since last week, my ignition switch fuse has blown 3 times while trying to start. i THINK every time it has happened i've had 1 or more doors open but im not 100% certain. not sure if that is related or not. anyway since the last time it happened ive had all doors shut when starting up and it hasnt blown. also, sometimes RIGHT after i start up i hear a sort of grinding noise, i really dont know how to describe it but it happens right as the car starts up but not everytime. again im not sure if this is related. is this a common problem on our cars? its 96 with 137k miles..

to make things worse i am a new orleans evacuee stuck in georgia.. i purchased about 5 fuses just in case so i can make the drive home

 

Replace the starter.

 

is that in response to both issues?

 

Have you recently replaced your starter?......you might have a ground touching the positve side of your starter. That tends to make your ignition fuse blow.

 

it was replaced about 6 months ago.. how can i check on this? i wasnt the one who installed it

 

do u have an alarm? Because most alarms have a starter by pass that hooks into your igniton harness..

 

Remove your intake pipe, and right below it should be your starter, if you see anything out of the ordinary that might be your problem right there. But its also posible you have a short somewhere. Check your grounds also.

 

yes i've had an alarm for over 4 years with no problems.. how can i check for shorts and check my ground

 

I honestly wouldn't be surprised if it was your alarm. I install alarms and stereo's for a living and I've seen ton's of alarms go bad, or grounds come off and alarms' pop igniton harness. It's hard to tell what your ground will look like, depending on what alarm and who installed it. When you install an alarm there is multiple thing that need to be grounded correctly. I personaly take all the ground and sauder them into one ground wire. Or another common thing is that the power wire that you get the constant 12 v source from the igniton harness will come uncoverd and ground out aginst the metal anti theft plate thing. And that will pop either the igniton fuse or battery fuse completely. Just my .02

 

it hasnt blown again yet. but it did make the starter noise once or twice..

 

ok the problem is still there.. the car has 138k miles. could the ignition switch itself be going bad? i'm getting aggravated and thinking of just taking it to the dealer...

 

took some pics of the starter.. i'm not sure what im looking at.. does anything look wrong here? sorry that some are blurry if you need better pics of something let me know

http://members.***.net/wope/st1.jpg
http://members.***.net/wope/st2.jpg
http://members.***.net/wope/st3.jpg
http://members.***.net/wope/st4.jpg
http://members.***.net/wope/st5.jpg
http://members.***.net/wope/st6.jpg

 

anyone.....?