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Flareside92
New User
Aug 14, 2013, 3:13 AM
Post #1 of 3
(1221 views)
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1998 Bonneville SSE
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For all those people that have the same issues that I had and could not find the answers. I have a 1998 Bonneville that I bought 9 months ago that I have driven for 1 whole week since I bought it, without issues. I did teh VATS bypass once I found that information, I replaced MAF sensor, MAP sensor, Torque converter clutch sensor, you name it! I replaced it!
I finally found a post where someone mentioned that turning on the rear window defrost was a sure fire way to get the car to stall.
That's what happened the first time I got stalled with mine.
They suggested checking the grounds.
I found one ground from the battery that was tightened by a stupid little tin nut. VERY cheesy.
The next one was under the carpet on the drivers side between the door and seat.
There is a cluster of ground wires (mine had 9) that are all connected together and the plastic over the largest wire had been melted.
I removed the spade bar and cleaned it off. I thought it was steel but after sanding it looked to be brass or copper.
Anyhow, after replacing the wire end (pain) and putting everything back together, it APPEARS that the issue may be resolved. I drove it around last night with no issues and I have done it before only to go out the next morning and it won't start. I hope I'm not getting my hopes up but this morning will tell. Hope this helps someone out! Thank you for letting me share!
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Discretesignals
Ultimate Carjunky
/ Moderator
Aug 14, 2013, 1:25 PM
Post #2 of 3
(1200 views)
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Re: 1998 Bonneville SSE
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So what was the issue?
It is nice that you typed up a fix on your vehicle, but understand that your fix may not be the silver bullet for every vehicle out there.
If you have a thread in here on your vehicle's problem, you need to follow up on it if this is the solution.
Since we volunteer our time and knowledge, we ask for you to please follow up when a problem is resolved.
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Flareside92
New User
Aug 14, 2013, 6:49 PM
Post #3 of 3
(1189 views)
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Re: 1998 Bonneville SSE
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I guess it would help if I started with what was wrong with it when I bought it.
There were so many things that I am surprised I had the patience to see this project thru to the finish.
I replaced all kinds of sensor due to various issues but the thing that has haunted me since I bought it was the fact that some days it would start and run like a champ, some days it would run for a couple seconds and die. Some days it wouldn't start at all.
The one constant was the security light.
It would always stay on or flash.
I figured it was due to the VATS system or maybe because when they didn't change all the sensors when they took the motor out of a 2000 Impala.
I had no clue.
I was told that you could lock the car with the remote, manually unlock the passenger side door and reach in and unlock the rest manually and that would solve the security thing. It didn't. Then I was told if you remove the wires from the door lock on the drivers side and splice them together, that would solve it. Wrong! Then I got on the internet and read about the resistors that you could get to bypass the VATS or so I understood. I bought a new key with a chip in it, that matched the resistance in the old key. I was tickled to death when It started right up and I drove it to town and put gas in it. I stopped several places and shut it off thinking "I finally fixed it!" Again.. incorrect. The next morning when I went to leave for work it started, ran for 3 or 4 seconds then died. AGAIN! I thought that was it, I'm buying the resistors to bypass the VATS and be done with it. I know, I'm not only naive but long winded. If you buy the resistor and go to all the trouble to splice it into the wiring, and the car still doesn't start, don't throw anything at the car you may break something.
Then I read somewhere on the internet where someone else had the same issue and he had a bad ground. The give away was when he turned on the rear window defogger. (apparently it takes alot more juice than I thought) Then I started thinking, that's what I did the first couple of time I got stalled, I had just turned on the RWD.
So I started looking for grounds. The first was the wire off the battery terminal. It went to a bold that held the resevoir for the radiator and was capped with what I'm going to call a 'tin' nut. My apologies for not knowing the correct terminology but it wasn't solid. I removed that and replaced it with a regular nut AFTER I sanded the connections off and they were nice and shiny. supposedly there are 3 under the hood and 2 inside the car. I figured I cleaned 2 out of 3 so until I find the third, I'll go on to the body. When I found the wires under the carpet by the front seat and saw the melted plastic, I knew I found the culprit (or I hope). It was a bar with 9 connections on it and the heaviest had a nice burn spot in the plastic. After sanding the piece that they all connected to and replacing the connector in the burned one, I put everything back together. Sorry but curiosity was getting the best of me. It started right up, security light went off and absolutely nothing happened this time when I turned on the RWD. I guess another sign of a back ground is after trying to start the car the electric windows would not go up. If anyone has any questions I will be more than happy to answer them if I can and I apologize for rambling but I drove the car to work today and had no issues what so ever. I hope it stays that way! Thanks for reading.
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