Today for the first time my Bonne'* security light is on when starting, and it will not run the starter.

I've been able to get it going after 5 or 10 minutes.

The only thing I did differently was open the trunk with the car running.

I've read through the postings about VATS and the trunk lock, but has anyone with a steady light and no start actually got the car to work by disconnecting the trunk lock wire?

This may be the end of Bonne and I. :(

you havent changed your pcm have you?

No didn't do anything with the PCM. I think it is the trunk latch security but disconnecting the wires doesn't make it work.

I tried cleaning all the contacts with emery cloth.

It works now but you cannot believe in a fix until a week or more!

I never had this problem until yesterday in 17 months of driving it every day!

I drove the car to work today when I left for the day the car was acting up again but after 15 minutes I got it started in NEUTRAL.

Drove to the supermarket and turned it off to go inside...

Could not get it started again and was stranded 3 miles from home.

Now the security light is blinking it does not stay solid.

Have you cleaned the chip on the key?

Yes I cleaned the key with alcohol.

The thing is what the security light is doing now has changed; with the initial failure, it was SOLID. Now it flashes, I hear the fuel pump priming, but I get no cranking from the starter (have also tried starting in neutral multiple times).

From reading this board it seems like the ignition switch?

Bye bye Bonnie because I'm not spending $300+ on that tomorrow.

It needs a water pump already 'cause that'* leaking I'm not spending $600 on this car.

I'd really like to tow it somewhere and have at it with my 308 FAL at this point.

Had a similar problem on my 92 (the thread was 5 down from this at 7:45PM PST) there is a bypass fix for the security light on I think the 2nd page. I tried it and it does work, took about an hour to solder up a bypass pack and about half an hour to install it. It will disable the security system but it will allow you to start the car. Or the ignition switch is available at Autozone (not a paid endorsement just where I got mine) for about 35 bones and a new VATS key set on Ebay for 15 bucks. Mind you install of the key switch is tricky and somewhat painstakingly long but if those small wires are broke inside and they do tend to do that, it will cause your car to do exactly what you say, as well as a couple of other issues.

My thoughts are one of three choices:

Find the two little wires inside the larger (orange) wire going down the steering column and cut them and put in the resistor pack to match the key as described in many places on the site and net to fool the computer into thinking it has the right key resistor.

Take it to an auto alarm place where they routinely replace these wires with resistor packs to install their own alarm system. (They might sell you a resistor pack).

Or one I've heard but have not tried..., is that if the resistance reading fails during the time the car is running, the little computer box for the theft deterrent module assumes it has failed and quits checking for the resistance. My car had the light coming on and off during driving. It would occasionally not get the right resistance reading, and now has quit lighting up the security light at all when the key is turned to ON. I assume it has failed in the failure mode which is one of 4 modes if I recall what I read in my factory service manual.

Replacing the lock cylinder to replace those two little wires going down the column that break where the tilt bends and un bends them all the time is way too expensive and unnecessary on a car with 200,000 mi on it.

VATS and PASSKey Vehicle Anti-Theft Systems - ThirdGen.org

How to bypass the VATS system in a late model GM vehicle

Ayup, that would be one way. You'll need to get a good resistance reading off your key to be sure you're putting in the right value. The last time I got a VATS key copied, I was at an Ace Hardware where they used a gadget called a VATS Interrogator to give them the right resistor key blank to use: They just stuck my key in a slot and one of 14 LEDs lit up on the board. Pretty simple.

I seem to recall that BulldogSecurity has a bypass box available separately for this, too.

Yes, if the circuit through the key is interrupted while driving, the SECURITY light will come on but it will not (fortunately ) kill the engine while you're driving. It'* only at startup time that the VATS will block the engine from running.

You can get access to them under the dash near the right side of the column; you don't need to touch the column or take it apart. I had to find and cut into the orange casing that houses those wires while installing my remote starter. That casing looks very much like just another fat wire, so it takes a little squinting to spot it as being a flexible casing rather than another 10-gauge cable, of which there are several nearby.

Oh, and for those of you around here long enough to remember my saga of installing the remote starter on my SSEi some years ago, which I think is still in the Tech Notes somewhere: After a few years of constant use, the controller went bonkers and grounded the door locks, draining the battery and stranding me at the train station, for which I was not happy.

This was the second BulldogSecurity kit to go bad on me; the first one, also about 3 years old at the time, fried the starter solenoid on my Trans Sport in a truly spectacular incident that'* a story for another time, so suffice to say I am not installing BulldogSecurity remote starters anymore, nor recommending them to anyone.

heres a solution that is alot easier...if your car has the fuse box on the passenger side under the glove box, take out that big *** black plastic cover and pull the fuse that controls the security system, try firing up the car if it wont fire you have the right fuse, now put a fuse in that is a 30 amp not a 15 amp and fire it up...mine did the same damn thing and its a problem with the factory immobilizer, i install alarm systems and immobilizers for a living. If you jump up the amperage on it the signal it seems to work...mine hasent done it in over 2 years now and it was a pretty regular thing with my car for about 2 months...