96 Pontiac Bonneville -

I have a 96 Pontiac Bonneville 3.8 (178k miles) that has been back to the shop three times in one month for the same problem. It began with the car not starting (no clicking, no attempt to turnover) – we did jump the car and it would take but the power would drain from the battery within a day or two. We bought a new battery and it still happened. We had it towed to the shop and they replaced the battery cable and the car ran for a couple days – it wouldn’t start again and we tried jumping it and smoke started bellowing from the intake manifold. Had it towed to the same garage and they said that the intake manifold needed to be replaced along with the ignition module. They said that some antifreeze had seeped in and caused it to corrode. Picked the car up yesterday (spent over $1,000) and today the car won’t start again. They said it could be the starter now.

I had also mentioned to them that the automatic windows, fog lights, driver’s automatic seat and automatic antennae don’t work anymore. When you try to use them the lights in the car dim and when you try to use the automatic seat, the fog lamps come on. I don’t know if this is any relation to the bigger problem but in all of the reading that I have done, this could very well be an electrical issue that is drawing on the battery. I know they have the tools (voltage testers) to investigate these problems – does this require a specialty shop to analyze these problems?

Any advice you can lend would be greatly appreciated! You guys are great! Thank you.