I have a 2002 Deville with the Northstar that decided to leave me stranded at work, could not even get the engine to turn over. I tried jump starting it and still nothing.

After the weekend and the car siting in the parking lot at work, I returned on Monday and it was completely dead, not even enough battery power to unlock the power door locks. I removed the battery brought it home charged it up and on Tuesday took it to a reputable battery dealer to have it checked out. They told me it was fine and passed a load test. I brought it back to work reinstalled it and nothing.

Over the next few days I checked the various typical items like good grounds, clean terminals and the start fuse(s). Finally I had the car towed home. The minute I got it off of the tow truck I put the key in and it started right up. I let it run for 15 minutes or so (there is now a service engine light on) I shut it off and will not restart despite trying a dozen times over the next few days.

Even after I found out the starter was under the intake manifold I decided to go for it. It wasn't as bad to change as I thought. I got a brand new (not reman) Echlin starter from the local parts store $180.00 and threw it in.

Still nothing no clicking no cranking just frustration!

Tonight I dove into the wiring end of things. I located the wiring harness that has three wires going to the starter Purple, blue and grey. On the wiring harness side (coming from the body) I have power at the purple wire only when the key is in the crank position, nothing at the blue wire and a strong ground at the grey wire.

On the starter side of the harness (disconnected from the body side of the harness) the purple wire is grounded???? Nothing at the blue or grey wire. Obviously the purple wire seems to be the problem? Could I be looking at another bad starter?

Also, I have not tried to pull any codes but I have tried both sets of keys I have for the car. Am I missing anything else, should I be looking at anything else?

Help!

 

You said that you had no power at all. not even enough to unlock the doors. That tells me it is not a problem with the starter. Your starter should only have two wires. A big red one that connects from the starter to the power junction block(battery more less) and a purple wire that is the crank signal. To really diag this problem I suppose more detail will be needed. Wehn you put a fully charged battery into the car what happens? Gauges light up when key is on? Try to turn over engine does it click, crank, nothing? Any detail regardless how small it seems always help.

 

Action Jackson:

I had no power at all after the car sat for a weekend in the parking lot, I had power the day I got stranded with it at work. It would click but not turn over.

The starter itself has only two wires going to it but, in the starter wiring harness disconnect that you are able to get at without removing the intake there are 3 wires in it. Purple, grey and blue. I only had to disconnect two wires purple and red on the starter when I replaced it, I did not check/confirm where the other wires blue and grey actually went to.


When I had the battery checked out as good and fully charged I had power to everything, full instrument lights and etc but not even a click at the starter.

 

Action Jackson:

Sorry, you were right. When I pulled the intake off for the second time only the purple lead goes to the starter as well as a heavy red constant feed from the battery. The attached wiring diagram I made is WRONG!

 

you need to pull codes......... sounds like a theft, security system, starter interrupt issue.... not sure though...... are you able to pull codes?
rickyd

 

Well, I spent a good 5 hours on the car yesterday and I'm even more confused than ever. Convinced I was having a problem with the starter I pulled the intake off again bench tested the starter and it is fine. I unwrapped all of the associated wiring down in the v of the engine and it all looks good. I put the starter back in and manualy juped it out with another battery and the engine spins over as it should.

I put the engine back together double and triple checked I had a constant 12v down through the red wire and power down through the purple wire when the key is in the crank position and nothing barely a slight click.

I put the code reader on it to see what it had to say: Link error! I tried it a few times and could not get anything but the link error.

I pulled off and cleaned the ground from the battery to the body as it was a little dirty but no help. Is that ground the only one? I put the car on the lift and tried to find another heavy ground from the body to the engine? Is there one?

I realy have no idea where to go with this now! Help!

 

If you were to disconnect the connector(purple wire) going to the starter and check for 12v while cranking what is the result? The fact that it just clicks makes me wonder if you have a big drain on your battery. Do you have a meter that you can test amps with? Could do a parasitic drain test to tell. Also could try a voltage drop to see if you have another problem in the starting system.

 

OK now I'm getting in a little over my head. my electrical background is pretty weak, I'm use to working on older cards like my 69 Chevelle. This is realy the first time I have gotten into a large wiring problem.

However, to answer your question, When I disconnect the purple wire I get power testing it via a test light, I did not check what the actual voltage is because I don't know what it should be. When I used a second battery and manualy powered and grounded the starter the engine turns over. What should I get for voltage at that purple wire?

Would a bad ground cause such a drain on the battery? Remember that car sat for 3 days and completely killed the battery to the point I could not even unlock the power doors.

One more thing I forgot to mention sometimes not always when I try to crank the engine and than release I will not allow me to bring the key back to the out position right away, sometimes 30 seconds to 1 minute later my interior lights, the memory seats or memory seats start to move and only then am I able to remove the key? What the heck is that?

 

I had a friend with access to alldata look up where the major grounding points on the car and found the one directly below the fuse box under the hood. The ground cable goes from the body directly to the engine.

It was on pretty tite but was a little green with oxidation, I wired wheeled up the bolts and scraped the area around the mating surfaces, reinstalled it and the car started right up!


Thanks

 

Im having The same problem!!! Changed The starter ignition lock cyclinder (that was needed) The ignition switch and The battery. Im left with saftey neutral and a ground. The ground u had mentioned i found but looks fine! Is there any other ground points or could it be The safety neutral? Turn The key and.nothing,but can start The Car From under The hood.