My son has a 1995 Bonneville with 170,000 miles on it. The battery connections sometimes do not make contact enough to turn the engine over and he has to tinker with them to get the car to start. After taking the connections off and putting them back on, the dashboard brake light indicator came on as through the parking brake was engaged, which is isn’t and the worse part is that there is the never ending dinging sound. What can be done to turn that off and why would tinkering with the battery connection cause this?
Check the brake fluid level.
I assume this car has ABS. A lot of GMs that I have experience with will light their ABS or brake warning lamps if the battery is low. I think your son should head to Walmart or the equivalent and buy a new set of battery cables. Probably cost him all of 20 bucks and might solve a lot of problems.
Thanks to both of you. He will check the brake fluid. I do need to know how difficult it would be to replace the battery cables if he purchased them at Walmart. If he is not up to that task, about how expensive is it for a mechanic to perform this service? I other words, how long does it take to replace battery cables?
Well as it turns out, the Master Cylinder is shot and had to be replaced as it was leaking like a sieve after they topped off the brake fluid!!
I have a 92? Bonneville that did the same thing. Start the car and wait for the dinging sound to start. When it does, pull up on the parking brake pedal. If the dinging stops, your parking brake pedal need to be adjusted to not make electrical contact with the sensor that sets off the dash board warning light and bell. To temporarily stop the dinging sound, use a plastic tie wrap to pull the parking brake pedal as far upward as it can go. Of course, you won?t be able to use your parking brake until you can have it adjusted.