit…if you have a DVOM and basic electrical skills this can be easily diagnosed…Fuse 19 and a bunch of other circuits are tapped off the ignition switch pink wire which provides power to circuits like the fuel pump and injectors…BTW, the IP voltages are usually 0.3 to 0.4 volts lower than the actual battery voltage...a voltage drop test on the charging system should also be done...very easy....if this testing is over your head seek out an auto electric shop in your area...they do this stuff every day.
Start with the basics first, check your battery cables making sure they are clean and tight. The positive battery cable connects to the engine fuse box, and a cable from that connection point powers the interior fuse box, that connection is accessible once you remove the engine fuse box cover. All that being said it could well be the Ignition switch.
Ignition switch is a serious suspect, known to cause both inaccurate voltage readings and intermittent loss of power. Getting ready to change my quite soon.
I agree. The exact same issue happen to me while driving. Had the switch replaced (it took four to work ). Now the car is doing the same issue after 6 months of working and back for fixing.. China/GM crap.
Ignition switch is a serious suspect, known to cause both inaccurate voltage readings and intermittent loss of power. Getting ready to change my quite soon.
I agree. The exact same issue happen to me while driving. Had the switch replaced (it took four to work ). Now the car is doing the same issue after 6 months of working and back for fixing.. China/GM crap.
Piggy backing off of this. I've had my car shut down twice in the middle of the road. Wouldn't restart for about 15 minutes. NOW, I am getting "Low Fuel" and sometimes "Reduced Engine Power" at start. And sometimes "active handling" comes on. The ebcm in my 03 has been replaced, rebuilt and surge modded. So i don't think thats bad. I've also been having issues where I have to crank the car a 2nd time to get it to start. Can all of these things be related to the ignition switch? I have one that will be here this weekend just in case.
If your fuel gauge is showing E and your water temp gauge is maxing out and you are getting a bunch of DIC messages and your car is shutting off or is a start and stall or no start you most likely have a serial data bus issue.
Thank youall for replying. I had a rebuilt ingnition switch in a spare parts bin in my garage i purchased it a couple of years ago for another problem.
Anyway, I swapped it out after reading some of the comments and went for a 30 mile trip. Everything worked fine and no cut offs. I did notice the voltage was not getting up to 13 volts. So I stopped at O'Reillys on the way home and they checked the charging system. All checked out fine. The person doing the checking suggested an intermittant problem with the alternator. I will see how it goes.
While driving I have experienced a complete electrical shutdown with almost immediated restart. The engine quits, the HUD resets, and the radio resets. I thought this was a charging problem as the DIC was only reading 12.5 volts while driving, however Autozone did a charging system check and everything was OK. The battery is two years old. This is on a 2002 vert with 87000 miles. Any help appreciated.
By radio reset do you mean you lost the memory on your radio and had to reset channel and time? Would have to look at a wiring diagram but if you lost the memory it looks like you lost complete voltage to everything. Make by a relay.
Sailbill I don't think the ignition switch would cut the memory on the radio. that circuit stays live all the time. I would see if you could get a power distribution diagram and see where the hot wire for the radio memory circuit comes from. Good luck
Well. I changed out my ignition switch. No need to crank a 2nd time to start. However. I am still getting "reduced power" and "low fuel" along with "active handling". If I restart the car 1 or 2 times. It all goes a way and the car is fine. Any other ideas?
Complete Shutdown
). Now the car is doing the same issue after 6 months of working and back for fixing.. China/GM crap.
