[2000chevymalibu]

Today, after driving about an hour, I went to turn on the heater and nothing happened. That is, the fan would not turn on, regardless of speed setting, the fresh air vent / recirc settings did not light up, the ac would not turn on, etc. All other dash items seemed to work ok. While the power locks worked, I soon discovered, as I was pulling up to the bank drive-thru, that the power windows did not work, either from the driver door or passenger door. As I was pressing all the buttons for the windows and window lockout switch, suddenly I heard the fan kick on and then everything worked !! The windows worked, could turn on the ac, vent selector worked, etc. Originally, I thought I blew a fuse or two but ruled that out when things began to work. Any idea what caused this? The washer fluid light was on along with the red engine symbol on the bottom right of the cluster. Thanks, and all suggestions are appreciated.

 

[DrivenDaily]

Sounds a lot like a contact inside the ignition switch is starting to give it up, either due to the contact itself wearing away or the cylinder not being able to turn all the way.

How many keys are on your key ring? If you have a lot (or if it's just plain heavy) then every bump is acting like an impact hammer on your weak little ignition cylinder. If you don't have many (or it's not all that heavy) then I'd wager a guess at the contact.

 

[2000chevymalibu]

Its just the key with the key fob. How hard is it to replace the ignition switch? Do I need to take it to the dealer to get it keyed correctly to work with my keys? Thanks for the help. Also, any idea what would make washer fluid leak? I haven't hit anything but I had a huge leak in the garage. lol

 

[Starship]

The next time try jiggling the key a little. The lock cylinder and ignition switch can be replaced singly. Removal is a little tricky but basically both are removed as an assembly and then separated. Good news is that any independent shop can do the work. The bad news is that you can't be sure the problem is with the ignition switch until it fails hard.

As to the washer fluid, the fluid level should be just at the leak point. If it went all the way down, I'd say the hose to the pump is disconnected.