My 99 GMC Safari won't start. Starter won't click. Battery is fine. Intererior lights work. Fuses o.k.

Answer 1

I own a shop, and you should "never" add just water to your battery! Distilled water is fine, but water from the tap has iron in it, and will damage the battery beyond repair. A power wire (+ cable) runs from the battery to the starter. This supplies power to the whole vehicle. If the lights work, then it's probably ok. From this terminal (where it connects onto the starter) it goes through an in-line fuse, or fusible link, and continues to the ignition switch. This fusible link may be bad, and no power is reaching the ignition switch. A quick test can be done by jumping the power directly over to the terminal for the solenoid (the small connector on the starter closest to the engine) with a heavy gage wire, or a screwdriver. Sparks will fly, but you will also hear the starter come to life, and the engine will turn over, If not; the starter is bad. The lights work off of a seperate fusible link from this starter terminal. There should be about 3 links that attach to the same terminal as the (+) positive battery cable on the starter. These are close to the starter, and you may have to peel back some covering to access these, but 99% of the time this is the problem If the starter checks good. "Caution" When a fusible link blows, there is usually a bad short in the system that blows this fuse, and you could burn the vehicle to the ground if you don't find out what shorted to ground to cause it to blow in the first place. It takes a lot of amps to blow one of these fuses, so I would advise you to use caution when jumping this fuse out, or replacing it with a new one. You can jump it out with a heavy cable, and when you see smoke, this is where the short is. Shorts can be very difficult to find, and the best advice anyone could give you is; If you aren't an experience technician, and have the knowledge to trouble shoot the system properly, don't try to fix this one by yourself. If you jump across the starter with a screwdriver (from the + battery cable connector to the solenoid terminal) and the starter works fine, then you want to stop there. Trace the wiring back to the ignition switch, and from the ignition switch back to the solenoid on the starter, look for missing insulation, a naked place on the wire touching metal, and if you find neither, suspect the ignition switch itself as being bad, and replace it along with the fusible link in the supply line. This should resolve your problem. Common sense will tell you, if the battery is strong enough to run the lights, it should make the starter click, or something. If you jump the starter out, and you get no action out of it, then remove it, take it to Auto Zone and get a new one. To sum it up; Four things is possibly wrong, one; a bad starter, two; a blown fusible link between the starter and the switch, three; the ignition switch has shorted out or came apart causing a short, Four; the neutral safety switch is bad or the wires to it has came off or corroded. Like I said before, don't put anything in the battery, and clean all the connectors to insure you have good power flow to everything, along with a good ground (-) to the engine, body, and frame. A corroded cable can cause a lot of problems with the entire system.
Glad to help out, Good Luck!!!

Answer 2

First, how old is the battery? Just because the lights come on doesn't mean it will turn your engine over. If the battery has been exposed to a hot summer like condition, it could be low on water, especially if the battery is a couple of years old. So, here's what you do...

I recommend undoing your battery terminal clamps. Once this is done, scrape the inside of the clamps, and the posts on the battery that the clamps attach to. Use a pocket knife, or even a non-serrated type steak knife. You want to see shiney metal in there. Don't get carried away scraping, just do it a little. This is soft metal, a lead tin combination.

To check the water in the battery, pry the caps off the holes. There will be either 6 caps or two large ones - shaped like a rectangle. Once you get those off, use a flashlight to look down in the holes. DO NOT USE A CIG. LIGHTER!
You should see the water to the bottom of where the caps go, there is a circle or ring that indicates where how high the water should be. By the way, the water in a battery is acidic. It will eat your clothes, so try not to get any on you.

If you see the water is so low in the battery the the metal cells are exposed, you can use bottled or tap water to fill the chambers up. Distilled water is recommended but I won't tell if you don't. Tap water works fine. :)

Okay, after you added water, if necessary, and re-installed the caps, put the clamp with the BLACK wire on the NEG post of the battery. Tighten this down with a 1/2" or 10 to 12mm wrench on the nut on the clamp and tighten it down. The clamp should not move. Don't "gorilla" tighten the nuts. Do the same for the RED wire to the POS battery post.

Then give it a whirl. You still may need a jump, but this should get you going. After the engine starts, look at your ampere guage. It should indicate that your battery is chrging.

One more thing, summer time kills batteries in cars and trucks. The heat has a molecular effect and really shortens the life of the voltaic action within the battery. I hope this helps. Good luck :)

Answer 3

Are you sure the battery is okay? To be sure a battery is okay, you need to do a load test on it and see what is the voltage is at when a steady stream of amperage is drawn away. Get it checked to be sure. Let's assume it's okay. You will need to get under the van and test for power to the starter solenoid. There should always be power at the big battery connection and power should only be on the start terminal when the ignition switch is turned to start. If you have no power at the battery terminal, you either have a bad ground, poor connections or a bad battery. If you don't have power when the motor is attempted to crank you can have several problems. It could be a security issue with the antitheft system cutting out the starter, but that usually also has a security light on the dash flashing and you are not saying that. It still could be an issue and would need to be scanned to see for sure. There are a couple of switches that the power has to go through to get to the starter solenoid. First is the ignition switch and then down to the transmission switch which serves as the neutral safety switch. You will have to follow the path of power to see where it is interuppted. This usually takes a while to determine so have some patience. Good luck.

Answer 4

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RE:
My 99 GMC Safari won't start. Starter won't click. Battery is fine. Intererior lights work. Fuses o.k.

Answer 5

Neutral start safety switch on the transmission, it may be bad, or your transmission linkage may be out of adjustment.

To see if it's just the linkage out of adjustment: reach across the steering wheel with your left hand, and pull up on the shift lever while turning the key, or wiggle the shift lever if pulling up does not work. Try putting it in neutral instead of park, and wiggle while turning the key. If you get it started by messing with the shift lever, take it to a small garage to have the linkage adjusted.

There is also a fusible link between the ignition and starter which may have burned out, but it's not as common.

Any testing beyond trying to wiggle the shift lever should be referred to a garage with proper test equipment.

Answer 6

You could have issues with the negative battery cable. Try cleaning both ends to make sure that they are grounding properly, or replacing it altogether. It will act, when trying to start it, like the starter isn't engaging, and it isn't, but not because of the starter itself.

Answer 7

Selenoid or loose battery cables. Your light may work but connection to battery cables is not good enough to turn starter. Clean and tighten battery cables. if that don't work replace cables.

Answer 8

Check yer Battery connections, as in,take'em off, clean & put'em back on with a dab off dielectric lube.Good Luck =^ )

Answer 9

Try and have your alternator checked. Usually Auto Zone, O'Reilly's or many of the parts stores will check it for free. If that is OK I would go out to the GM dealership and talk with one of the mechanics and tell him what you have done and see what he thinks. You also can go to your local library and ask to see the repair manual for your make and model and follow the trouble shooting and see what they recommend. Good luck

Answer 10

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