17th Oct 2009, 15:17

Hello, I have a 2000 Intrigue with about 150K and it is doing the exact same thing as the poster above.

I put in the key and turn to start the car... The radio, lights, power windows, etc, all work perfectly, but the car doesn't start. No clicking, no engine action at all. I turn the key on and off several times and finally it starts. It doesn't happen every time I get in the car, and sometimes it will start on the second try, sometimes it takes 10 minutes of trying.

Any suggestions?

18th Oct 2009, 00:11

I have a 2000 Intrigue that had the same problem. I found that having a new key made solved the problem. It's best to give your dealer the VIN number and they can make a new key.

15th May 2010, 13:21

We have a 2001 Intrigue that now has the same starting problem, except I cannot get this one to start at all. I have tried turning it on and off multiple times, shutting it down for hours at a time, tried both keys, moved the gear selector in case was tripping the neutral safety switch, and still no start. I don't know if it is a fuse, relay, starter, ignition switch or something else. The battery is old, but still good. The car has 128K on it and has other electrical problems such as turn signals being intermittent.

I bought this car from my parents and they had the headlight flickering problems, but that seems to have gone away. They had a lot of warranty work done on the car, and now it has just about every seal, line, etc leaking, motor mounts are broke, struts are blown, and overall needs a lot of money and work put into it. Problem is, I don't have the money to replace it, but don't have a lot of money to keep pouring in it too, as I have a feeling the string of problems are just beginning. Any ideas on this would be most helpful.

Funny part is, I have a Honda Accord that I bought new in 2003, it has 131K miles on it now and ZERO problems. Not one. No leaks, no electrical, only one battery and one set of front brake pads so far.

27th May 2010, 19:18

In December '09 I bought a 2000 Intrigue with 163K miles.

While, overall, it's been good to me, I do share a number of the problems others here have posted. I'd like to share some of what I've found and some of the solutions I've managed.

Headlight Flicker: For me, it seemed to be related to the battery. When I bought the car, it had a serviceable battery in it and I never bothered to check it. I did notice the headlight flicker more than a few times when driving the car. Eventually, I got around to checking the battery and it needed water added. After I did that, the lights stopped flickering.

Blinkers: I don't know about the rest of you, but my Intrigue eats up blinker bulbs like a fat kid in a candy store. I can't find any shorts or anything, so I've just given up on replacing them.

Brakes: After a couple long trips to the opposite side of Michigan, and spending lots of time on the expressway, just as I was pulling into my driveway after a five hour drive, the brakes went out on me. Subsequent investigation showed that one of the brake lines (front driver's side, more or less at the wheel cylinder) had burst. The line itself was horribly rusted, and it's a wonder it lasted as long as it did. GM, in their infinite wisdom, decided to use steel brake lines in their cars for several years, making them highly susceptible to corrosion. I replaced the broken line with a bronze alloy line, and will do the others in time.

Starting: Again, as others have mentioned, my Intrigue sometime refuses to start for me. Every time I've noticed it has been when I pull into a store or something, run in for a short period of time, and come back out in under five minutes and try to leave. It seems to me that if you turn the key, take the shifter out of Park and then put it back into P, and then, while it's still locked into place, try turning the steering wheel a couple times in both directions, it will start up.

Power Windows: Just the other day, my power windows (all four at once) quit working. Along with them, the radio, the cigarette lighter, and all the interior lights. All the fuses in both the under-hood fuseblock, and the block at the end of the dashboard, were OK - I checked them both visually and with a meter. I had power at the RAP fuse under the hood, but not at the Power Windows/Power Sunroof fuse in the dashboard fuse block. Several hours with a meter and tracing wires to and fro led me to the BCM. I found out that when you experience dead windows/radio/lighter/lights that you can jump a couple pins on the BCM and make it work. Yay.

Oil: My car "loses" oil, too. Like others who have said so, it doesn't burn it that I can see or smell, and it definitely doesn't leak it. I'm not sure where it goes. I drive the car very seldom, so a typical oil change lasts a full three months. In that time, I usually have to replace all five quarts of oil, as it just disappears.

Random: Yes, there are odd noises when turning corners. I assume it's a ball joint or CV joint or whatever, but I don't know.

The transmission acts funny; it likes to constantly slip back and forth between D and OD when driving about 45MPH. When turning a corner, the car will never downshift into second gear.

It either holds third, or slams into first causing the engine to rev very high at whatever speed.

The interior is garbage. Ordinarily, I'd just assume the previous owner had a good time in the car. But this isn't damage, exactly. It just looks like it's a hundred years old when it's only ten. No burn holes or stains - it just looks weathered.

The rear view mirror fell off the windshield one day when the car was sitting in the sun.

All in all, considering it's a ten year old car, and given it's high mileage, I'm quite pleased with it. It starts every time, and it hasn't ever died on me. The 3.5L still runs like a top, even with 170Kmi on it. It's still decent looking on the outside, despite going through ten Michigan Winters.

I won't say GM hit a home run with this car, but it's a solid base hit, in my book.