Howdy all -

Thanks in advance for your help - there seems to be quite a bit of expertise on this forum.

Here's the story. For the past few months I've had intermittent starting problems (no cranking, no power at all). I finally narrowed it down to the Instrument Panel Junction Block (the interior fuse box on the passenger side below the radio). At first I thought it was a specific fuse, pulling them, checking them, and reinserting them usually allowed it to start. After a while, though, pulling fuses didn't fix it, but putting my hand on the side of the whole fuse block and pulling it toward the passenger seat while turning the ignition allowed it to start. My mechanic thought the fuse box itself was bad and needed to be replaced. BUT, considering it was going to by $175 for the part, plus a few hours of labor, I wanted to check it out further.

Yesterday, however, when it didn't start immediately, I pulled the fuse block, and that still didn't help. I finally pulled the cover off the driver side so I could look and get in behind the fuse box. That's when I narrowed the problem down even further. There is one red wire (one of three red wires that are much thicker than the others) that seems to be the culprit. With the key in the ignition and turned all the way to start, I can fiddle with this one red wire, pulling it towards the rear of the car, and get it started. It's like the wire needs to be bent a little, because if I just let it go, the wire moves and the car will stall out after a minute or two unless I sort of keep it wedged in a certain position. (The fuel pump relay and another fuel pump fuse are in that fuse box, so I was wondering if it could be that wire). Also, I can see a little spark as I fiddle with that wire (with the key in "start"). That leads me to believe it's possible that the wire I'm playing with is the one that supplies power to that whole fuse block.

So - my questions are manifold -

1. Does this sound like it's an issue with the fuse block itself?

2. Does it sound like the wire I'm using to start the car goes to the fuel pump? (I guess it could go to the starter, but there's not a fuse for the starter in that fuse block)

3. Does it sound like that wire is the one that supplies power to the fuse block?

Lastly, while I have the fuse box diagram (on the panel cover), how can I tell which wires in the back are connected to each fuse (or control which components)? The Haynes book deals with 8 years (1991-1999) of ALL Saturn models. The electrical diagrams don't make a lot of sense to me, and the diagrams of the IPJB in the book don't match up with what I'm looking at. Is this a case of getting my hands on an FSM so I can have accurate info?

My plan for the weekend is to pull out the radio, heater and center console cover so I can really look at the back of fuse block and experiment with what's going on back there. I've got a multimeter to test wires, so hopefully that will come in handy (do I need to have the meter connected to bare wire, or can the leads just be clamped over the wire's plastic coating and get the same result?)

Any advice or suggestions would be GREATLY appreciated. I've got a 35-mile commute to work each day, and the lack of reliable transportation is making a me a little crazy.

sal

 

Sounds like you have narrowed the culprit down, but my manual has gone AWOL as well, so I'm not going to hazard a guess on this until "my brains" show back up .....