a friend has this car and is having the following problem: it will frequently refuse to start at all for 10 minutes- not 9 or 11, but always 10. She is late to work, appointments etc. Local mechanics can’t help her. Anybody else having this problem?
You’re going to have to provide some details about the no-start condition as there are a hundred symptoms and the cause could be any one or more of them.
Original battery, starter turns slowly, only clicks, dash lights illuminated, etc, etc.??
Without details we can throw a hundred things out there so it’s much easier to fill in the blanks so it can be narrowed down to a manageable half dozen or so.
It sounds like there is a problem with the anti-theft system with the car. You might have to see a electrical shop or even the dealer to have it checked out.
If you google something like impala starts intermittently you get a zillion hits of people with the same problem. Nobody seems to know what the deal is. We drove from New Hampshire to Ithaca, NY and stopped at a rest stop in the Berkshires and had to wait the alloted time. We have tried moving the car while in nuetral, moving the steering column up and down, sacrificial offerings to the great Impala, etc. But if you just wait it out, it starts again. We went on to State College, PA, and the morning we were leaving, it wouldn’t start. A very nice woman who was on break from houskeeping at the motel said she had a similar problem with a Camaro, and found it was a rod that connects the ignition switch assembly down to some switch under the dash that gets worn or loose or something. That might explain why moving the steering column or putting it in nuetral seems to help. We drove back to New Hampshire that day, taking 9 and a half hours to get home, and never shut the car off until we we made it in the driveway. Our local mechanic doesn’t believe there is a rod in our 2001. Anyone have a clue?