I drive a 1997 Buick LeSabre with 160,000 miles on it. Last month I was on a road trip and stopped to stretch my legs. When I returned to my car and it wouldn?t start. It would crank, ?almost? catch, but then die.
While I waited for a tow I tried to roll down the windows and discovered the power controls on the doors were also not working. The power locks worked, and everything on the dash worked, but not the controls for the windows, seats, and mirrors.
The mechanic decided it was a corroded connector on the security lock-out system. I drove away happy. Until two weeks later when, as I pulled into a parking space and put my car in ?Park? it died, and it wouldn?t restart. And I couldn?t roll up my windows.
Since then, this same scenario has been happening with increasing frequency. Now it happens almost daily; sometimes more than once a day – and it has also started happening when I slow down to turn a corner, or am stopped at a red light, in addition to when I turn into a parking space or driveway.
The good news is that I have discovered if I wait 30-60 minutes, the car will start back up. The bad news is I have no idea how long it will run until it shuts itself off again.
The other problem is that I cannot get any kind of consensus from the people I normally go to for car advice. The mechanic says it could be any number of things, and could cost me a lot of money in time just to diagnose it. The online mechanics forum suggested the connectors to the battery might be loose. The back-yard guys say it is a sensor issue (perhaps the MAP sensor, or maybe even a ground wire), but the parts-place guys say if it were any of those things it would show up on the computer diagnostic, which it isn?t.
HELP!!
And you’ll get no definitive answers here either because of all that needs tested and proven out.
But to me it sounds like an ignition switch or multi-function switch problem or the connections thereto.
So many circuits go through those switches that your description would have me looking at the ignition switch ( not the key cykinder ) first.
Start by cleaning battery connections. Follow red wire and clean where it hooks and the other end of negative wire.
Slit coating of red wire from battery end 2-3 inches on the side to look for crud,tape up when you are done.
Power windows draw a lot of juice.
I am not saying this will fix all but you need to have full power before you move on.