I dont kow too much about how the ignition keys work in these cars but from what i understand, each car has a certain resistance number in the chip that must match when you turn the key in the ignition to turn the car over, or something like that, correct?

do the ignition keys lose their capabilities to do this? i feel like my ignition key is having this problem. my bird, my daily driver, seems to suffering from what is either bad battery cables or something with VATS. i have read other posts about this problem but could goin to the dealership and getting a new key be a solution to this problem?

most of the times, it fire right up with absolutely no hesitation. other times i tun the key and get nothing, all the electronics work perectly. all the lights that go on do as well. today it happened again. i sat at the store and just banged my head on the steering wheel. i tried it about 5 more times after that and nothing. got out and "jiggled" the terminal wires... nothing. sat in the seat for a couple of minutes and tried it, still nothing. waited another 5 mins then boom, it starts. what the hell. has to be a key right? i dont have a spare key to test out. thanks all

 

Did your "Security" dash warning light come on ??? Might want to check that the bulb is not dead and replace if necessary.


My 95 Z has left me temporarily stuck twice in the last couple weeks. Both times the VATS system was activated (for some reason ) and I had to wait for it to re-set ( and the dash loght to go out ) before I could drive away.

Try to clean off your key to be sure there is no crud stuck in the cracks. The systems do fail for any number of reasons,...... your best bet is to be sure that you at least have a know working spare key, So find out what the value of your current key chip is and get a spare made !

 

yes, my security light came on. also, whenever i would turned the key all the way, the BRAKE light, which is abovethe security light, came on. is that normal? i never notice bc when it works properly, u never have the key rotated for that long unless u have some problems or its a really cold start

 

get a ohm tester, read the chip, and go to radio shack, get the carbon diode and plug it into the vats harness under the column, if it cranks , you know you have a short starting in the column.
----------
pull up a check on vats bypass on this website, the info is very good.

 

My car would start fine sometimes then it would turn on but the motor wouldnt turn over, Turned out to be a bad starter. Everything turned on the fuel pump primed and all the lights came on even the stereo, im useing the orig key too.

 

If your not worried about the cars security against theft, just buy the correct resistor & bypass it.

I'm glad I no longer hafta deal with VATS, or those monsters of an airbag steering wheel.

 

I dont think that the resistor pellet on the key goes bad itself but they do wear. They start to get rounded over and flatten over time. Add the wear from the key, lock cylinder and the tabs the resistor pellet contacts with in the lock cylinder to that and you can get a bad reading or connection when you try to start the car. I had the same problem with my car when I got it, and it turned out to be the lock cylinder. The dealer replaced it plus I got 2 new keys and I didnt have a problem after that. I would bypass the key to make sure thats what your problem is before you go a spend the money for a new lock cylinder.

 

The contacts on the keys wear out over time. When I compared the replacement key to my old one, the contacts had lost about half their width and it still worked 90% of the time. Pretty impressive, actually. I also put in a new lock cylinder and that fixed everything. Pretty easy job.

 

I would check the following first unless your key is so sloppy that it wants to fall out with the key in run position.
1.batt.
2.alt.
3.pickup coil in dist.
4.ign. module(also loc. in dist.)
5.ecm
6.timing chain
Thats a few things I can think of right off hand.
If your ign. key is as I mentioned above,its deff. the key/lock cyl.