salvageSS

Hello Guys,

I bought a 2006 cobalt LS that had a small fire in the trunk.
I bought the car in a non-running condition. The fire department cut teh wires going to the fuse box. I connected everything and now the problem is.

1. the key is stuck in the ignition and wont be released.
2. the car will not start "no sound of cranking".
3. sometime it shows the Key light on the dashboard when i am trying to start.
4. I connected the scanner and it tells me missing Negative. where is the negative wires???


please any help is appreciated or maybe if someone got the wiring diagram for the body that would be great.

does teh car has a ignition cutoff system or a code i need to input to start the car.... I tried cranking the car manualy and teh engine turned perfectly.

Thank you

shawn672

is the negative wire connected to the battery? sounds like its a failsafe so you dont fry yourself

Novajoe

there are negative wires all over the car. From what it sounds like though is the negative on the battery in the trunk is disconnected. Also what scanner are you using? I've used certain scanners before that tell me "no negative" and such if it can't read a signal from the bcm.

The key won't come out because of the the park-safety switch. For some reason it doesn't know the car is in park. In this case I'd think it would be a wiring problem.

which fuse box did the fire department cut? the one in the engine bay or the bcm? If it was the bcm then they could have fried it when they were cutting it.

Considering what happened to the car, just about everything's going to be a wiring issue. But wiring problems can cause their own problems. What I would do in a situation like this is get a whole new wiring harness. It might be more expensive than re-wiring everything yourself, but you'll know everything's wired right and you won't have to worry about connectors coming off and things of that nature.

Cougar

About your key problem. There is a little plastic cover probably 1" X 1" under the key switch somewhere. Pop that open and push a button. It explains how to do it in the Cobalt manual.

~~Alex

bykryder83

iTrader: (1)

you might have to take it to the dealership so either they can do a reprogram

Super_SS

ur ecu might have gone to "safe mode"so it dissabled the ingnition for safety purposes..

shawn672

lol you car didnt plan on going into safety mode while it was on fire and had the key still in the ignition...stupid cars

Cougar

^^^^^^

originaladrian

to get your key out there is a little button under your wheel, kinda, when you turn the key does anything at all happen?

salvageSS

so if it went to Safe mode how can i re-adjust it to normal...???? and if it comes down to a new ecu how much they go for??

they cut the three wires going in & out of the fuse box under the hood...

I will check the Negative in the back.

The stereo is not working at the moment could that lock the ignition???

do you think there is a way i can try to start it by bypassing the key and the chip in it so this way i know taht its not the chip in the key.

blktrax

Woah you got a lot of problems there.

If there was a fire in the trunk most likely that harness from the trunk to the front has some insluation issues. Youve got a short to ground in there somplace.

They cut the 3 main harnesses going into the fuse box under the hood?
If so you should save yourself a lot of headache and replace the harnesses with new ones.

My question is what caused the fire in the firstplace. Was it external sourse or because of an electrical problem. And if it was an electrical problem i'd be replacing everything associated with it.

No the stereo won't lock the ignition.
No you cant bypass the Theft lock in the key.
If its an SS/NA Automatic, the problem is most likely in the Shifter solinoid release.

salvageSS

well the cause of the fire is the car parked behind, and i am trying to get teh whole body harness but back order for 12 weeks and cost 900 dollars
so i am trying to solve without the need for a new one.
I got the trunk and the bumper and lights and carpet everything looking good but engine is still quite

blktrax

Ok so it wasnt to the fault of this car.

Ok moving on, the next thing to look at are fuseable links, and other harnesses.

Shot in the dark though I still say you have a short somewhere in the trunk, or all your wires under the hood are not hooked up with good contact or incorrectly.

The BCM, under the dash Passenger side kick panel behind the shifter, If it got shorted when the battery burned, could be part of the cause. That holds the odometer vehicle settings, Theft lock code, vin number ect ect.. Basicaly like if you took one form another car and didn't reprogram it to that vin# it wouldn't work. You really need a Tech2 scanner and see even if the diagnostics are working and what you can get from it. If that doesnt even work, you have computer problems.

Yellow Submarine

My key sticks in mine also, I have to wiggle the shifter sometimes to get it out.

rutgersengr

Just a thought but if the key won't come out maybe the car thinks its in drive and if thats the case u cant start the car in drive.

Novajoe

that would be a problem with the neutral safety switch. There are two ign related switches. The neutral safety switch which lets you start the car, and the park safety switch(not sure if that's the proper name) which locks your key until the shifter is in park(so you can't take your key out, get out of the car without it fully in park and have it shift into reverse when you get out). Plus our keys send a signal to VATS computer(sometimes it's a part of the bcm) and if it doesn't read the specific signal then you won't start your car.

What I would try to do is bypass the VATS to start the car.
-There should be two wires going to the key and tumbler assymbly.
-All you have to do is cut those two wires, measure the resistance of the key and tumbler assymbly with an ohmmeter. Leave enough wire on the tumbler so you can reconnect the wires if you need to.
-wire resistors with the same resistance as the key/tumbler assymbly in series between the two wires on the VATS side of the circuit and leave the key/tumbler assymbly disconnected. Basically you disconnect the key/tumbler assymbly but the computer still reads the same signal/resistance so it thinks everything's cool.
-if you can start your car after than then you need to locate your VATS module. If it's a part of your bcm(not sure) then replace it

If your bcm is bad, you won't be able to cycle through the temp, mileage, oil life, etc. with your key in the on position. You also more than likely won't have any p/s, your hvac controls won't do anything, no windshield wipers, etc. But your radio should still work.