[70monte]

Hi, I have a 92 Cavalier RS with 230,000 miles. Yesterday as soon as I got home and stopped to put car in park, it died and would not start.

I found ECM fuse blown. I put another one in and it blew as soon as I turned on the switch.

I removed the fuel pump fuse which was not blown and tried starting the car and the ECM fuse did not blow this time.

I'm assuming I have an issue with some part of the fuel electrical system. Has anyone had this happen before and if so, what did you do to fix it?

Fuel pump is original and so is the fuel pump relay as far as I know. I have replaced the oil pressure switch in the past.

Thanks for any ideas.

 

[70monte]

I messed around with it some more but no luck. I unplugged the fuel pump relay and it still blew the fuse.

I replaced the oil pressure sensor since it was leaking oil pretty bad and it had a lifetime warranty but that didn't make a difference.

I supplied direct battery power to the fuel pump prime connector and the fuel pump came on and did not blow the ECM fuse.

I also swapped in a used ignition switch that I had and tried that and it still blew the fuse.

Ignition control module and one coil was replaced about 5,000 miles ago.

No other fuses in the fuse box are blown. Could this be an ECM failure?

 

[rocketeer2001]

stopped to put car in park, it died and would not start

Did it die when you put it in park, or before that?

If it died when you put it in park, and keeps blowing fuses and won't start, it may have something to do with the safety switch. Have you tried starting it in neutral?

 

[70monte]

I believe it died right before I put it in park. The problem is that as soon as I turn the ignition switch on, it blows the fuse so I will have to sacrifice a fuse just to get it into neutral. I need to go buy some more fuses since I've gone through two packs of fuses so far.

I also ended up replacing the battery because it was almost 10 years old and showed bad on two different testers even though it still always started the car good and seemed like it still had good power. That did not fix it of coarse.

I also tried pulling some other fuses in the fuse box to see if I could isolate the circuit but the ECM fuse continued to blow each time.

Today I'm going to unplug the ICM and try starting it to see if the ECM fuse blows and that the ICM is bad again.

 

[butch_n]

The problem is that as soon as I turn the ignition switch on, it blows the fuse so I will have to sacrifice a fuse just to get it into neutral.

No, you should be able to turn the key one step. That unlocks the steering and shifter. There is no power to anything from the switch at this point and you can put the trans in neutral. One more step of the switch is Run where power is then On. You want the switch between Off and On. Try it before you put in a new fuse to get the feel of it.

Actually, you could put it in neutral before you put the fuse in. The switch will not go all the way to lock, but turn all the way until it stops anyway. It won't have power on it at that point.

 

[70monte]

I ended up unhooking the ICM and turned on the ignition and it did not blow the ECM fuse so I'm hoping it's the ICM.

I forgot to try the neutral thing before I unhooked the ICM so I will have to try that if the ICM doesn't fix it. I'm pretty sure the car was still in gear when it died though.

The parts store did not have one in stock so will have to order it and it won't be in until Monday. They did warranty the two coils because they did have those in stock. One of my coils had a small crack in it so it could have caused the ICM to short out.

 

[cavalier3400z]

ICMs usually don't just go bad. They are usually a symptom of something else.

 

[70monte]

The ICM seemed to be the problem. I replaced it and now the car runs. I'm going to say it was the crack in the coil that killed the ICM. This same thing happened last year when one of the coils developed a crack and caused part of the ICM to go out so that it would only run on 2 cylinders.

I knew better to leave the other old coil on because I have always been told to replace both of the coils at once.

As of right now, the car has a new ICM, 2 new coils, a new battery, new plugs and wires, and a new oil pressure switch. Hopefully it will stay running for awhile. Thanks to everyone who responded.

 

[butch_n]

Glad you found the problem. Yeah, it probably arched the ICM, shorting it out. Thanks for letting us know.