LS1 was running, then died, now won't Fire??

**Musclecargt71** · 06-03-2010, 08:34 AM

Hi guys, just got back to building the CETA which I have had running a few times for a short period of time. Now I have the cooling and all accessories hooked up so I've been running it in the garage for the past couple of days. Everything is hooked up, all the electrical, ect......

I was running the car in the garage and thought "I wonder if the horn is functional." The steering wheel air bag is not installed so I pressed on the horn tabs to fire the horn........the car DIES. Just completely quit like the spark had been cut. I thought "that was weird," so I fired the car up again and tried it again. Same result, the car died. Now it wont start at all. The fuel pump primes the system and the engine cranks but no ignition. I have checked every single fuse in the car and under the hood, but not one bad fuse. I have disconnected the horn and tried, still nothing. I took the horn off and tired the horn on my firebird and it worked so i have no idea why the horn doesnt sound. I even replaced the clicking solenoid/horn fuse under the hood and still nothing from the horn.

So now im stumped......what could pushing the horn do to short out the sytem? If it did short out, why did a fuse not blow? Why won't the horn work since I know the solenoid and horn are working?

Thanks in advance for the help guys....

**Knight** · 06-03-2010, 09:08 AM

Not sure but maybe it's an issue with VATS. Don't know why the horn would interfere with it, but sometimes strange things happen. Worth checking IMO.

**cammed goat** · 06-03-2010, 09:17 AM

Once the airbags are deployed, won't the car shut off? Maybe the software in the BCM is detecting a deployment without the bag in the steering wheel shutting down the engine?

**Knight** · 06-03-2010, 09:22 AM

I thought about that too. Wasn't sure if airbags being unplugged read as being deployed.... worth checking too.

**Musclecargt71** · 06-03-2010, 11:20 AM

Thanks for the input guys......ya i connected the air bag, disconnected the battery for about 30 minutes and tried again. Still nothing, tried pulling some codes too and there's nothing registering.......

**cammed goat** · 06-03-2010, 05:10 PM

Then there must be a short somewhere if ya ran the car and it died after the horn buttons were pushed. Gotta be a connection between the ignition, lack of airbag, horn and VATS causing the shutdown. Is the engine/BCM/key for your car? Or did you do a swap?

I re-read your first post. Looks like you are going to have to do some wire tracing. I'm wondering if you have an exposed wire.

**Cutlass** · 06-03-2010, 06:23 PM

The horn and the ignition relay share the same ground. Its the one attached to the top right side of the radiator support. Your problem lays somewhere with that ground between the ign relay and that ground on the rad support

**Musclecargt71** · 06-03-2010, 06:35 PM

Thanks guys, Cutlass I will check that ground tomorrow. But what confuses me is the fact that everything was working fine until I pressed the horn button. If there was a problem with a ground wire, wouldn't that have been a problem the entire time? I was thinking I blew something out but all fuses are good. The actual horn works, and the solenoid clicks but the horn doesn't sound?

But keep the advise coming....I will check that ground in the am....

**Cutlass** · 06-03-2010, 06:50 PM

probably a loose, bad, or not clean ground that was good enough to flow a little bit of current for a relay but when you needed 100 times that current for the horn, its not good enough. The loose,bad, or not clean ground got hot and might have built up a little burn mark or barrier to current flow.
Clean and tighten that ground and you should be fixed....hopefully

**Musclecargt71** · 06-04-2010, 11:02 AM

Originally Posted by Cutlass

probably a loose, bad, or not clean ground that was good enough to flow a little bit of current for a relay but when you needed 100 times that current for the horn, its not good enough. The loose,bad, or not clean ground got hot and might have built up a little burn mark or barrier to current flow.
Clean and tighten that ground and you should be fixed....hopefully

Cutlass,

I cannot thank you enough!!! You were exactly right, I took my airbox off, took the grounds off and wirewheeled the paint off the core support (which I had sprayed). Bolted em back up and the car fired right up! The horn then worked too! Thanks again for your help.....

**JayTA98** · 06-04-2010, 04:12 PM

Damm Cutlass !! You are the man always

**Cutlass** · 06-05-2010, 06:17 AM

glad to help

**0rion** · 06-05-2010, 09:46 PM

Originally Posted by Cutlass

The horn and the ignition relay share the same ground. Its the one attached to the top right side of the radiator support. Your problem lays somewhere with that ground between the ign relay and that ground on the rad support

nice!!!!