Okay . . . for awhile I've had intermittent episodes of having to start in neutral. completely random. couple weeks ago I left the door open on a Saturday to dry out the wet back floorboard from water leak (another issue). i started it up and pulled into driveway. next morning, dead as a doornail. keyfob wouldnt even unlock door. took forever to jump it. I drove it a few times and now, again it's dead. Battery tests fine. Just had it in the shop for a/c door actuator and heat coming out around steering wheel ($760) and mechanic says there's a recall on ignition switch and to call dealer. he believes this is causing the battery to run down. dealer says no recall, but he can investigate the causes for $95/hr. Called mechanic back and he looks it up and says recall started with '03 model, mine is '00. says he believes its the ignition switch and read me something he had looked up stating such. now i don't know if i should spend $200 more dollars and hope it's ignition switch. Is it the neutral switch, which I've been told is what's causing me to have to start in neutral sometimes? I'm totally lost. I believe the mechanic is trustworthy. i just moved to town, so i don't have a regular guy and neighbor recommended this guy. been here 4 months and storm damage causing new roof on house we're remodeling and now $2,000 in the hole for that, need new a/c for upstairs, refrigerator went out . . . any advice on this is certainly APPRECIATED!

hi, here is some info on the switch.............http://www.justanswer.com/pontiac/3abhd ... siest.html

so the battery is fine and the car wont crank? is the security light flashing on the dash?

_________________
poverty forces one to do unorthodox things

2000 SSEi
past rides:
1996 SSEi
1992 GTP
1987 Grand Am

thanks! yes, 2 people have said the battery is fine. No lights on in car or dash at all. when i first tried to start it there was one click type noise from the dash and one click type noise from the battery (back seat). I picked it up from the mechanic on Friday. Stopped at the store. Started back up and drove it home. Tried to start it Saturday and it was completely dead.

Check the battery connection at the fuse box under the rear seat. It should be fine, but if there was any moisture in the car, it could have gotten corroded, and you won't look under the the cover normally when you are looking at the battery.

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A temporary fix does not exist. It becomes a solution until it needs to be fixed again.

https://photos.google.com/album/AF1QipOYkkevV0gKTHc_8Cstuy8yS1Qyx6SiIKeTzuHy

i would hope the mechanic who just worked on it would have looked at that, but i'll check it! There was apparently water under that back seat for a while until my husband repaired a hole that had rusted out. sure wish i could figure out where the water is leaking into the back seat and trunk from. Have to get the battery going first. 3 weeks with no car, making me cuckoo!

The fact that there was a problem with only starting in neutral makes me think that there may be a problem in the transmission position switch. A scanner would be helpful in diagnosing this. The ignition switch doesn't know or care what gear the car is in. It just gives a crank signal to the PCM.

also, if you have a multimeter, check for continuity between pos and neg terminals on batt. there should be no open circuit - if there is a circuit, the battery is fried and wont hold a charge - replace

_________________
poverty forces one to do unorthodox things

2000 SSEi
past rides:
1996 SSEi
1992 GTP
1987 Grand Am