Electrical Issue progressively got worse, now engine will not turn over?

Tiny
JDJOKER
  • MEMBER
  • 2011 CHEVROLET IMPALA
  • 3.5L
  • 6 CYL
  • 2WD
  • AUTOMATIC
  • 180,000 MILES
My car does not like my wife, or just passengers in general. It started out that every time a passenger would be in the car the gauges would start to act up. It would flash a few different warnings, ding every so often, no speedo for a second or two. Then it progressively worsened. No speedometer the whole time, radio turns on and off. It even got to the point where the car would not start if she was sitting in the seat with the car off. She would have to get out, the car would start up then she could get back in. We were driving around last week, standard dings and alarms going off the whole time. We made several stops turning the car off and on at each stop. At our last stop the car would not turn back on. Radio does not come to life with the key on. The dash takes about 20 seconds and then it comes on flashing a variance of warnings. There is no click of the starter trying to engage but you can hear different relays activating when you turn the key.

Things I have tried so far are unplugging all the passenger seat plugs, putting in a new battery and checking the fuses in the main box under the hood and fuses by the glove box.
Wednesday, December 21st, 2022 AT 8:10 AM

3 Replies

Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 47,643 POSTS
Thats a good one! This sounds like a BCM issue but to be sure let's do a CAN scan which is easy, you can get a CAN scanner (Controller Area Network) from Amazon from about $32.00.

Here is a video to show you how:

https://youtu.be/u-4syLc-ifQ

and

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/can-scan-controller-area-network-easy

Amazon CAN scanner link:

https://amzn.to/3sX8MCX

Here are the BCM location and replacement instructions in case you need them. You can get a preprogrammed unit by searching Google or eBay.
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Thursday, December 22nd, 2022 AT 12:00 PM
Tiny
JDJOKER
  • MEMBER
  • 2 POSTS
Hi Ken, just wanted to give you some follow up feedback.

I got a scanner, and it was unable to read anything. So, I towed the car to my local repair shop where they tried their scanner. Again, unable to read anything. They informed me that they could not confirm the BCM was bad and if it was bad, it would need to be reprogrammed to the car at a dealership. Last ditch effort, I towed the car over to the stealership and paid for the full diagnosing. Turns out it was the gauge cluster that was shorting out and shutting the whole system down. $760.00 later, the car is running again.
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Thursday, January 19th, 2023 AT 6:22 AM
Tiny
KEN L
  • MASTER CERTIFIED MECHANIC
  • 47,643 POSTS
Wow, the cluster must have shorted out badly taking down the entire CAN system. Thanks for getting back to me on that. Use 2CarPros anytime, we are here to help. Please tell a friend.
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Friday, January 20th, 2023 AT 9:30 AM

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