All that information is much appreciated. HOPEFULLY it will end up being just a worn key, and I can be on my merry way. If not, well, im looking at one crappy day of tearin the steering apart.

Couple quick questions. Im not exactly a mechanic, but I have pulled a motor, replaced starter, alternator, etc. on my 86 cutlass. Is this going to be something that I can screw up worse by trying to fix?

My other question, is it easy to jump the starter solenoid?? I havent looked under the hood in a while so I'm not sure exactly what I am lookin for. From what I remember on my cutlass, when I hook up the starter there are 2 nuts to put on. I for the battery, and the other 2 with fusible links connect to the solenoid, correct? So to "jump" the starter I just need to bridge these 2 together with a screwdriver or something, right?

Right. But try the key first.
Before I got my new key, I sometimes had trouble turning the old key. Sometimes I had to turn the steering wheel a little bit one way or another to make it work. Even if the wheel is locked, there is a little bit of play in it so you can jiggle it one way or another. This may help you start it with the old key.

The last month or so, I have had problems going from LOCK to OFF with that key. I had to finagle it just right to get it to go. Then the past couple of weeks, I had to change the way I positioned my hand to get it from ON to START. I had to pull back a little sometimes after I started because it would stick in START and the starter would whine, but that only happened a couple of times.

Like you said, I'll try to make the old key work. If not, hopefully I can figure out how to jump it, and get a new key made tommorow.

I got it to start! Jumped the starter solenoid to the battery post and she took right off. Whew, that a load off of my mind. At least its in front of my apartment, not my job .

I'll see tommorow morning whether it is the key or the ignition assembly.

Wish me luck

See? that old key isn't that bad.
You know how the chime goes "bong bong bong" when you leave your key in? With my old key it wouldn't do that. When I got the car, I just assumed that it was disconnect by a previous owner. Also, with the old key, I could start the engine, take the key out, and as long as I didn't turn it all the way back to "Lock" I could start the engine again, or turn it off as many times as I wanted all without using the ignition key. For about the first year that I had this car, I never used the ignition key unless I forgot and turned it all the way back to "Lock"
Then I started having problems with it not wanting to start without the key. But when I used the key, it wasn't much better. That was when I got the new key made at the dealership. The first time I stuck it in, it went "bong bong bong" just like it was supposed to. It kind of startled me because I had never heard it do that before. I hope you are as surprised at how much difference a new key makes. And I hope that using the old key for so long didn't hurt your lock mechanism.

Yes, I've got the "bong, bong, bong" still with this key. But it was like you said, if I didnt put the ignition into the lock position, I didnt need the key. I'll be hopefully finding out what the problem is here in a couple hours.

Damn Damn Damn
My new 28.00 key didnt work!
Well, looks like I'm lookin into a great, hot, afternoon of pulling my steering column apart.
I really hope I dont screw anything up :(

That sucks. I was betting on the key working too.

You have a manual or something, right? I'm sure it looks like a crappy and intimidating job, but you just have to take it one step at a time. At least you have no airbags or anything to deal with on these things.

Yeah, its 103 degrees outside, and the local GM dealership said that they would do it for 180, parts and labor. I told them I already had the part, so they knocked it down to 130. This is somthing that I wanted to do myself, but it is so damn hot outside and I dont have the patience for it today. Plus, I need my car done by tommorow, so I can make up for the work that I missed these past few days .

Thanks for the help and the info guys!

Im sure you will see most postin around soon

That sounds reasonable for a stealership.

Did you call any other, non-dealership shops around town? Usually they do things for less...

Yeah, do stick around. It'* good to have another '87-91 guy around here. We're a dying breed, sadly...