Keep having to do security reset

Had the car for a year now after buying off a friend. The Security light has been constant on in that year. 2 weeks agom the car wouldn't start and realized that the light was flashing while in the on position then. So did the reset, and worked fine. Light goes off completely, and starts right up.

Now, I've been having to do it all the time. Been having to do about once a day to once every other. I've used the OEM key and the copy just to see if that made a difference, but no luck. Been using the copy key since I bought the car.

This is starting to piss me off having to wait 10min, when I have places I have to be and embarrassing when I have the lady friend in the car :smooch: Any ideas?

did the copy key come from the dealer ? you can take the vin number to the dealer and get a new key made. if that dont work then you will have to replace the egnition,

Our 2002 does the same thing, we have been dealing with it for a couple of years and it seems to go in streaks, good for a couple months then seems to do it every couple of days. I was told possibly the ignition needs replaced or computer reloaded.

Your ignition cylinder is going bad
You have a few solutions available to you.

1) Get a new one
2) Disconnect the passlock wires
3) Bypass the passlock

for the first solution: expensive.

For the second one, locate the 3 wires harness that go on the igition, it's 3 small wires: yellow, white and black. You need to do it while the engine is running, this will also make the security light to come on because, well, there is a fault on it now :D It will work until you disconnect the battery or until you run it flat.

For the third solution: get a resistor from anything between 470 and 10k. Cut the yellow and black wires, solder the resistor on the wires (that go to the BCM). Then do a relearn procedure (the 10 mins in on position). This is a permanant solution and work flawlessly.

Take note that your insurance might not like that you bypassed it or disconnected it as it's an integral part of the theif deterant system. (as if it really prevent someone from stealing it...)

Thanks for the responses.

Not sure where the copy came from. Again, I had bought it used. It doesn't have th Pontiac logo on it like the other key I have, but it still has worked great.

I actually have another ignition module (brand new) that I had bought when was first getting it running. Was just trying to stay away from having to use 2 keys for the car, considering I already have 4 sets of car keys on my rings.

I've heard about the resistor mod, but thought it had to be a specific resistance for each car. I'm trying to get all the dash lights off, so I won't just cut the wires. So just any resistor? Which 'direction' would the resister be going? From yellow to black or vise-versa?

Thanks

Any resistor would work, and there is no direction for a resistor. A resistor is a "very crappy piece of wire"

The resistor "is" car specific, actually, it's key specific: the pins in the key hole have a magnet on top of them. on top of it there is an hall sensor, which is a magnetic field sensor. As the pin get closer the sensor detect more strength. The 4/5 pins (I forgot how many there is, not important much) make the sensors have a different resistance, which is then combined somehow. So depending on the key, the strength is different, so does produce a different resistance (the hall sensor is basically a magnetic field to resistance "converter").

What happend is that with time you get some wear, allowing the key to move, so messing up the readout as it get higher or lower.

When this happend, the resistance read by the BCM is not the one it learned during the 10 minutes "reset" (actually relearn), so it think someome is maybe trying to jump the wires.

By using the resistor you provide it a stable, constant resistance. Then the car think someone jump the wires, so you do the relearn procedure. It then remember this new resistor value. At every start it check the value and compare it with the learned one. Since you put a resistor, it can "not" read a mismatch!

BTW, leave some wires, in case you want/need to reconnect it.

AND SOLDER THE WIRES! you don't want to have a bad contact!

Sounds like a plan. So the yellow and black wires get cut, then then the resister goes betwen the yellow and black? Or are we talking inline? You wouldn't happen to have a pic would you?

Sorry for the misunderstanding, just want to make sure that I'm doing this right. Plan on getting it done this week.

just connect one side to the black, one side to the yellow. solder the joins.

The wires comming from the key should now be left unconnected (tape them to be sure that they don't short anywhere.)

Those wires are small, if you find big one then it's not the right one :D

I had similar problem quite often. Then my fuel pump went. It is tied to my GA SE1 security system, and evidently been going a while. Had new fuel pump (it's a whole module) in for probably a year now and haven't had any issues with security system since. If you car does stall out in the middle of the road - smack the gas tank underneath with a hammer. If it fires back up - get a new fuel pump (seems like a very common problem with these cars). Also, what is the last time you tested your battery? I got mine replaced around the same time for one with higher cranking amps. It might've been the other thing that did the trick. Hope this helps