- Dec 4, 2011
- 12,927
OK quick rundown of the events today:
Drove from home to office.
Drove from office to client's office.
Drove back to office.
Drove to pick up lunch.
And the Trailblazer wouldn't start.
I'd turn the key, all lights on the dash would light up, radio come on, etc, but turn it to start and it wouldn't crank. The starter wouldn't even click. I turned the key back off, then back on, same thing. Tried putting it in neutral, same thing. Checked fuses and relays and didn't see anything obviously wrong there, so I went back inside and ate lunch. Came out 15 minutes later or so and tried again. It still wouldn't crank. Pulled out the keys and it started dinging like the keys were still in the ignition
Smacked the ignition with my palm and it stopped.
On a whim I took out a small hammer I had in the back in a toolkit and a wrench, disconnected the battery for a minute and smacked the starter solenoid with the hammer. Hooked up the battery again and it fired up instantly. Except my radio didn't come on. I drove it home, parked it, turned it off, and tried to start it again. Back to not cranking again, but the radio did turn on this time. Smacked the starter with the hammer again and it made no difference. So I drove my Camaro the rest of the day. Got back home just a few minutes ago, and tried starting the Trailblazer. Fired right up. Let it run a minute, turned it off, tried again and it fired right back up.
So the oddity of the radio and the dinging as if keys are in the ignition makes me suspect the ignition switch. I've never replaced it yet, nor the starter, and AFAIK they are both original. Does this sound like a reasonable suspicion? Also I don't want to seem a stupid person but I've never actually seen how the ignition switch comes out. I could probably figure it out but any pointers or is there a how-to I can look over? Stick with AC Delco for the switch or does it not matter?
Drove from home to office.
Drove from office to client's office.
Drove back to office.
Drove to pick up lunch.
And the Trailblazer wouldn't start.
I'd turn the key, all lights on the dash would light up, radio come on, etc, but turn it to start and it wouldn't crank. The starter wouldn't even click. I turned the key back off, then back on, same thing. Tried putting it in neutral, same thing. Checked fuses and relays and didn't see anything obviously wrong there, so I went back inside and ate lunch. Came out 15 minutes later or so and tried again. It still wouldn't crank. Pulled out the keys and it started dinging like the keys were still in the ignition

On a whim I took out a small hammer I had in the back in a toolkit and a wrench, disconnected the battery for a minute and smacked the starter solenoid with the hammer. Hooked up the battery again and it fired up instantly. Except my radio didn't come on. I drove it home, parked it, turned it off, and tried to start it again. Back to not cranking again, but the radio did turn on this time. Smacked the starter with the hammer again and it made no difference. So I drove my Camaro the rest of the day. Got back home just a few minutes ago, and tried starting the Trailblazer. Fired right up. Let it run a minute, turned it off, tried again and it fired right back up.
So the oddity of the radio and the dinging as if keys are in the ignition makes me suspect the ignition switch. I've never replaced it yet, nor the starter, and AFAIK they are both original. Does this sound like a reasonable suspicion? Also I don't want to seem a stupid person but I've never actually seen how the ignition switch comes out. I could probably figure it out but any pointers or is there a how-to I can look over? Stick with AC Delco for the switch or does it not matter?