Hi,
Just thought I would pass this on in case someone else has the same problem.
About 3 months ago, while up in Lethbridge, BC our van would not start and the key would not come out of the ignition. Battery was fine and all the dash lights were normal - just would not start.
We finally got it to start (no idea why), and drove it home without turning it off the whole way.
Back home, it worked for a while, and then went into the same no start, key stuck mode.
One thing I noticed was that the lighted indicator on the dash that says what gear you are in did not say "P", so while the gearshift was physically in P, the computer was not getting the message.
I spent a day dissecting the dash and gear shift area and the cable to the transmission. No dice.
I gave up and made an appointment with the dealer - closest date they could do was 2 months off!
At some point, I read a post here where they had a similar problem and a bad ground was brought up as a possible cause. I was a bit skeptical of this, but @Kip-on-truckin brought up the trick of using a jumper cable between transmission and battery negative to provide a good ground. I tried this and it started and ran normally!!
Using a @phil photo of the transmission to chassis ground (not that easy to find), I removed it and cleaned it up. Also redid and cleaned up the 4 grounds on the front side of the fender.
That did it - its been running fine for a couple weeks.
Anyway, thank you to the forum - an amazing resource!
Gary
Just thought I would pass this on in case someone else has the same problem.
About 3 months ago, while up in Lethbridge, BC our van would not start and the key would not come out of the ignition. Battery was fine and all the dash lights were normal - just would not start.
We finally got it to start (no idea why), and drove it home without turning it off the whole way.
Back home, it worked for a while, and then went into the same no start, key stuck mode.
One thing I noticed was that the lighted indicator on the dash that says what gear you are in did not say "P", so while the gearshift was physically in P, the computer was not getting the message.
I spent a day dissecting the dash and gear shift area and the cable to the transmission. No dice.
I gave up and made an appointment with the dealer - closest date they could do was 2 months off!
At some point, I read a post here where they had a similar problem and a bad ground was brought up as a possible cause. I was a bit skeptical of this, but @Kip-on-truckin brought up the trick of using a jumper cable between transmission and battery negative to provide a good ground. I tried this and it started and ran normally!!
Using a @phil photo of the transmission to chassis ground (not that easy to find), I removed it and cleaned it up. Also redid and cleaned up the 4 grounds on the front side of the fender.
That did it - its been running fine for a couple weeks.
Anyway, thank you to the forum - an amazing resource!
Gary
