Everything in car lighted and worked but no crank; then works again

[imidazol97]

On the 1998 leSabre with 172,000 miles I turned it off at a store and then it wouldn't crank when I turned the key. All the lights, radio, fan, headlights are fine. Just no crank when I turn key to crank position.

Let sit for several hours and still no cranking.

I checked the battery connections, 3 fuses and one Maxifuse for the PCM and all were okay.

I let all the bells stop ringing with the key at ON and turned to crank and I can hear a relay move under the right hand dash when I turn the key to Crank every time I turned the key.
So I decided the VATS is probably not the problem. The car has not had a correct VATS for about 3-4 years. The theft deterrent module apparently went into failure mode; there is no Security light on the dash, ever.

Let sit for several hours and still no cranking. Decided it's probably the starter. Tapped starter housing with jack wrench a few times. No change.

Then I wondered about the ignition switch itself. It had been feeling like a springy feeling when turned to ON and then CRANK. I noticed that springy feel was gone.

Had car towed home and dumped into its side of the garage so I could work on starter or ignition switch.

Later went out to test the feel on the key when turned. It definitely lost that spring effect and just moves slick as silk. And about the 5th or 6th time the car was cranking and started. It has cranked each time I've tried it since.

Has anyone had this kind of odd feel from the ignition switch itself.
Should I replace ignition switch anyhow?

The starter was replaced at probably 120-130,000 with AC-Delco rebuilt from authorized rebuilder of that brand here in Dayton. Desk guy said that oil drips off oil pan leaks and into solenoid causing starters to fail on my type of car.

Starter has given no burps, bumps, nothing to indicate it might be starting to go out.

What's to do? I really wish I'd tested voltages to the starter to see if it was getting CRANK voltage before I did more experimenting with the feel of the key when turning. Now I'll have to wait for another failure.