towtruck1

There are a sh-- load of these 2000-2001 cavaliers on this forum that are broken.

If I remember correctly, GM uses two separate feeds to the ignition switch. One for the accessories, and another one for the engine ignition feed. These should be powered by fusible links under the hood. Look for the heavy 12 or 10 gauge wires at the firewall. My best guess is they are red in color. Probe each of these. They should all be hot with the key removed from the car.If you find a dead one, jump power to it and see if the car starts. If so follow that wire towards the battery, alternator battery wire, or small single power feed stud under the hood. If you need additional help post back. I have a similar car in my driveway to look for locations on. Good luck and keep us informed of progress.

thanks just goe back from little vacation i'll check that out and let you know.

Hello towtruck1,

bob c has given good advise to get started . On GM the starter relay is the solenoid but your description would not indicate that as the trouble. Sometimes the wire from the ignition to the starter builds up a resistance and may indicate having power but has built up enough impedance so as not to turn starter motor.

Look behind the glove box that is where they hide it on Ford vans

All but the horn relay are under the hood on this model. There is a string of them very near the passenger hood hinge. I would use a test light on the solenoid first. Better answers there.

There is a roll over switch too that goes bad sometimes.

You say that if you jump it, it will start and run so all the other issues raised here are out, e.g., there is not corrosion or oxidation preventing the starter solenoid from kicking in and starting the engine, albeit it does not run long.

Does that car have an automatic transmission? If so there is a lockout switch that will prevent the car from starting if the shift lever is not in park or neutral. Sometimes the switch goes bad or the switch/lever adjustment gets out of position.

Given all that the car will do with various jumping points that seems to very likely be your problem providing it has an automatic transmission.

Another thought. I am not familiar with that particular car but recent manual transmission cars also have a starter lockout on the clutch pedal when the car is not in neutral or the clutch pedal not depressed. If a manual that could also be your problem.

The other possibility is of course the alarm system but you say that is ruled out by testing. Nonetheless, the fact that the car will start and run for a few minutes very much suggests an alarm system function.

I really would give my right arm for my first car, a 1936 Chevy, Standard Coupe. I saw one on the net that has very little mileage on it and looks like new since it has been sitting in a barn all these years.

I could, and did once or twice, repair that car on a dead dark highway without a flashlight. On one of those ocassions, running at top speed of 70 MPH on a California highway it stopped dead; in the dark, in the middle of nowhere.

One of the things I did strictly by touch was to un-clip and remove the distributor cap where by touch I discovered the rotor had risen up on the shaft and off the key-way. Put a piece of paper over the shaft and push the rotor back down and off we went. All that in the dark.

Alas, they wanted $18,000 for that near mint car.

j.

Here are two new things for you to check.

1) To check fuel power, there are two easy ways. A) There should be a single wire that is not connected to anything, between the driver's side front shock tower, and the fender next to the shock tower. This is the power to the fuel pump.If it gets power when trying to start, your fuel pump is getting power. B) If you can not find the wire at the shock tower, take the connector off of any fuel injector, and test the grey wire. Same as the above wire. Both of these wires are fed by the "F/P-INJ" fuse.

2) To check for power to the ignition system, check fuse #1. It should be live in run, and start.

If one or both of these fuses are not blown, but not live, you need to check the fusible links. They are what power the two sides of the ignition switch. Check the connection where the wires pass through the firewall. Stop guessing. TEST.

Hey towtruck1,

I had a similar problem with my 01 tracker. Tried to start it one day and it would turn over at all. No clicks, no nothing. When I went to pull the stater I found a ground wire off. I put it back on and that didn't help, so I pulled the starter and had it tested. It was ok. After scratching my head for awhile I decided to replace a ground wire that I had noticed earlier with melted insulation but still intact. This wire went from the injector module to the firewall. It started right up and has run fine since. I never have found out why the insulation on this wire was melted, I can only assume that it may have been caused by the ground wire being off at the starter. Keep it simple and look for the obvious. Hope this helps.

Think about it. If the ground wire at the starter was not connected, what was left to provide a path for the starter, alternator, headlights, radiator cooling fan and air conditioning fan?

Providing my battery is good the first thing I always do is disconnect, burnish, and replace all my critical connections. When I replace the battery connections I do so with a good coat of Nolox or similar coating. Nolox is a compound designed to protect aluminum wire connections in house services.

I have on more than one occasion found that connections that otherwise appear tight are in fact not conducting.

Last time I ran into this was with a wiper motor on my old Dodge truck. I took the motor off and checked it straight to battery. It was fine. Putting it back there was a brass plate between the motor and the frame on the grounding screw. Checking that brass plate with an ohmmeter there was an open circuit.

The plate had oxidised and the oxide is a non-conductor.

The same is true of your battery connections. The connections may be tight but when you take them loose you can see the battery posts are covered with a black film.

That film, lead oxide, is a non-conductor. Direct current connections, especially those of low voltages, are notorious for this. Clean them and treat them with anti-oxide compounds and it may be years before you again have a similar problem.

j.

thanks everyone for your help i found the problem in the wiring harness between the ignition and fuse box some how it lose current there. replace that vehicle started right up.