My wife has had at least six events when she turns the key to start our one year old van, there is a “buzz” (or crackel?) from the vicinity of the ignition switch, and the van doesn’t start. She turns the ignition off and on the next attempt it starts fine. As much as I’ve started the van myself, it has never happened. Any ideas?
Thanks!
Static electricity? She could touch the ignition key to metal, to discharge static, before puttimg the key into the ignition.
It sounds to me as though there is arcing in the ignition switch because the electrical contact is not complete. There are actually two switches in what is called the ignition switch. One switch activates the igntion. Turning the key on to the start position activates another switch that sends current to the starter relay, which, in turn, activates the starter. It sounds to me as if this latter part of the switch is either defective, or the control rod from the lock tumbler to the ignition switch is not pushing the switch far enough in the start position.
Life used to be simpler–the ignition switch activiated the ignition. There was a separate switch for the starter. On my 1948 Dodge, it was a pushbutton on the dashboard. On my 1947 Pontiac, there was a starter pedal on the floor. Chrysler introduced the combined ignition/starter switch in its 1949 models and all other manufacturers picked it up. I still thinks it’s much more prone to trouble than the old way of doing things.