2003 Century Intermittently won't start

Maintenance/Repairs
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1

My wife’s car will no longer start. It was intermittently starting, but not now. When you turn the key, the power comes on, the dash lights light up, but when you turn it far enough to engage the starter, nothing. No click, nothing.

It started intermittently, and would sometimes be resolved by moving the steering column up and down, but now that doesn’t seem to be working. She didn’t tell me this until last night when it started not working at all, so I haven’t looked at it yet, but looking for ideas. I’m thinking either a loose or broken wire, or maybe the ignition switch. I thought I’d look here to see if there are any known problem areas that I should look before I dig into the steering column.

Thanks.

Rich

2

Try shifting it from park to neutral if it start’s that would be the neutral saftey switch is bad on need’s adjusting.

2 Likes
3

Thanks - I’ll have her try that now (I’m at work).

4

She did that, and it started in neutral. Then she shifted back to park, and it started again. Dirty contact in some switch associated with the gear selector?

5

Yes neutral saftey switch or connecter or shift linkage adjustment.

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6

I thought I’d post an update to what the problem ended up being.

First, I ordered a neutral safety switch. When it came, and I went out to put it on, I couldn’t find it, and after much searching and gnashing of teeth I learned that it was inside the transaxle on this model. I gave up on that and told my wife to call our favorite mechanic to ask what it would cost to have him do it. $100. I’ll take it. The next day, I went to start the car by jumping the solenoid. It would start, but not run for more than 3 seconds. I fought with it for a while and gave up.

On the way to dinner, a thought hit me. I told her to search for “Buick Century runs 3 seconds”. I started wondering about the security thing in the key. Her search seemed to confirm my suspicions. When we got home, I tried the other key. No good. I went inside and searched again, and this time found a post that suggested turning the key to the on position, leaving it for 15 minutes, then turn it off and try again. That did it. It was the anti-theft system with the thing in the key. Car runs great now.

Thanks for the tips, even though that wasn’t the problem. I appreciate it. I also appreciate Amazon taking returns with no questions.

1 Like