Hope someone can help me here. On a semi-regular basis, my H3 won't start. Happens every few weeks. Might be when car is cold, or warmed up. No identifiable cause or pattern. When it happens, it just won't crank over. Lights come on, radio plays, it is not the battery, or terminals for that matter as those have all been changed. My mechanic thought the starter, so that has been replaced as well. No change. And of course it is random, so mechanic has never seen it happen. When is does happen, I just wait.....try it every 2 minutes or so, and in 10 to 15 minutes it will start again. If I turn it off in 5 minutes it will start up again, no problem, good for several weeks, until the most inappropriate time. Anyone heard of this behavior? FYI, it is a 2009 H3 with a little over 100,000.
Thanks!
Scott

 

Clean the ignition switch contacts/connector.

 

It's not the passlock, is it? I encountered that one time after changing out my battery. Others here have had more frustrating issues with it. As I recall, everything came on for me (radio, etc.) - it just wouldn't turn over. It takes something like 10 minutes to reset on its own.

 

Dirty ignition contacts, happens when things get old. Like hummerz said, clean them.

 

Do a search on the site for "Passlock".

 

Just to be sure, this is at the harness connection, or something near the barrel?

 

The switch is at the connector, clean both connector/switch contacts, let dry, then reconnect. I only had to clean once in the last 9yrs.

 

Thanks for replies so far. So I did more searching on the topic. I found people talking about 3 things/fixes. Some are on replacing the #66 module I think fuel pump. Some are on passlock and say replace the ignition. There was a work around with getting out of car, locking and unlocking door with the key to reset passlock. Some said clean out the ignition switch with cleaner until the key comes out clean.
So I gave the ignition a little summers eve treatment yesterday as the easiest first thing to try.
So then it happened again today, so that didn't fix it! SO I got out and thought I would try the key lock suggestion. Not that I have ever done that, but it didn't work. I could not turn the key to the right at all which I assume is to lock it. I could turn to the left but that did nothing.
I did notice this time however that the passlock light was blinking when I tried to start. So after the 10 minute wait, it started. I cannot live like this and need to get to the bottom before I go off the deep end.
I see one suggestion is to clean the ignition switch contacts. I am not clear on that. From the pic, looks like remove the cover from underneath the steering column? Then I am not clear what I am looking for.

 

Could it be a starter (or ignition?) relay that's flaky? It sounds like everything is being triggered except the starter motor. How likely is it to be a marginal starter solenoid?

 

Did you ever hear of Youtube? Clean the contacts and connector after you remove the panel, shown here: