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Currently am trying to sort a wiring issue with a 1996 Buick Lesabre. Here’s what I know. It has an aftermarket remote starter installed in it. Ok here are the symptoms. Car was running great, then just died. Has spark, has fuel pressure. Injectors unknown if firing or not. Here’s the oddity. When the car was running you could turn the key to the on/run position, and none of the headlights lights would come on, which for that car is normal, no daytime running lights. Now when you try and start it, the driver side turn signal/marker light, just barely lights up. It’s the only one that does it. Somewhere there is a short, and I would like to know if anyone knows of a wiring diagram that I can print off and where I should start in looking for problems. I know for starters, I’m going to take that blasted remote starter out, and fix the wiring, as the wiring is just held together with black electrical tape. If anyone has any suggestions for a decent wiring diagram for that car, it would be very helpful to me. And maybe someone could help me to understand how to read a wiring diagram, this is fairly new territory for me, and I don’t want to mess something up even worse.
Here is the engine,
3.8l V-6
200+ thousand miles.
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Ugh. Undoing someone else’s electrical modifications can be an adventure in anger management. Hope it goes well for you.
As for the marker lamp issue, you can begin checking for stray voltage at the receptacle and trace the wires backwards to the ignition switch. Hopefully the issue isn’t buried deep inside a thick wire bundle.
Another thought. Turn the ignition key ON, causing the marker bulb to illuminate. You can then begin pulling fuses, one a time, until the bulb goes out, which will tell you which circuit is feeding stray votlage to your light. It’ll help to narrow down your search a bit.
Car came with the remote start installed. It’s done this once before but resolved itself. Now it’s not resolving, and it left me stranded in a town 25 miles away with my gf, and 4 year old in the car.
For troubleshooting purposes I would disable the remote start. See if the issue comes back or has been eliminated
Do you know the brand of the remote start?
The remote start must be installed separate from the anti theft in your car..No, I don’t know the brand of remote starter. I know that the security system had to be bypassed for the remote starter to work, but even then, if the security system were causing this issue, the car would start run for I think 1-2 seconds then shut itself down. It doesn’t even start. It just cranks
For sanity sake you might want to try and determine the brand and model of the remote start and obtain the install instructions. This might aid in removing the remote start from the vehicle. The fob might also give an indication of the brand there might be a name and model on the back to give you/us a starting point to start looking.
Also the Haynes manual indicates it includes wiring diagrams, so it might be worth picking one up from your local auto parts store.
Haynes Repair Manual for Buick, Oldsmobile and Pontiac Full-size models; 1985 – 2005 Front-wheel drive
Rockauto.com has one for $15 (copy and paste link) – http://www.rockauto.com/catalog/raframecatalog.php?carcode=1019685&parttype=10335&ck%5Byear_1995%5D=true&ck%5Bmkt_US%5D=true&ck%5Bmkt_EU%5D=true&ck%5Bmkt_CA%5D=true&ck%5Bmkt_MX%5D=true&ck%5Bviewcurrency%5D=USD&ck%5BID%5D=0cae3ac326dfc0f230ffc2c044d1af3b&ck%5Bidlist%5D=0cae3ac326dfc0f230ffc2c044d1af3b&ck%5BPHP_SESSION_ID%5D=tu73emaqeqlm6vi1k9c9pp76q7
If you are able to trace a Pink wire to the remote start that will be from the ignition switch, if the connection is flaky or broken that might be the root cause. If the remote start also has an inline fuse, that might be worth checking to determine if good or needs replacement.
There might also be a wiring diagram on the remote start box but hidden as mounted in the vehicle; if able remove the mounting screws to gain access.
Did you check for spark on each plug wire? Each ignition coil pack has 2 plug wires check for spark on each wire. Check resistance on the plug wires themselves. Check the coil packs also.Good write up here, http://easyautodiagnostics.com/gm/3.1L-3.4L/ignition-coil-pack-tests-1
How about giving the ignition switch a check to verify it is functioning correctly.
As stated with the key in the on position various systems are not functioning as they should.
Start with a single circuit that is not functioning and trace it from the ignition to the device to try and determine where the problem resides.
The Pink wire of the switch on GM cars is the magic wire; when in the ON position any switch 12V system should be operational.
Try spraying a little contact cleaner on the key and ignition switch then insert and remove the key several times. If you have a second resistor key try that as well. I have the shop service manuals for the 1996 Buick Grand Sport which may be quite similar.
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