1st Attempt at Problem Solving

[Brad Sewell]

It's long. No hard feelings if you bail out now.

So while most of you were enjoying some brand of Midwestern BBQ or some sort of Italian sausage I am not completely comfortable talking about in most social circles I made my first real attempt at turning wrenches on my car.

I have been having the intermittent no-start problem and despite the local Chebby dealer "fixing" my INFL REST problem, the silly light keeps coming on. I tackled both on this rainy Sunday.

I am not a shade tree mechanic. Not even close. And my previous experience and qualifications include changing the Penzoil in my 1991 Camaro circa 1995. That's about it.

But I work on power wheelchairs for a living and I am good at homework.

It is entirely possible that the no-start problem is the starter, but it seems like most of those ordeals either get chalked up to a weak battery or a bad ground somewhere along the way. So on Hib's suggestion I had ordered a new Odyssey. The Odyssey stays charged longer when the cars sits undriven and since the gases are recirculated inside the battery there is no future corrosion on the terminals to deal with.

I got the side panel off and the old battery out without much trouble. The bottom bolts on the battery box are a little tight, but a 3/8 ratchet with an extension and a universal joint did the trick.

The A/B sensor was right where it was supposed to be, but it was "glopped" to the frame with rtv or some other kind of black goop. Thank you Chebby. I had already scraped away enough in this photo to get the thing off, but you get the picture.



I cleaned the sensor...


And the frame and the two grounds...


And put it all back together. And believe it or not, the damn thing started. On top of that, I cleared the K codes and Eureka, the INFL REST light did not come back on.

I am man, hear me roar.

Two questions:

1. There is a connector hanging behind the battery box that is not connected to anything. Can anyone tell me what it does? And why isn't it plugged into something else?



2. The conduit that holds the wires that wraps around the inside rear corner of the battery box was cut. I wrapped it in electrical tape because that was the best I had. Is there anything inside this conduit that was getting too hot or shorting out and causing my no-start?



Thanks for tolerating.