2001 Pontiac Sunfire Logo
Posted on Jan 09, 2009

Inconsistent Starting, Won't turn over

I have a 2001 Pontiac Sunfire GT. I have brought the car into the dealership 4 times now for the same problem....still is not fixed.

On certain mornings, especially if it's cold and damp or very dry and cold car will not start for at least 20 minutes. If I continue to attempt to start it, it will eventually turn over ( slowly ), then start and stay on. After the car starts I have no trouble starting it the rest of the day.

The dealer first replaced the battery and the alternator, cleaned the connectors, etc. A few days later, same problem occured.

The second visit resulted the dealer replacing the ignition switch. A few days later, same problem occured.

The third visit resulted in the dealer replacing the BCM ( Body Control Module ). This time, about two weeks passed before the same problem occured.

The most recent visit resulted in the dealer replacing the ignition switch again, claiming it was faulty. That was earlier today. This evening I'm expecting not to be able to start my car tomorrow morning.

Usually before each instance of my car not starting, during the previous evening, I notice a series of electrical oddities that begin to occur that lets me know something isn't right and problems are ahead. It starts with my dashboard-turn signal lights flickering. That is usually followed by the "Theftlock" icon lighting up and staying on. And, on some occasions, like this evening, the entire dashboard lights up ( like it does when you first put the car in the on position ) for a few seconds, all of the gauges read zero KM/RPM/Fuel, the airbag light flashes for a few extra seconds, then everything returns to normal. This continues until I shut the car off.

Does anyone have any insight into what may be causing these problems? The Pontiac Dealership has tried four times now.

Thanks.

  • Anonymous May 11, 2010

    when you go to start it does the theftlock flash or stay on?

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  • Posted on Jan 09, 2009
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Wow, well its def a electrical issue.this almost same thing happened to my buddie 2000 trans am,the dealership replaced the ecm after 2 or 3 trips in there.his dash lights did the same thing and he had trouble starting it to,just not as regular as your problem.

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  • Posted on Jan 20, 2009
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Do you have an alarm system?
If so, is it an after market alarm?

This sounds a lot like the problem I was having and it tooks month of my stubborn refusal to pay for the wrong thing to get replaced before I figured it out. I took it to the dealship and they wanted to charge thousands for stuff I knew wasn't the problem. Sound familiar??

Anyways, this was 2 yrs ago but the problem was I had an aftermarket alarm that was on the car and when it was installed they used these cheap metal splicers to splice into the ignition wire and in time the ignition wire wasn't making contact because of the splicer. I wiggled the wire and it popped apart.

So, hopefully this helps

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