Solved an electrical problem with info gathered on here, I know some of you will laugh at how simple it was but I just wanted to pass it on for the next guy.

Took our 1997 30th Anniversary SS (8500 total miles) out of storage three weeks ago. Hooked up the battery, it fired right up, no muss no fuss. The wife drove it back and for to work a few times, and informed me that the trip odometer kept resetting to zero. No big deal, I figure, I'll just charge up the battery. Wrong, problem gets worse and the car starts dying, by that I mean the car just goes dead, no dash lights, no run, no nothing, but only for about 1 second, then it comes back on with the trip meter reset. Does that for about a week, then finally strands her at the bowling alley, car is totally dead. She gets a ride home and we run down to tow it home a couple of hours later (small town so we're not worried). She gets in and jiggles the keys a few times - nothing. Jiggles the keys again while I'm getting the tow rope out, it starts! Make your guess at what's wrong then scroll down to see the answer.


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OK, researching on here it sounds like:

1. VATS key chip is bad (of course I don't have a spare set)
2. Ignition switch is bad (not bad, only about $26 do it yourself)
or........


3. Battery!!!! On several of the electrical problem threads a few very astute members on here kept saying check the battery before you spend a lot of money and time chasing gremlins. In short, they said weird things happen on these cars when the voltage isn't where it's supposed to be. Thank you! Thank you! Thank you! For all of my experience, I could not see how this was a battery problem. The car cranked and started fine (most of the time), lights, doors, windows all worked fine, to me it looked like an electronics or computer problem, like the damn computer just seemed to shut off randomly.

Bottom line: Although the terminals on the battery looked fine, when I took them off and removed the cable end cover, there was a thin crust of corrosion on the face of the cable that bolts to the side terminal. Di not see it when I hooked up the battery in the storage shed. Clearly not getting good contact even when tightened up. A little baking soda and a wire brush and all is well, life is good again. So guys, thanks again, and for the next guy that has this problem, I hope you find this post first!

 

I just had a new key made for my third-gen the other day, and so far so good. It had the problem of sometimes you'd get in, turn the key, and......nothing. After looking at the chip in my old key compared to the new, it was wore down quite a bit. I have a feeling that I fixed the problem.

 

I'm getting a new key too! But I'll tell ya, the way that whole process works is flawed! The dealer says they have to test the key in their machine to decide which key blank to use. Well, their machine is just a fancy way to test the resistance of the resistor in the key, right? If your resistor is bad, as opposed to just being worn down, then their machine is going to read wrong and they are going to order you the wrong blank. I asked them if they could just look up the blank number based on the vehicle VIN and they said no. I tried to explain to the service manager that if the key resistor is bad, the reading from the test machine will be wrong, and we'll just be cutting a new key on the wrong blank. She just looked at me like I was speaking Latin. I swear, you would expect a "Service Manager" to understand something as basic as ohms and resistance, but not with todays Chevrolet.

The only solution is to replace the whole switch with a new one. I'll bet a lot of people with bad key resistors buy a new key, then end up buying a new switch (with a new matching key) when that doesn't work.