*go to bottom if you couldn't be bothered reading a story* My VX Lumina has a problem; when I went to start it this morning it was having a bit of trouble, had to turn the key twice to start it. Got to town, parked in a taxi-zone and turned it off. I tried to start it again less than 4 minutes later and it wouldn't start. Kind of like it's not getting any fuel but the pump is new, you can hear it zzzzz-ing when you turn the key. Starter motor is new, alternator, and plugs leads etc. Had one of those bloke's from Autobarn put those testing things on it (after I got it to start again and drove there) and he said nothing was wrong with it. (obviously because the car is working again) The funny thing was it only started after I rubbed the little ball on the key and the ring thingy on the ignition barrel thingy. I did something pretty stupid and went to the beach (no mechanics are open in my area on a sunday) and parked it. Tried starting it again and it went first go a further five times and then it did it again. Spent an hour trying to get it going (key cleaning didn't work this time ) and then it started again so I went home. Got home, left it an hour and tried it again. It started. I left it 30 mins, tried it again and now it won't even start. (now for what I should have said lol) It goes to start but it won't, then sometimes it won't even do anything when you turn the key like it's just dead but the lights and everything on the dash are all on. Any ideas??
If the red LED in the mode switch is flashing when you are having trouble starting it, it is because the immobilizer is not turning off. Is it flashing?
Ours was doing this and one of the coils were faulty so we replaced them all and the mother board just for piece of mind.
It flashes while I'm turning the key and it's trying to start, but when it does stop stuffing up and finally does start, it doesn't flash. I'm wondering though, does it flash normally until the car actually starts? (I'm so useless lol) Did it stop it? :3 I rang Holden today and they told me they're gonna put it on the machine for an hour. $135 for the first hour and then $125 every hour after that. What I reckon though is, they're gonna spend hours going through all the stuff they know it isn't, and then charging me like $1000 by the end of the day and I might not even get it fixed. The car's hardly worth $1000 anymore. I was going to replace some things but I don't want to spend money on stuff if it doesn't fix it. It could be anything really, a wiring fault, coil.. my first thought was crank angle sensor but yeah, could be anything.
start with the easy stuff first like battery reset,disconnect it for a few minutes then reconnect it,visual inspect terminals and the wires and connectors.when you reconnect it alarm should go off.make sure battery terminals are tight.it could be the ignition barrel needs replacing ,does it feel any different when trying to start via the key.does it lock and unlock via the key fob.i found if you get in car close door then use key fob to lock then unlock then quickly start it,it saved me messing around for an 1hr or 2.with mine ended up being bcm (body control modual )connector,a wire had come out of socket.
