Weird ignition problem

[justimpala]

2001 Impala base 50k miles. Got this problem about a month ago.

Turn ignition key to ON, the yellow SECURITY light keeps flashing (in turn with red battery light). Car can be started mostly without a problem, but the Secrurity light stays when driving. Sometimes the light was gone after a few minutes.

Once a few days, turn the key to start, no response at all. Tried 3-4 times, then started. This all happened when the car parked under the sun for a whole hot day.

[Gems]

Bad ignition switch maybe... I've seen others post this type of problem and one of the first things to replace is the ignition switch assembly... But wait for a few more responses here before you do anything...

[internic]

i agree, the part of the ignition switch that communicates with the RFID chip in the key might be screwy, the not starting is a lockout cause it thinks its the wrong key, at least thats my theory. anyone elses thoughts??

also, hello all, im new to this forum, i moved over from the Silverado forum lol. 02 LS, midnight blue, 3800

[bigrod118]

we don't have chips in the keys.

have the passlock system looked at, most likely will have to go the dealership.

[internic]

regardless of the medium the system uses to identify the correct key, the problem is with the passlock system, which is what i said in previous post.

[justimpala]

Thanks all.

Seems the passlock is somewhat temperature relevant. It'd been no problem starting for a week as the weather got cool down. But yestarday was hot again. After a day parking outside, the car was started at the 4th try.

[bigrod118]

very possible. it's probabaly a bad solder joint or a componet is on the verge of it's heat tolerence.

I recently starting having BCM issues with the heat, so it's quite posible that the heat was just too much for your passlock. could have just speed up the time of a already dying passlock.

[justimpala]

No problem with start these days, as the weather is not that hot.

When the key stays at "ON", the SECURITY and BATTERY lights flash alternately. Is it normal?

[bigrod118]

when the car is off and the ignition in the "ON" position, yes that is normal, if the car is running and it's doing that, then no, that is not normal.

[justimpala]

A stupid question: would dealer disable the passlock in stead of fixing it.

As I checked around on this forum, seems it could cost >$500 to get it fixed. I'm thinking to trade the damn car in when it can be started.