NEED HELP Help needed quickly, no start, electrical issues

billzie

Original poster
Member
Aug 20, 2012
86
Athens, OH
Hello, to begin I have searched and found some good info...
02 TB 170k miles, seen better days, factory radio in back seat replaced by prior owner with amhu that doesn't work/power up. Good battery and alt. Got it a year ago and has mostly been parked but started and moved in the driveway every week or two.
A few days ago I had to drive it, drove relatively fine all day. I the evening I move it over in the driveway, no problem. 20 min later, no start, no turn over, I can hear a faint click seems to be coming from the starter relay in eng bay fuse box, shift indicator line absent, windows wouldn't work, interior lights didn't work.
I swapped starter relay with known good relay, no change. All eng fuse panel fuses ok except cig 20a so I replaced it with no change. No access to rear seat fuse panel due to damaged seat release cables.
This morning I saw MAY06LT vid and removed relay, jumpered the 86 and 87 (?) terminals and it starts right up. Replace original delay and starts again and again.
This afternoon starts right up and while driving T, fuel, oil, V gauges quit working and warning light check gauges lit up, no windows no int lights, kept driving. 20 min later all back to normal except security light on dash lit solid. Returned home, parked and restarted fine.
A lot to ask, but wth is going on? I'm desperate, I actually have a buyer for it (selling this to fund my 06 build). But can't do the deal knowing something is wrong. Any and all help appreciated. Bill
 

Blckshdw

Moderator
Nov 20, 2011
10,684
Tampa Bay Area, FL
I would try swapping in a new ignition switch. Relatively cheap, and is a known failure point for our platform.
 

JerryIrons

Member
Dec 20, 2011
434
Yep I would try that also, a bad ignition switch can cause funky things to happen, been there myself. It's cheap enough to put one on and rule out, and always good to have a spare anyway.

Also I would check your engine grounds and clean them up.
 

billzie

Original poster
Member
Aug 20, 2012
86
Athens, OH
Thanks for the input, I appreciate it. I'd rather not spend any more $ on its 02 TB, and my deadline is Monday, actually I'm trading it in on a new to me used car.
This morning after leaving work about 2 miles into trip, the 4 status gauges lost power and warning lights all lit up, but nothing else seemed wrong. I gave the dash a good whack and the gauges came back and warninglights went off. Rest of trip and many cycles of on off today went well except once did the same and a whack on the dash worked again.
So, today I removed the amhu, not even wired in and whoever did the "job" just cut off the factory wiring harness. So even though I put the factory hu back in it isn't hooked up either but it looks better lol. I also removed the cluster and made sure the plus was securely in place.
I did however noted that the ign switch/cylinder covers aren't installed well so maybe someone in the past was in there trying to figure things out.
Tomorrow I will open up the ign switch area and take a look around and make sure all is plugged in right (this was a problem on my 06, thought it was the switch but part of it was not plugged in well.) and I'm going to do the alternator swap, put the 02 original but rebuilt unit back in it from the 06 and put the original 06 unit back in it. Then clean it out to get for trade in, now where's that title??!!
 

Mooseman

Moderator
Dec 4, 2011
25,344
Ottawa, ON
It knows what you're doing and is fighting back. The TB got jealous when I brought the Caprice home and threw the ABS and traction control lights at me. Lol!
 

billzie

Original poster
Member
Aug 20, 2012
86
Athens, OH
Well, I got it going as well as can be. Took the running boards off but had to take it to a shop to get 3 of the brackets bolts torched out (had to show the guy how to get a good cutting flame).
Unfortunately, they nit picked the TB and I got less than what I thought would be a fair trade-in value.
New-to-me ride is a 08 Mercury Sable AWD.
So now all I have to do is get an engine for the 06 TB and replace the bumpers, DS fender, and hood to get it back on the road and looking good.
Thanks again for the input.
 

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