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I parked my 1999 Chevrolet Lumina 3.1L in a store parking lot. When I turned off the ignition key I noticed the key was stuck in the ignition lock. I turned the key again and wiggled it a bit and the key came out in the “off” position. When I came back from shopping, I tried to start the car and it would not crank. I saw on the dash that the security light was flashing when the key was in the run position.
I did a bit of research on the Web, and I tried all the simple toubleshooting techniques like turning the key to run, waiting 10 minutes and trying to start the car again; disconnecting/connecting the battery; cleaning the pellet on the key. No luck with those – security light just keeps blinking when in the run position and engine will not crank.
I tried a spare key that is almost new – pellet is in good shape – but that didn’t work.
Any ideas on where to begin with this problem? I read you can add a resistor to the starting circuit and that will “trick” the ECU in thinking everything is okay. Or maybe it needs a new ignition lock. The ignition lock cylinder has a lot of wear… Thanks!
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In taking a guess by the way you explain the fault I suspect the lock cylinder is the problem. First thing you need to do is scan for fault codes, especially the body computer. Not all scan tools will scan the body computer however.
If you obtain any fault codes post them here and maybe we can sort it out for you.
see if this helps.
http://www.justanswer.com/chevy/0po7j-99-chevy-lumina-security-light.html
The problem ended up being a bad ignition key lock. The mechanism inside the ignition lock that reads the resistor chip on the key broke, but the ignition lock itself would still turn properly.
Instead of paying the hundreds of dollars it would take to change the ignition lock and get new keys, I went with the cheap method by splicing in another resistor.
Steps:
1) Measure ohms on the resistor at the key using a multi-meter. The resistor on my key was 3.01K ohms or 3010 ohms.2) Get some carbon-film 1/4 watt resistors and connect them together so they will be close to the same value as the resistor on the key. In this case I used three 1K ohm resistors and one 10 ohm resistor. I soldered the four resistors together. I also used electrical tape and heat shrink tubing to insulate the new resistor circuit.
3) At one end of the resistors I included an interrupter switch, since this will mimic the key being inserted and removed from the ignition lock.
4) Go under the dash on the driver’s side and find an orange insulator wire. Cut the orange insulator, and you’ll find two small white wires. Strip the ends of the white wires leading to the car’s computer.
5) Connect your new resistor circuit to the white wires.
The Theft Deterrent Unit will now read those new resistors and then send a message to the computer that it’s okay to start the car.
To prevent damage to the Theft Deterrent Unit, just put the switch to the off position when the car won’t be used over a 10-12 hour period. This disconnects the circuit, so the Theft Deterrent Unit is not reading that the key is constantly in the ignition lock.
Parts cost for this job was about $5… Thanks for everyone’s help! 🙂
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