Hi, sadly i recently bought a fixer upper 1998 corvette. first thing to get me rolling, no keys. doors unlocked but i cant start it or even attempt. i was wondering if any one knows if i went to a junk yard and found the ignition with the keys (http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/1997-...item519840bc21) would i be able to just install and then continue working on my car? i want to work on the injectors but it doesn't help if i cant try to crank it over. thanks.

gm can make you keys for your car, with the vin. i think you have the security type that you have to have gm program it to accept the key if you dont have one that works though. i would probably give the local dealer a call to see what they can do.

A new (used) ignition switch and key will not work. The key has a resistor in it that your car'* security sytem reads, and if it is not the right resistance the car will not start. JW'* advice to get a new key from the dealer is correct. They will be able to determine the resistor value based on the VIN and make a key that will work.

Hi, i know about the resistor on the key, i was wondering if i bought the ignition with the key, couldn't i go ahead and buy all 15 resistors and try each one untill it starts? if i could figure our the resistor value and put it on the new ignition key, wouldn't it work then?, thank you in advance

if the key in the pic is right you dont have the kind with the resistor, you have the one with the transponder, which if you had one key you could program another but since you have neither you need to go to the dealer.

So did the 1998/1997 corvettes have a VATS key with the resistor?

i figured out what i was thinking, the pic shows the key head it looks like passkey three keys but its got passkey 2 (resistor pellet). so i wonder if they will give you the pellet number from the dealer if you give them your vin. that would save you some time and aggravation.

vats is a general term by the way, given to all the gm anti theft systems to current

i think the best thing for me to do is to just cut the dealer out cause i dont want to waste all that money to get a VATS reading. One question though, do you agree with me that if i buy the ignition with the key and systematically try each resistor/pellet would it work eventually?

i think even from the dealer you can get the right key for like $40

that should work eventually but to me its more work that its worth, the system is problematic even when you get it going, alot of people get stranded places because the thing just stops working. you can bypass the whole mess with this; http://www.3rdbrakeflasher.com/index...roducts_id=183 it replicates the signal from the tdm to the pcm. once you do that you wont need the pellet but still need a key that matches the ign. again i dont think they are very much, not as much as buying the ign from ebay.