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At times turn ignition switch on and entire car dead. Take off negative battery cable and reinsert the cable and everything works. Happens about every 6 weeks.
Everything is dead.
lights interior and exterior.
But interesting enough is that the power door locks worked right before I put the key in the ignition switch. Then everything dead.
Once ignition switch turned to on position everything dead
no lights nothing works
then go out and disconnect negative cable and reinstall and everything works.
Next time it happens, start wiggling any cables you can to see if you have a possible short circuit in the wiring harness somewhere.
This is an interesting problem. By removing the power from the battery, you are resetting every computer in the car which leads me to believe you have an intermittent in the harness or an intermittent module of some sort. Possibly a bad ground. The question is which is it?
Let me look in my Service Manuals and see if I can offer some possibilities.
Very confusing. And I'm not 100% sure how to troubleshoot this entirely since it is intermittent.
Let me get this defined. It's just a regular day. No rain, cold, hot whatever. You use the remote and the doors unlock. You get in the seat and put the key in the ignition.
Everything is normal. Then you turn the key and you loose ALL power. No horn, headlights, turn signals, the interior light switches on the roof do not turn the map lights on. No brake lights, no radio, nothing. Everything appears to loose power all at once?
Start putting the key in the ignition and just turn it to the ACC position momentarily before you turn it to start.
My reasoning is that the ignition switch is actually two different switches inside. One for accessory power and one to the starter relays etc. I don't know which path to chase here. I do love a good mystery though.
And you didn't mention the obvious about any blown fuses or codes that may help point us in a certain direction after you scan the vehicle. So I'm making an assumption here that you do not have a check engine light or other hidden fault codes.
The resetting using the battery bugs me too because there isn't one module that would kill the entire electrical system. But I would do an inspection of your main fuse blocks in the engine compartment. If you have a power tester ( looks like a screwdriver with a point and a lamp inside) I would also test every fuse when it does quit on the again to see if you can locate where the power stops flowing.
I have to include the outside chance that you have a bad battery with a cell that occasionally shorts out when max cranking Amps are required also. Certainly can't be ruled out right now. It kind of fits the symptoms.
If it's not that, you are going to be forced to chase power through the system until you find where it stops. Those are the only things that makes any real sense.
Everything goes dead
one time it did this and I turned off the ignition switch and took out the key then reinsert the key and it started and power was supplied
Since then that has never worked like that again.
Battery is the only thing that makes sense. Intermittent problems are the worst thing to try and track down. But one day, she just won't start and you'll find it then. I sincerely wish you luck. I have never heard of a problem like this before though.
Edited Reread in case I update with additional info Please.
I guess I have to add that for electricity to flow you need two things power and Ground. Kind of basic but it really is that simple. I looked at the schematics again and power goes through what looks like at least 42 different fuses. All powered directly from the battery to the fuse. There is a few contacts that feeds it all though. 1A 1B, 1C, 1D 1E. These contacts are in the Engine Room #1 J/B. There are other contacts like 2A in the drivers side Engine Room #2 J/B. But these wires comes from the battery and feeds everything. It's the whole "reset" thing that I can't wrap my head around though. Like I said. Good luck. Hope I helped in some small way. Check these connections when you get a chance.
I'm attaching a pic to let you know where you should look.
Try cleaning your battery terminals and cable clamps and tighten them down real good. Also look to see if there is any corrosion around the clamps on the cables. If there is, you may need to replace the cables or at least re-terminate them. It sounds like you have a dirty or bad connection.
I Agree with Harold. It sounds like the symptoms of a dead battery, so I am guessing it is a loose connection (The battery is obviously fine or the car would never start) I think the battery isn't connected enough to start the car, but when you get out and reconnect the battery, you strengthen the connection and the car starts. Can you turn the battery clamps, even though they are screwed on as tight as possible? That is a common problem and can be solved with battery shims
05-06-23, 07:14 AM
At times turn ignition on everything dead
