we just recently bought a 98 regal. it ran great and then one day while driving to work stalled. was able to start a couple of times more and made it to work. would not start after that. friend said to turn on the head lights to see if it starts it does and was able to make it home. he said the problem was a ground, but all grounds check ok. could the problem be the ignition key anti theft. if so how do you bypass. thanks in advance.

Wecome to AF

Have your battery tested. As a battery starts to go bad, turning on the headlights will start a chemical reaction in the battery that will then allow it to deliver the power to start the car.

Do you have a security light on? That would indicate a key/ignition cylinder issue.

Are there any other electrical anomalies like the HVAC and instrument panel lights blinking/dimming, randomly dropping certain speeds for the HVAC blower motor? These could indicate a bad ignition switch/harness assembly.

while key is on and not running or with lights on and running the some of the instrument panel lights flicker. the brake light and anti lock light flickers and the odometer changes from trip to regular mileage. battery is new and is holding charge.

while key is on and not running or with lights on and running the some of the instrument panel lights flicker. the brake light and anti lock light flickers and the odometer changes from trip to regular mileage. battery is new and is holding charge. also disconected alarm box from car but still same problem. only starts and runs with headlights all the way on will stop running in other two light positions.
http://www.automotiveforums.com/vbulletin/images/statusicon/user_offline.gif Please help if you can.

I would bet that the ignition switch/harness is bad. It's seeking a ground through the headlamp switch, and will not run when you cut that circuit.

I had a 97 last week acting weird like that. Car would stall and cutoff intermittently. Then it started doing it when you turn on the signals. All dash lights would go out until you turned the signal off. Had 3.3 volts coming out of the ignition switch to power the dash fuse block. Change the ignition switch and be done with it.