I am well aware of the massive problem that this stupid anti-theft system has caused folks over the years, and now I’ve had enough. I’m gonna need some help here since the fixes I’ve read about on numerous discussion boards are way beyond my skill set. I’m in West Deer Township near the Hampton and Richland borders not far from Route 8. Looking for a shop that can handle this and not cost me my first born. Any suggestions? Thanks Jim Z
First Bass would probably be able to tackle that job and is located on Route 8 near Etna
what problems are you having with it?
Chaz is awsome . does great work
When starting the car, if it doesn’t start up right away, like less than two seconds, the theft system kicks in and kills the fuel to the injectors. Then you get to wait the ten minutes it takes to reset itself and you get to try again. It’s a real common problem, but the fix looks to be a little beyond my pay scale.
I’ll give Chaz a call or stop in. I pass him all the time. He moved up near Sparky’s correct?
2nd option JJ’s ?
almost on the corner of spencer lane ext, the building is connected to either executive motors (or maybe it’s premium, I get to two names confused too simliar)
If it’s a wiring issue, he’ll keep going but if it’s a hardware issue such as a bad passlock part, then you’ll have to hit the dealer. from experiences working at a Chevy dealer, most of the techs don’t understand the passlock to well themselves… so definitely have Chaz look it over first!
Has the ignition switch been replaced?
the passlock or vats is in the pcm. removing will cause issues. like todd mentioned has ignition been replaced? the tumblers might be worn and causing your issue.
you can tune vats out in the pcm
Quik is bringing up a good point, is ur key smoothed off & worn? if so it will trip the tumblers & throw off the resistance.
do u have a 2nd key for the car? maybe call the dealer & have a key cut from VIN it will trip the tumblers properly.
probably the cheapest initial diagnostic
Bought the car a couple years ago with 80,000 miles on it. Guy kept real good records and I don’t see anything about an ignition switch in his paperwork.
I have a spare key. I’ll have to look and see if it looks any “sharper” the the one my wife uses.
if your key has an ohm chip in it. you can take a ohm meter across it and see the resistence value. then you can go any where that sells them and say you need X ohm key. Few have said you can purchase the blanks on ebay for cheap.
you can bypass it just like a remote start bypasses the vats
Passlock II is 2 generations beyond the ohm chip vats system
Most often more trouble than it’s worth. Unless you plan to remote start it everytime. -edit- specifically with Passlock
Trying with the second key, could be the best initial diagnosis. If it works better buying another key that is VIN cut would be a lot cheaper than anyone’s diagnostic fee
put a new ignition in it… prob around 300 and you will be set… expensive yes. but the easiest way to correct it… unless you put in something like the remote start guys do… hense the F B A
you can bypass it and not put a remote start in just did it in a 99 grand am a month ago and havent had a problem yet
it need a housing,just did wife g/a
Passlock does not have a resistor in the key. That is V.A.T.S.
I had an Impala (same Passlock system) that I put a R/S in a few years ago. It seemed I inherited the intermittant start/no start issues with the key (customer never said a word about it until after I did the install - later they told me it did it befrehand). It always started with the R/S, though. I told the customer to get an ign switch & I would install it. It had about 75k miles on it IIRC. Never had an issue with it since.
even heard about the problem with the ignition as well as the locking system as just failure of ignition leads to triggering of locking system and the person has to wait until it resets it self and it seems there are know easy and cheap way out but its always good to pay once and for all to get it fixed, rather than going through the ordeal every now and then.