ttopvincent

The other night my car was running fine till I turned it off for about 20 min. When I turned it back on it was running real rough as if it had a misfire. Now it won't even turn on, crank, nothing. I am getting power cuz my windows will roll down and stereo turns on but I'm not getting power to my gauges and my dash won't make the beeping sound when I turn the key forward. I'm lost. Can anyone shine some light on me here?

rsm93z28

Depending upon vehicle age and repetitive use, it could be a bad or sketchy ignition switch/key lock-work in the steering column. Try cycling the the key very slowly while jiggling and moving it about to see if the switch catches in various positions while watching for the panel lights to cycle. In rare cases... the ECM is the culprit.

As for the engine dying...

There are three timing positional sensors that function somewhat in unison on the GM 3.4L 207 CID V6 engine:

Cam Sensor:

This one is located in the upper portion of the engine and gets its signaling from a lobe on the unique camshaft in the front of the engine. It senses the camshaft to supply the ECM with data about when to fire the spark plugs.

Crankshaft Sensor: 24X

This one is located behind and adjacent to the Crankshaft Harmonic Balancer, It gets its positional reading from the 24 slots in the stainless reluctor ring fitted inside of the Harmonic Balancer and using what is known as "The Hall Effect"... it plays its part in keeping the engine idling properly in conjunction with the other two sensors. If it fails ...the engine will probably still run, albeit very roughly. Should the reluctor ring come loose from the balancer... then it would be sending incorrect positional readings as well... but the likelihood of this happening is very rare.

Crankshaft Senor #2:

This may be your culprit, as the notched seven crankshaft lobes located roughly in the middle area of the crank provide signaling of the absolute position of the crank in relation to when the spark plugs will be fired. It is variably called "The 7X" or "The 3X" sensor that slides like a tube up inside the lower driver's side of the engine block and is held in place by a metal flange and a short 8-10mm bolt. Readily available at Autozone and thankfully the easiest to swap out! If this sensor has died, the engine will absolutely not start!

If you need more data on the way to repair your car with more specific "How-Tos" for the 6/60 engines, please visit http//www.60degreev6.com and browse for my nickname there as "60dgrzbelow0" without the quotes, of course! :>)