In case your car won't.....

[OneQuickV6]

Start. Today my car justr andomly quit starting. I knew it had gas, my clutch was good, everything was fine that I could see. So I called my mechanic, and he said our car have a problem with the ignition lock cylinder going bad. You know how your key has a little chip on each side of it, without that key, it won't start? Well, if the wires in the column get burnt, or cut, or anything, the car won't start. So he advised me how to bypass it. I won't go into alot of detail (if you ever need this, ask and I'll tell you more) but basically there's a harness under the dash where two wires plug into two others. Well if you unhook the harness, and plug in the right resistor, it'll start again. So now my car could be started without my key if needed.

Things to look for if you think this is why it wont start: You still have power, radio and all works. There is no click as if your starter is trying to kick over. SECURITY light is flashing when key is in start position. When you turn the key forward to start, your gas gauge will fall all the way down, as if there is no gas when you try to start it, and will rise back up when you turn the key back a bit.

Hope this helps people down the road!

[vtv6firebird]

Thanks for the info. I'll keep that in mind as my car is definitly rising in age and miles.

[BillyCobin]

The person here explains how to splice the resistor in.
I guess this happens more than it probably should.

[OneQuickV6]

Yep, very easy to do. The two VERY tiny gauged white wires will be in an orange heat shielf material. Disconnect the harness, and on the other side of the harness (not the part of the harness with the white wires), plug in your resistor.

[Dojo2000]

Been down that road already. Now my Security light just stays on steady while I drive.

[Tri-Flo 99]

i think i might be in this same boat. does your tach/speedo flip up to 7 grand/90mph and then go back down, and your trip odometer reset every time?

[OneQuickV6]

Nope, none of that happened to me.

[need4speed]

now i know how to steal any gm car with the resistor in the key. If I was a car theif tho, I probably would have already known that.

Anyway, do you think I could be having a problem like that? Sometimes when I turn the key, all I hear is a click. If I just keep going from start to run over and over a few times real fast, it will start. I was thinking it had to be the starter, but it's been doing this for 2 years now and the starter still works normally (other than this little problem).

[OneQuickV6]

If it clicks, it's not this. This is like on an alarm, when it has starter kill/disable. It gets no power. It does that, and also cuts off fuel. So if yours will click and TRY to start, this isn't the problem.

[MustangEater8251]

yeha when my igniton lock cylinder went out I was tearing otu my hair looking at the clutch disable switch wireing(clutch pedal has to be in to start car) I thought that was it, but that was a year and a half ago, dealer fixed my car for $300, worked great since.

[Camaro15]

i had that problem but my ignitioin locked so i couldn't take my key out it was locked in and it wouldn't shut off so i had to shut it off manually and it was all but 200 to get it fixed and most of that was parts from the dealer. for 2 keys with those chips and to get them but by the dealer was like 60bucks