The customer was on his way home from California when he ran into this condition, he figured out that if he took a fused, short jumper wire and put it from the diode (always live) connection in the under the hood fuse box and ran it to the leg of the ECM fuse, that the vehicle would start. To shut it off, he had to open the hood and disconnect the wire.
The cure was to replace the electrical ignition switch.
I have replaced many of these electrical ignition switches on GM vehicles, they are flaky at best, poorly designed. Many times I have replaced the electrical ignition switch because the transmission would not shift correctly or not shift at all, gauges would go wild, vehicle would sometimes start off in second gear or not go into second gear at all. This was the first time I replaced one for the loss of juice to the ECM, IGN1 fuse.
Upon examining the bad electrical ignition switch, noticed that 2 of the six, spring loaded points were burned fairly bad. Poorly engineered switch, $92. wholesale, about an hour to an hour and a half to replace.
As for the transmission shift problem where the electrical ignition switch is involved, does anyone know the correct bypass method from the switch to the transmission shift solenoid? Could they spell it out?
Rod Williams