I’m in DESPERATE need of help here.
My poor Trailblazer (wife nicknamed it Bertha) has been sitting in the back yard untouched for over a month now because I can’t get to the bottom of this.
The story goes; I went on an hour long journey to get a part for an unrelated project. The drive went perfectly fine right up until the exact moment I entered the parking lot at the establishment I was trying to reach. All of a sudden I heard my subwoofer thump just a little for like a spilt second. It always thumps like that when I start the engine, but never any other time. At the same time I smelled a burning electrical smell and it was gone as quickly as it came. When I parked a few seconds later I turned the engine off, afraid the whole thing may go up in smoke. I couldn’t remove the key from the ignition nor start the engine back up. No click or anything. When I turned the key to start the engine like normal everything on the dash just goes away, no lights or gauges, and the fuel and battery gauge drop to zero when the key is turned to start. I can’t remember if it’s always done that when starting or not. I cleaned my battery terminals as I’ve had trouble with them before but to no avail. A Good Samaritan tried to give me a boost, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try but nothing Changed at all. I was not listening to any music at the time, in fact my radio was turned off so I know it’s not something with my amp or anything. A quick google search told me how to remove my key, I pressed the emergency key release button and I walked 1.4 miles to the nearest autozone and got an ignition switch as I was familiar with the common failures, I replaced it right then, no change. I walked another 1.4 miles then replaced the main fuse at the under hood fuse box, no change. I spent the next hour and a half it was going to take for the wife to come pick me up checking every single fuse on both fuse panels (yet somehow overlooked the J-Case fuses)
This caught me very off guard, however I did have a weird problem before a while back where my starter would stay stuck trying to turn the engine over even if the engine was already running, kind of like a “runaway” starter, and the only way to stop it was to move the purple wire that goes on the starter. It was caused by the hooked part on the purple wires’ ring terminal touching the much bigger copper terminal on the starter, it would happen randomly but I tinkered with it over time and thought I had fixed it but I believe this starter problem had occurred when I was turning into the parking lot that day. It’s worth mentioning that I smelled that same brief burning electrical smell every time my starter would get stuck like that but it had been so long since I thought I fixed it, that I started to panick.
Furthermore; upon trying to diagnose the issue I’ve found that J-Case Fuse #34 (IGN A 40a) in the under hood fuse panel will blow every time I turn the key to RUN. I’ve also learned that this circuit pretty much provides power to all of the shift solenoids and the TCC/PWM which is why I’m getting these codes. I have been able to drive it after this incident but the only way to start it is by intentionally arching the purple wire to the bigger post on the starter as explained before while someone is turning the key to start. Also while driving it, it is stuck in 3rd or 2nd gear, can’t really tell which. Everything else works fine as far as driving goes but it will not shift on its own and it will not start on its own.
I guess what I really need to know is where the hell do I even start with the short at fuse #34? I’ve looked at wiring diagrams but I’m having a consistency issue between each one I see regarding where it says the wires go. I don’t want to just start blindly tearing into my wiring harness or fuse block and end up with spaghetti that I will never be able to fix.
Has this happened to anyone else? I’m tired of driving my wife’s little 14’ Cruze, I want my trailblazer back! Not to mention it’s also hurting my business severely as I use my trailblazer to pull a trailer for my work. So needless to say I’m starting to go broke too! I need some GMT gurus to please help me!
PS: I’ve watched MAY03LT’s video on this issue and while it does pertain to the issue somewhat, mine is different in the fact that I can’t get power to the fuses I need to check in my rear fuse block because the fuse in the under hood fuse block that supplies power to it is blowing every time I turn the key to run. So I’m sure everything to and from there is fine, but something to or from fuse #34 is not fine and that’s what I’m needing help with, and I can’t find ANYTHING about this anywhere, so here I am!
My poor Trailblazer (wife nicknamed it Bertha) has been sitting in the back yard untouched for over a month now because I can’t get to the bottom of this.
The story goes; I went on an hour long journey to get a part for an unrelated project. The drive went perfectly fine right up until the exact moment I entered the parking lot at the establishment I was trying to reach. All of a sudden I heard my subwoofer thump just a little for like a spilt second. It always thumps like that when I start the engine, but never any other time. At the same time I smelled a burning electrical smell and it was gone as quickly as it came. When I parked a few seconds later I turned the engine off, afraid the whole thing may go up in smoke. I couldn’t remove the key from the ignition nor start the engine back up. No click or anything. When I turned the key to start the engine like normal everything on the dash just goes away, no lights or gauges, and the fuel and battery gauge drop to zero when the key is turned to start. I can’t remember if it’s always done that when starting or not. I cleaned my battery terminals as I’ve had trouble with them before but to no avail. A Good Samaritan tried to give me a boost, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to try but nothing Changed at all. I was not listening to any music at the time, in fact my radio was turned off so I know it’s not something with my amp or anything. A quick google search told me how to remove my key, I pressed the emergency key release button and I walked 1.4 miles to the nearest autozone and got an ignition switch as I was familiar with the common failures, I replaced it right then, no change. I walked another 1.4 miles then replaced the main fuse at the under hood fuse box, no change. I spent the next hour and a half it was going to take for the wife to come pick me up checking every single fuse on both fuse panels (yet somehow overlooked the J-Case fuses)
This caught me very off guard, however I did have a weird problem before a while back where my starter would stay stuck trying to turn the engine over even if the engine was already running, kind of like a “runaway” starter, and the only way to stop it was to move the purple wire that goes on the starter. It was caused by the hooked part on the purple wires’ ring terminal touching the much bigger copper terminal on the starter, it would happen randomly but I tinkered with it over time and thought I had fixed it but I believe this starter problem had occurred when I was turning into the parking lot that day. It’s worth mentioning that I smelled that same brief burning electrical smell every time my starter would get stuck like that but it had been so long since I thought I fixed it, that I started to panick.
Furthermore; upon trying to diagnose the issue I’ve found that J-Case Fuse #34 (IGN A 40a) in the under hood fuse panel will blow every time I turn the key to RUN. I’ve also learned that this circuit pretty much provides power to all of the shift solenoids and the TCC/PWM which is why I’m getting these codes. I have been able to drive it after this incident but the only way to start it is by intentionally arching the purple wire to the bigger post on the starter as explained before while someone is turning the key to start. Also while driving it, it is stuck in 3rd or 2nd gear, can’t really tell which. Everything else works fine as far as driving goes but it will not shift on its own and it will not start on its own.
I guess what I really need to know is where the hell do I even start with the short at fuse #34? I’ve looked at wiring diagrams but I’m having a consistency issue between each one I see regarding where it says the wires go. I don’t want to just start blindly tearing into my wiring harness or fuse block and end up with spaghetti that I will never be able to fix.
Has this happened to anyone else? I’m tired of driving my wife’s little 14’ Cruze, I want my trailblazer back! Not to mention it’s also hurting my business severely as I use my trailblazer to pull a trailer for my work. So needless to say I’m starting to go broke too! I need some GMT gurus to please help me!
PS: I’ve watched MAY03LT’s video on this issue and while it does pertain to the issue somewhat, mine is different in the fact that I can’t get power to the fuses I need to check in my rear fuse block because the fuse in the under hood fuse block that supplies power to it is blowing every time I turn the key to run. So I’m sure everything to and from there is fine, but something to or from fuse #34 is not fine and that’s what I’m needing help with, and I can’t find ANYTHING about this anywhere, so here I am!