Hello everyone. Let me start by saying that I have been a mechanic for about 8 years now, mostly on American and Asian vehicles. I can take care of most things on my cars, but I have learned over the years that I should ask if I don't know. I have three problems that I need help with:

1. Starting issues. When I turn the key to crank the vehicle I get a buzzing noise from under the dash. I have narrowed it down to the neutral safety switch relay. Currently I have pulled out the relay and I'm using a jumper wire to go from one of the slots on the relay to a "hot" junction bolt just under the relay panel. This has worked for years now, but my wife is pissed and I want to get it fixed.

2. Window issues. I use to be able to roll the windows down and up with a quick push of the window button. That doesn't work anymore. Now to roll the window up and down I have to hold the button up or down. Not really important, but I would like to pinch this in the butt before it becomes something worse.

3. Odometer issue. One day out of no where my odometer just went black. I can't see any numbers and of course have no idea how many miles I have racked up in the last year.

I have checked all fuses in the car and everything seems to be up to par. I really don't want to take this to the dealer and get bent over so I will turn to you guys first. Thank you in advance for any help you give me.

 

1. My guess is ignition switch. But if you are sure that the relay is the problem... Replace it?

2. Pull up on the window switches for about 2 seconds with the windows already up.. Voila. You have to do this whenever the battery is disconnected or drained.

3. I've never heard of this happening. Pull out your cluster. It may just be a lose wiring harness.

This video shows 99.5-01 cluster, but the procedure is the same except for the wiring/bulbs on the back. You can figure that part out pretty easily once you see it.
Cluster removal

 

Agreed on points 1 and 2. To add to the windows, Youll need to press down on the switches with the windows down to program the one-touch down feature. On the third, mine did that a couple times but it came back and hasn't done it since.

 

Really? Maybe 00+ is different because I don't remember ever having to hold down for the one-touch down part. Maybe I'm doing it and not noticing. I have been so out of the loop with having my car down for 9 months...

 

My odometer went out months ago and has yet to return . No one here had a solution, and my mechanic had never heard of the odometer going out.

ModuleMaster quoted me $150 to fix it. One of these days I'll get around to it haha.

 

My guess is that it's a solder issue on the back board. Research "reflowing" and apply that knowledge to your cluster if you are ballsy enough. Probably is the fix for faulty abs control modules as well. Oh... Of course by "if you're bally enough" I mean that I don't recommend it.

 

Point 2 seems to be solved, I had no idea about that. Point 3 seems to be a lost cause. I will try to pull out the dash and see if came unplugged *fingers crossed*. On point 1, I have tried replacing the relay with no improvement. When this problem started, as you would turn the key the relay would buzz. I would then release the key and try to start again. I would do this several times getting a buzz buzz buzz crank and start. Now all I get is a buzz and no start. I was thinking it would be the neutral saftey switch on the tranny but I don't want to throw money blindly at it. If I get enough people saying change the ignition switch or somebody that has had this problem and fixed it with a new ignition, then I will be more than happy to change. Thanks for all your help so far. Justin

 

Or you could take the ignition switch out and check it's resistance... Or simply just look at it to see if it's half melted like others have found. Actually, there may be a recall for 97 ignition switches. Look into it.

 

Thanks for your help. I'll run the vin by my dealer and check into it.

 

"I really don't want to take this to the dealer and get bent over" <-- pure ownage @: o O )>