Electrical problem
2000 Buick Regal 6 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 63000 miles
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30 days ago my wife had returned froma 4 hour round trip with no car issues. The next day when the car was used and the left hand blinker clicked on, all the dash board light flashed on and the car cut off. When the blinker was shut off and the car stopped, it would start back up again just fine. As the days progressed the car began to do the same thing when both blinkers were turned on. Within 3 weeks the car began to do the same thing when the emergency brake was released the whole way. Each time the car would start fine and it always functioned fine while driving. The last few days it has taken some 'strategic, repeated' releasing of the emergency brake to get the flashing from the electrical short to stop so the car would continue to run. The car has been looked at by a mechanic from a chain service center and they feel it is in the ignition switch and suggested that I take it to a dealer. The blinkers have not been used as we have used proactive driving and the car will intermittently not start whether the em. brake is on or not. All other electrical components seem to be operating fine and only the turn signal and emergency brake directly affect whether it will start.

wsdeputy wrote:

Electrical problem 2000 Buick Regal 6 cyl Front Wheel Drive Automatic 63000 miles ---------------------------------------------------------------- 30 days ago my wife had returned froma 4 hour round trip with no car issues. The next day when the car was used and the left hand blinker clicked on, all the dash board light flashed on and the car cut off. When the blinker was shut off and the car stopped, it would start back up again just fine. As the days progressed the car began to do the same thing when both blinkers were turned on. Within 3 weeks the car began to do the same thing when the emergency brake was released the whole way. Each time the car would start fine and it always functioned fine while driving. The last few days it has taken some 'strategic, repeated' releasing of the emergency brake to get the flashing from the electrical short to stop so the car would continue to run. The car has been looked at by a mechanic from a chain service center and they feel it is in the ignition switch and suggested that I take it to a dealer. The blinkers have not been used as we have used proactive driving and the (car will intermittently not start) whether the em. brake is on or not. All other electrical components seem to be operating fine and only the turn signal and emergency brake directly affect whether it will start.

When you say, ( car will intermittently not start), your saying it won't crank?

Are you going to troubleshoot this yourself? I can tell you how to check ignition feed for the starter circuit.

The car starts when the Em. brake is depressed. Every time I released it today, it cut out and left the dashboard guages flashing. I could not get it to stay running to use. it did not start each time that I shut it off yet had plenty of power to turn over the engine when it made the connection. I had to borrow a car today. Not sure if I could troubleshoot but I do have the time to do so.

You can check for voltage at a couple of fuses. (pcm--bcm--u/h--relay fuse) 10 amp. This fuse goes hot when you turn the key on, it is ignition feed, supplies voltage to the coil side of the crank relay.

Crank signal--bcm--cluster fuse 10 amp. This circuit goes hot when you turn the key to crank, tells the pcm to ground the coil side of the crank relay.

Usually there is a bare spot over each fuse leg, you can use a testlite to see if the legs are hot, or just pull the fuse, test where the fuse plugs in. You need to test, when the vehicle refuses to crank. Any testing may just lead back to the ignition switch.