Help - my 2003 H2 will not start

[dna]

OK, I think I have a bad ignition switch but the symptoms I have are weird.

About 3 weeks ago, I noticed that the H2 would hesitate for a second or two to start when you first turned the key to start position. Sometimes I even had to put key back to off position and then turen back to start position and wait a second - but it always fired up until today.

Today, when I put the key into start position, it again hesitated and then fired up the engine but instantly lost electrical on my display (like all electrical died) and the engine stalled. From that point forward, when I put key into 'start' position all the digital display including radio, etc would flicker on/off and I would get buzzing (almost like air noises) in the instrument column. I removed the key and tried again about 10 times all with the same situation. Each time if I then turned the key to the final 'start' position, everything went dead (no clicking or anything and all electrical totally dead). I tried it 5 minutes later, which made no difference. I tried it about 20 times within a minute, and it fired up. I drove it home asap.

When getting home and turning it off, I immediately tried to fire it up again, and again nothing. Though this time it was a little different. When I put the key into the ignition mode, the display would not flicker anymore, though the warning buzzer would start within a few seconds and stay on - also the Onstar light turned red and static would be coming from the Onstar speaker, and the DIC information was all blanked out (ie. my range, average mpg, oil like %, etc, etc - all blanked out). After trying again 1 hour later, same **** except the DIC information was back.

Does it sound like a bad ignition switch. I've heard they are common problems with these? It almost does to me, excedpt for all the other weird stuff I am getting. It almost sounds like a bad board in a module or something?

Any advice would be appreciated. I've read that chnaging the switch is easy, so I likely will try it this weekend if you guys think that is the problem. Otherwise I will have to have it towed and pay big bucks at the one and only local Hummer dealer in town.

Thanks

[MDimitri]

I had something like that happen to me a short while back, all I did was buy a new heavy duty battery and all my problems were gone. Check your battery and it's connections on both the battery and the auxilary power red box next to the drivers side engine manifold, check to make sure you don't have a loose ground and the connections are clean, if this all looks good then it just might very well be the switch.

Good Luck.

[Gooey Gaybob]

Just think about how much gas money you are saving. Take the bus or walk for gods sake.





















































That, or replace the damned battery.

[dna]

I don't think it the battery or connections. I tested the battery with my battery tester which puts a load on it - it passed. Plus the battery was just put in under warranty by GM about 6 months ago, so it is still very new.

I checked the connections, and all are tight and no corrosion. Plus the symptoms I am getting are no due to weak or bad connected battery.

When I first put the key into the "on" position, I get a sound from the engine compartment that sounds like some motor spinning for about 5 seconds - it sounds like it is near the master cylinder.

Anyway, does it sound like my ignition switch? I tried it every few hours today, all with the same problem. I guess I'll need to tow it to GM this weekend unless you guys can help me diagnose the probolme so I maybe can try it myself.

Thanks

[Rene S. Nielsen]

Get the ignition switch changed.

it's exatly the same symptoms that I had on mine. New ignition switch and I havn't had any issues since.

Rene

[dna]

Here is my follow-up

I bought a new ignition switch ($50cdn with taxes) and did the swap myself. Sure enough, that was the problem. Truck runs and starts again and all back to normal. Thanks for those that suggested it was the switch.

For anyone interested, below are the steps to do this (once you get the bottom steering column off, it really only takes 10 minutes).

1) take off the bottom steering column cover - as per past posts this is suppose to easy be pulled off, though I found this the hardest step of all. Tok me 45 minutes and I broke two of the clips that holds it to the top cover. I'm not going to give instructions thus how to remove this, but it is suppose to pull off with a little force.

2) no need to take off top cover or any other item now. You will see the bottom end of the ignition switch sticking out from under the key area - you will see the wire adapter with 4 big gauage wires plugged into the old switch. About 1 inch above that, you will see two slot openings, which is where the spring-lock for the switch is located. Get two small screw-drivers or whatever and pushed them into these two openings which will push the spring-lock in and allow you to pull the switch right out (you may also want to use plyers to pull the old switch out once the two spring-locks are being pushed in). There are some other smaller gauge wires running through a clip on the switch, though you do not need to take these off - they will easy become free once you pull out the old switch (or break the clip that holds these other wires to make that a little easier - the old switch is garbage after all).

3) remove the wire harness from the old switch now by pushing the locking tab in and pulling the harness out.

4) once you have the old switch out, get a black marker and mark one of the gears and a mark beside the gear so you now exactly how the old switch was positioned. Now with your finger, move the switch to its starting position and then count which gear was beside the mark you made (mine was in the 5th gear near the middle of the switch).

5) now take the new switch and move it to the starting position and then ensure the gears are aligned to where the old unity was. Now plug in the wire harness and feed the switch back up into its housing until the two spring-locks engage.

6) Done, just put the bottom steering column back on, and put some glue where you broke the clips when originally taking it off.





3) Once the old switch is