Upon entry, using the key, which does have an embedded chip, one of two things will happen when I put the key in the ignition. Either the chime will start, in which case I know it is going to start, or nothing will happen. Nothing but the security led on the dash.

No voltage to the fuses, no clicks, no lights, no anything...except the security light. The battery is at 12.6 volts and, when the stars line up properly, it turns over the engine very nicely. Once it starts, everything is great.

I've searched this forum and have seen similar issues. There are suggestions, but the original poster never comes back to let everyone know the final outcome.

I'm not an electrical genius, so if you say to check some gizmod, please tell me where and how I would do that. I have a good multimeter. In exchange, I promise to post the results until we all give up, the problem is resolved or I die.

 

1996 3.8L V6 of 5.7L V8?

 

It's the Z28. V8 6-speed.

 

Welcome to camaro Z28
The chip in your key could be bad ?? or the switch itself might be bad ?
I'm sure Fred or one of the other residents experts can walk you threw this as long as you can provide
accurate information . good luck hopefully you will get this problem solved

 

Two keys. Swapping keys makes no difference.

When it's dead, there is no voltage to the ignition fuse under the hood. As soon as it "wakes up", everything is fine.

Right now it's awake. How do you check the switch?

 

Shoebox has info on the ignition switch, and the security system:

4th Gen F-body Ignition Switch Replacement

4th Gen LT1 F-Body Tech-PassKey/VATS

Note that the first paragraph of the ignition switch replacement guide covers checking the loads that are on the switched ignition power.

 

Thank you. I will study this and report back.

 

It isn't the Ignition Switch. When it is in "sleep" mode, there are no headlights.

The last couple days it hasn't misbehaved. Perhaps disconnecting the battery for a while, which I understand resets the computer, did the trick.

If it does this again, I will try cleaning the key's chip and report back.

I appreciate the help.

 

If you have no headlights when it acts up, you have a cable not making good contact.

 

I was afraid you would say that. It hasn't refused to start since I started this thread. The only cables that I worked on while it was dead were the battery cables. The first time it happened, that seemed to do the trick. However after a day or two, it died again and tightening the battery post connectors didn't fix it.

When I removed them completely for several minutes in an attempt to reset the computer; and then reattached them, everything worked and has worked since then. Perhaps removing them and reinstalling them was what it needed to make good contact.

I'm just afraid that it will happen again. At the worst possible moment.
Well, if it does, I'll know what to check.

Thanks all, I appreciate the help.

 

Does your car have headers ? have you taken off the starter ?
maybe a lose ground from the computer ....or burnt wires from the header

 

No headers. It's had a couple starters over the years, but none recently. It appears to be working 100% now.

I appreciate everyone's help. I think the big clue was that there were no headlights when it was dead.

I'm going to consider it fixed.