Hey guys, I post on sffba.com and figured I'd post here to.

I'm having strange electrical issues with my 96 T/A.

1) My interior lights stay on when everything is closed for about 15 minutes. Take a look here for more detail.

2) Sometimes, when I try to start the car, nothing happends. At first, I thought my battery was going dead. However, now I don't think so. When this happends, I notice that when the key is in "Run", none of my dash lights come on and the "ding...ding" sound sputters "d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-d-ding...d-d-d-d-d-d-d" etc...
Once while doing this, it fixed itself and then all my dash lights popped on as they should and eveything was fine...car started up no problem. Usually tho, the car continues this until I put the key in "off." I put it back to run and most of the time everything is good, and I start it...not all the time though. And it seems to be getting worse? Any clues? Any and all help will be much appreciated.

Btw, I have the factory alarm. 1996 TransAm.

 

I would say that your ignition switch is faulty.

 

Hrm. Thanks. How much would it cost to get that fixed?

Also...sometimes while idle...my battery gauge drops to the yellow...right on the boarder or just barely into the yellow. Is this normal?

Excuse my lame questions...I just bought this car...and it's my 1st LT1. (not my 1st f-body)

 

Ok, this is really pissing me the f%*k off.

I don't think it's my ignition switch. When the car does this, I get no power what-so-ever. NONE. Door locks don't work, brake lights won't come on, NOTHING. The car is COMPLETELY DEAD. I know it's also dead because when it does come on, the clock on my radio is reset. I know it's not the battery because when I put it in "run" and everything does come on, it runs just fine. (except only once, yesterday, I started it and my TCS OFF, ABS INOP, and BRAKE! lights stayed on. Had to shut car off and restart, fixed that problem.)

I'm going to take my car back to the dealer to look at this, but I would like some advice as to what to look for. It may do this for 1 min or may do this for 15 mins. It's driving me nuts. Like I said, when I put the car in "run", absolutely nothing happends. NOTHING. The car GETS NO POWER AT ALL. Also, my keyless entry stopped working. I'm thinking I have to reprogram it!?!? I didn't know the car could "forget" the keyless entry.

Any and all help will be much appreciated.

Could this be my alternator taking a ****? Would this cause the car to be completey dead? When it does run tho, it runs fine. Wouldn't the alternator effect this as well?

 

The car doesnt forget the keyless entry. This sounds like a simple battery problem. First I would check the battery connections. Make sure they are not corroded and are on tight.

 

You have a bad connection some where. One problem that occurs frequently with side post batteries is the terminals are overtightened and it pulls out the lead connection from the battery.

Check the terminals for loose or corroded connections. Then check every where the battery wires touch anything else. The positive cluster on the right inner fender, the ground at the frame, the ground at the motor, where the battery hooks to the starter and the ground to the PCM.

To confirm the alternator is functioning correctly, put a volt meter across the battery before cranking. watch the voltage as the motor is cranking and then confirm the voltage goes up once the car is running and should go up above the level it was at before the car started.