Long story short, our '01 Olds has had some wierd issue the last week or two with the remote start setting off the alarm, and most recently, the car not starting randomly when the key is turned (no crank or nothin). Took it to the dealer to have them check it our and they say it'* the "anti-theft exciter module" that is the problem. Of coarse it'* a $566 repair, ow which we don't have that much sitting around right now. The wife needs the car for work so we can't let it sit broken for very long. I do have the FSM'* for this car and I am willing to brave the cold here to fix it for less.

So I guess my questions are 1) how hard is it to change this piece out? (currently at work and can't reference my fsm'*) 2) what is the part number for this piece (so I can get costs)

Thanx
-Gordy

Got it fixed, so it seems. Cost $112 for the part form the dealer (speacial order of coarse). I took apart the car Saturday morning, and put it back together today. Wasn't actully too bad of a job, but the car was out of commission for about 4 days because of it. :?

Son of a B***H. Well, it started with the key today, but when my wife tried to remote start, it set off the alarm again.... at 6AM. The dealer did say the module that they said was bad should fix the no start with key, but weren't sure about the remote start. I think we may take it in ti best buy this weekend to have them look at that part of it, see if they can find anything.


.... why couldn't this just be something obvious to fix and be done with it .....

is the remote start aftermarket? if so, was it installed properly or might something with that be going wrong?

We got it installed at Ultimmate Electronics. It'* been installed for around 2 years on the car without issue. I'm going to google more on that today to see if I can find anything. The wierd thing is it is only occassionally setting off the alarm. As I type this, I do realize that in most cases it went off, it was early morning, after the car has been sitting overnight.

what brand is the remote start?

I dont recall right now the brand...


but I did get a message from my wife again... it started to no start again with the key. WTF! This is really starting to **** me off. I just spent $225 in diagnostics and parts to fix nothing!

Can anyone clarify... do codes from the security light get scanned thru the OBD2 connection, or is there somewhere else that they get pulled from?

Ok, so this morning it was completely dead, not hint of starting at all. Here is what I have found. Both the key and the remote start act the same. Lights come on and everything acts like it'* going to start, then nothing. No starter, and no fuel pump (from what I can hear).

So this morning, wile sitting at home trying to find a ride (still looking by the way if you are in the area )I tried the key relearn procedure. This works on all models except ones with PRO Z49 - Canadian Modif Mandatory base E (which I do not have, I checked). After the 10 minute wait time for the first key cycle, the security light didn't go off. I waited another 5, light was still on. My guess here is that the VTD is faulty and not able to relearn the key. The only other part that has anything to do with key learning is the part that I just replaced with a new one (exciter module).

My guess is that the VTD is faulty. Any other opinions?

make sure it is not in valet mode, sometimes remote starts act really weird like they are dead when it is in valet mode, this happened to my viper alarm...any other symptoms will help too if you notice anything else odd happening.

It'* not. Plus the problem was intially intermittant. I think tonight I am going to tear into the dash and get the part number off of the theft module and see if I can find one in a jusnk yard to test with. Maybe even buy one. From what I can tell they aren't terribly exspensive, but need the OEM part number off mine to confirm.

Besides. If I can rule out this module, there will be a lot less parts to sift thru to find the real problem. Not always the best way to track something like this down, but even my FSM indicates the only was to trouble shoot is with a tech2 scanner for this stuff.