Two entirely unrelated questions about my 97 SC2... First, the sunroof... It died on my a little while back, got stuck about 5 inches open. The dealer said they don't (can't?) fix them, only replace them, at a cost of about $1,000. I passed at the time, and they just got it closed for me, and it's been that way ever since. Anybody know if this is the sort of thing a non-dealer mechanic might be able to fix or deal with for less than a thousand bucks? Second question, and the more pressing one imho. On a fairly regular basis, my car has trouble starting. I get in, turn the key, and the engine cranks and i get the feeling that no matter how long I held the key, it would keep turning and never start. But, when this happens (not all the time, maybe, oh, 70% of the time), if I let it crank for a couple seconds, then stop, wait for everything to stop moving, and then turn the key again, it'll start right up. As far as I can tell, no outside factors seem to figure into whether it starts right up or not -- radio on or off, a/c and fan on or off, hot or cold, wet or dry, or even how long it's been since I last had it running. I've had this problem since I got the car in 2000, the dealer and my other mechanic have both said they couldn't find any problem, and the problem has persisted even though a new alternator and battery have been installed (for presumably un-related reasons, although I guess all the extra cranking can't be good for either one of those things). Any help/suggestions would be much appreciated, thanks, joe
regarding the sunroof - I've got nothing to add to the mix. regarding the hard start - recently my 97 SL2 started doing the same thing - like it was starving for gas at startup, but would eventually fire up after the 2nd crank attempt, idle a bit rough and then run perfectly. Turns out it was the fuel pump - and there was a service bulletin on the problem. I got the dealer to fix it - parts were on him, & I picked up the labor costs because the car was a little past the deadline for fixing the problem. Now if I could only get that light behind the AC button to go back on...
The ignition switches in the older S series cars are crap. My 97 SC2's went recently and saturn explained to me that the original design is such that each lock point on the key controls a different engine accessory. As a result, if all of the lock tumblers do not mate up, the car may start, but is going to have all kinds of issues. In my case, it meant the car would start, but none of the accessories would work. I know this sounds completely retarded and next to impossible to believe, but this is what they told me. They replaced the entire thing for I believe $130, and it's well worth it being that they have to take apart the steering column. Now, that might not be your problem.
