Ignition Switch
| Resources |
|
| ClubGP | Ignition Saver Mod |
| ClubGP | Ignition Switch Instructions |
| Sparky's Answers | 2002 Pontiac Grand Prix, Changing The Ignition Switch |
June 2014
Delco ignition switch.
June 6/2015
"Ignition Saver" mod.
Relay wired in.
March 19/2016
Over the past few years, I have been randomly losing my HVAC and "auto on" lights when first starting the car. They usually start working after a few minutes, and this has
yet to be a big inconvenience, but last month I lost the HVAC but the "auto on" lights worked. That was strange and reminded me that this issue was a ticking time bomb
and could get worse at any time.
The fix was to replace the ignition switch. I bought a new switch a few years ago, and did the "ignition saver" mod noted above to prevent this problem from happening again.
Today I decided to get off my butt and replace the ignition switch. After getting to the point of being able to remove the switch, I realized that when the alarm was installed, they
tapped into all the ignition wires at the ignition switch harness. I didn't plan on this, so decided that I would not replace the switch, but do the ignition saver mod to the old
switch. I had all the parts laying around, so I made up a new wiring harness for the relay and got is soldered onto the old harness. Once installed, I hooked up the battery and
started the car with the remote start. The car started then died a few seconds later. I tried again with the same result. I then started with the key, and she started and ran fine.
I re-tried with the remote start, and she started and ran fine. All good.
So now I have an old ignition switch, most likely with dirty contacts, with the ignition saver mod. It should be fine as the relay takes the load off the switch, which is the reason
for the dirty contacts, and with the load off the contacts, the HVAC and auto on lights will work as they should. Time will tell if the problem is gone, but it should be.
Note: I remember reading in one thread where somebody asked if the ignition saver mod would affect their alarm. No info was given on the alarm, and I don't know if this is relevant,
but I tapped into the harness at the top (switch end), as my alarm wiring was tapped into the harness lower down (connector end). My thought on this is if I tapped into the harness
between the connector and the alarm wiring, the ignition saver relay would interrupt the orange wire that the remote start uses, and prevent the alarm from being able to start the car.
It makes sense in my head so I ran with it.
The red circle is where the ignition saver mod was tapped in to the old switch.
The green circle is where the alarm wiring was tapped in to the old switch.
August 13/2016
Update. 5 months later and the Ignition Saver Mod is working perfectly; the HVAC and "auto on" lights have yet to fail to work.
June 30/2019
Been having issues the past few months. The relay wasn't turning on. At first it was for a few seconds, then got longer and longer. Sometimes it came on right away. After some
testing, I found that the wire that triggered the relay (pin 85) was only putting out 3.7-4.1 volts (tapping the relay would almost always make it work). The next day is was putting
out 11.9 volts. I guess I found my problem. I didn't have a lot of time, so I chose the easy fix; remove this wire from the relay and find another ignition hot source. Works fine now,
and time will tell if it keeps working fine.
If you have any comments, suggestions, or see any errors, please let me know..... cbradley@telus.net
Last updated on June 30/2019
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