Lights- but no turnover.

madintro · Post by **madintro** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:13 pm

drove home lastnight and on the way home I lost the gear indicator light on the dash of my 02' ssei. I seen it do this once before so at the time im thinking it has an intermittent bulb. That was the only thing out of the ordinary when I got home and shut off my car. Didn't even leave the car when I decided to leave again since I forgot something on the way home- turn the key to leave- nothing.

Headlights, dash lights, but no turnover. Security light was NOT blinking but would turn on to show it works. I can hear multiple relays clicking in front and rear. Acted as if it were in drive while I was tring to start it (no light dim, etc.)

I had the car 3 weeks and Ive been stalking the forums for a couple weeks reading all the common problems and other various problems as well as the tech articles- so I am a little up to speed. Battery is GOOD, connections are GOOD... shifted through gears, tried starting in nuetral, checked for loose connections on common parts (maf, etc.), dont think its a vats problem since the security light wasnt flashing. It was late so I didn't tap starter/solenoid or check for power.

I went out to my car today and it started right up. Oh and the gear indicator light on the dash is there too. Now the light may or may not be related- thats for you guys to tell me lol... but since it started today I couldnt really troublshoot the starter, solenoid, park/nuetral switch or anything for that matter.

My question is this: In addition to the things I have listed above... is there anything else I should look for? And is the light a coincidance?

Post by **harofreak00** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 2:19 pm

The gear indicator light is just a coincidence.

I think you are on the right track with the starter. If it does happen again, check for power at the starter or tap on it.

madintro · Post by **madintro** » Thu Mar 17, 2011 3:37 pm

beautiful. Thanks!

jonnevilleSSEi · Post by **jonnevilleSSEi** » Fri Mar 18, 2011 10:38 pm

So when it cranks it starts right up first try but when it doesn't it just clicks? When it clicks will a jump start it immediately or not? That may help determine wether or not it is charging the battery properly. Mine behaved similarly (I guess) when I was doing a radio install and left the interior lights on too long. Just repeated clicks so apparently the solenoid activated but not enough power there to crank over the starter (clickclickclickclicklcicklclick)

madintro · Post by **madintro** » Sun Mar 20, 2011 12:54 am

it did it again tonight. My wife is down the road at walmart and it wont start. I asked her if the gear indicator light was on by any chance and she said it wasnt. prehaps another coincidance. The car dont click (well the relays do) it doesnt try to turn over. Its not a problem with the charging system. I would like to think a bad starter or solenoid but I cant help but question why the gear indicator is out at the same time the car wont start.

edit:

it started and she drove it home. when it started, the gear light was back on.

I went out there and played with it, and while cycling through the gears the indicator light disappeared briefly through a few gears and then came back before I could see if it would start without it or not.

I wonder if the park/nutrual/drive switch is going bad and if it is- prehaps might keep it from starting.

for example: if I put it BETWEEN park and reverse, the indicator light dissapears- and if I try to start the car like this... i get the same results that I do when I have no indicator light and my car wont start.

madintro · Post by **madintro** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 12:06 pm

after reading some more forums, I notice the gear indicator on the dash isnt a mechanica piece- but rather a series of different lights...

so I dont think the bulb is burning out intermittently because if that were the case- R, D, 3, 2, and 1 should still work. But when the gear indicator on the dash goes out- ALL of them go out.

Im leaning away from the starter right now, because even with a bad starter I should still be able to see my gears.

I cant wait to get this fixed. Its not a good feeling to come out to your car WONDERING if its gonna start lol. I will probably go buy a repair manual today so that might help. Ive only owned this car less than a month- before this car i had 4 Lincoln Town Cars and you could find me on lincolnsonline whenever I had a probem. AWESOME car club right there, lemme tell you. Theres a guy names Derek who you would think invented the Town Car they way he pinpoints even the toughest problems with absolute ease.

madintro · Post by **madintro** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 1:41 pm

Its doing it right now. It looks like I am by myself on this, or maybe this carclub just takes a bit longer than lincolnsonline- there you usually get about 2 or 3 responses within the first hour lol.

there is no power to the starter, so back outside I go to see what I can find. It would appear the starter is good... for now.

I will keep the post updates as I look for the problem, so maybe somone else can get some use from it.

madintro · Post by **madintro** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:27 pm

ok well I still dont have much so far but here is what I do have.

the gear indicating light on the dash going out at the same time as the car not starting is NOT a coincidance. EVERY time it is out- no start, on it will start. It is very intermittent but earlier it was going on and off repeatedly. 15 times it was off- 15 no starts. every other time it was on, the car would start.

i guess my next step should be to try to find the park/nuetral switch? Sorry Haro but I dont think we were on the right track with the starter/solenoid. thats too bad because then I could have replaced it and been done with it.

Post by **Archon** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:48 pm

I don't recall all of the details of it, but years ago 2000Silverbullet had an intermittent stall and no start condition with his car. After some time, it was tracked down to a poor connection for the IGN1 fuse in the under-hood fuse block. Pushing the connectors together, and slightly twisting the legs on the fuse solved the problem. It's a long shot, but worth a try.

00Beast · Post by **00Beast** » Mon Mar 21, 2011 11:52 pm

Another HUGE longshot: I had a lanyard on my keys a few years ago, and I discovered that I pulled the key into the ACC position every once in a while and shut the engine off, lol. I thought I was having the issue listed above @ first.

madintro · Post by **madintro** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 11:29 am

its not causing a stall.

If car is already running, and dash gear indicator goes off- the car continues to run.

If I cycle through the gears the indicator light may or may not come back on. If I shut the car off it will not start until the gear indicator light is working, and is in park or nuetral.

but yes you guys are both right- that is a longshot and a huge longshot, respectively- and doesnt explain the corelation between the gear indicator light.

I just need to find out more about how the car senses what gear it is in before I can go any further.

i might take a video of my car acting funny after i search some threads for a park/nutreul switch

madintro · Post by **madintro** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:01 pm

ok after searching some threads I came accross a nifty wiring diagram of the park neutral switch- which should be called the gear indicating switch since it in fact tells your dash what gear you are in.

I am thinking this switch is bad, causing my car to not know what gear it is in. The car dont know if its in 1 2 3 D R P so no lights light up- because it dont know what one to light up. Since it cant confirm it is in park or neutral it decides not to startup.

havent confirmed this yet but its better than anything else ive got to work with.

im an electrical engineering student so this stuff comes naturally.

madintro · Post by **madintro** » Tue Mar 22, 2011 12:57 pm

ok here is a video of it acting funny. you can see my guages reset after I try to start it unsuccessfully.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=zVlOxiIyMEg

madintro · Post by **madintro** » Thu Mar 24, 2011 11:37 am

Ok the dealership just confirmed my suspicions. According to the dealership- if the car does not recieve a signal indicating what gear the car is in, the dash gear indicator will go out and the car will not start.

I should probly msg harofreak and tell him he was wrong about the dash light indicator being a coincidance with my no-start condition. Idk if he just hasnt been folwing the thread or if he just doesnt have anything to say

knowing there could be a coincidance might save someone some time

The switch is super costly so its off too the scrapyard i go. I will update this post once more after i have installed the new switch and confirm the problem has been resolved.

madintro · Post by **madintro** » Mon Mar 28, 2011 12:13 pm

Installed a new switch and so far the light has stayed on and the car starts 10/10 times. Problem solved. Its really nice having all this information available. Thanks guys! (and girls if any of course)

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Lights- but no turnover.

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