My car is bipolar!!!
Asked by Jacob Nov 30, 2012 at 04:20 PM about the 1988 Chevrolet Beretta
Question type: Maintenance & Repair
I drove my gf like 3 miles to work
shut off the car and hung out for ten
min I went to go and start it to leave...
And nothing not even a click.. I tried
to start it and no luck. So I let it sit for
a few min and tried again and fired
right up like nothing was wrong with
it... I have done some research and it
sounds like it could be the starter
ignition switch neutral safety switch
or even fuel pump but I can hear the
fuel pump engage when I turn the
key... I don't want to replace
something that doesn't need
replacing so any ideas what it could
be?
5 Answers
The issue here is no click. you're right it's likely either the ignition switch, neutral safety switch (I assume this is an automatic) or starter solenoid. The easiest thing to check is the neutral safety switch; there's probably two sets of contacts - one for park and one for neutral. If you get no click again try the other position; I'm guessing an '88 model will allow this. There's no easy test for the ignition switch but it's not to difficult to remove the connector from the lock and do some testing. You can probably get a repair manual from ebay. Finally saving worst for last it's the starter because it happened after it sat awhile and got hot. Usually though the starter and solenoid start working intermittently before giving up; of course maybe that's what this is. Here's hoping it's the neutral switch. Dave
i've had the ignition module above the steering wheel column go out with those symptoms. i dropped the starter to check my solenoid first then had to get that fixed.
Could also be something as simple as loose battery terminals.
I was having similar problems with my 1995 Beretta. Everyone told me it was the ignition switch so I replaced it and put everything back together and now there's no power to my car what so ever! Before with the bad switch I would get power to my dash lights and everything else besides the ignition! Does anyone know whats going on with it?
@ Amanda you can start your own question and a whole lot more people will be able to see it, this question is old and the only people who see it will be the few that answered it. As far as your car, the same thing as already mentioned. Have you checked the fuses?
