Anybody know about GM BCM's???? Please HELP.

raroz28

raroz28

Forum Member
So my mom's 99 buick century will not start. It will not even crank over. This is not a security issue with the pellet in the key. It is something else.

I thought the starter may be bad, so I took it to advance. The guy tested it, and it was dead. So my friend at Bell ordered me a used one for $40 bucks. Took it to advance, and it tested good.

Put it on the car, still no cranking.

I have read that the BCM can cause this. I have the BCM out right now and have the part number, but I am unsure if buying a new one will fix the problem. I have read that it is the problem, but GM will have to sell it to me and reprogram it, and you can not reprogram a used one.

Does anybody really know exactly what it entails to replace the BCM? Does it have to be bought new from GM and reprogrammed? I read that from on a fixya.com thread but am not sure of the source. The dealer may have told this person that he had to buy new and have it reprogrammed but it may not be true. I do not know.

Who knows anything about this? Please help as I am driving my 13 mpg camaro to drop her off at work and driving back and forth to all kinds of places trying to fix this stupid car and I am sick of being in my car and just pissing gas away.
 
Technically you have to buy a new one and set it up with a Tech 2, I can unlock/regreen a used one but the new one is probably cheaper. A new one can be had for around $180 or so or a Reman from GM for around $140 or so.
 
You should make sure that you know what the propblem is before throwing parts at it.
How likely is it that the original starter was really bad AND the BCM went out at the same time?
 
Have you taken a look at the power wire to the starter? Could have fried out the old one from high current draw and isn't letting the new one work.
 
braxx said:
You should make sure that you know what the propblem is before throwing parts at it.
How likely is it that the original starter was really bad AND the BCM went out at the same time?
Click to expand...

That's what I don't get. The guy at advance knows his stuff, it's the one on Dartmouth and Tele, the big guy Rick.

All I know is she said it shut down on the freeway and when she got it towed home it wouldn't even crank. It's gotta be the PCM, BCM or something with the ignition, which I'm not thinking it is because I replaced the ignition switch and it didn't fix it, so I took it back.

I would love to know what the problem is but my abilities are restricted to diagnostics outside of the electrical world realm. I have never really had to deal with a problem like this where I do not know how to trace it to an electrical box.

I'm not sure wtf to do but I am very busy with school and with all the driving i'm doing for her and working on this hunk of shit it's taking way too much of my time.

I have no clue how to diagnose this but all the similar threads I've found online pertaining to this car point to the PCM or BCM.
 
hmmm, just took the battery from my car and put it into hers and it cranked and then slowly died down. I think the engine may be seized up in this case. It did crank for a second then slowed to a halt.
 
I've been wondering the same thing...... my wife's 2002 Impala has been having some weird electrical issues, that from readings on the internet, seem to point to the BCM. However, I don't wanna spend the $$ to replace and not have that be it, as nobody seemed to have a definite answer.
 
If you need to borrow a big battery charger let me know. I'm 5 blocks behind the 50's McDonalds and I've got a few battery chargers.
As already mentioned, pull the serp belt and make sure all of the pulleys spin by hand (Don't bother trying to turn the crank pulley by hand) with the charger hooked up to the battery, crank it over. Don't let it run but a min or so ( I don't know what engine it has so I don't know if the water pump will be working).
 
Muffler bearings could be shot.....
notspun.jpg
 
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