Passlock? Ignition Switch? Help
 

Hello, I have a 2002 alero (3.4 v6) and saturday after some shopping, it would not crank, would not start. the battery is new and charged, no problem there. I checked all the fuses and made sure it was in park (tried neutral also) and no cranking. I then turned the key to on and jumped the starter solenoid to make it crank. it would then crank but would not start. read about the passlock thing in the owners manual and left the key "on" for 10 minutes and voila, it started. Worked fine ever since and thought it was a fluke. I thought the passlock was to blame but after some reading, it seems like the starter will still crank with the key, just stops the fuel. mine won't crank or start. it did it again to me this morning and i just took the truck in to work but my wife said she did the key on for 10 minutes and it started again. is this a passlock issue? I just read about the resistor thing and that seems like the way to go just don't want to cut wires if they don't need to be cut. Thanks in advance for any help.

Sounds like your starter is on its way out. If it were a passlock issue it would still crank over like you stated. How many miles do you have? Next time it happens hit the starter with something. I would say a hammer but it wont fit.

the starter is fine. I jumped the solenoid and it would crank no problem. i read somewhere since posting that for the 2002 and some 2003 model years, the passlock also disables the starter. what year is your alero? i think i am going to try the resistor method of eliminating the key sensor.

I have an 01 Alero. I have never heard that it disables the starter, just the injectors.

My 2001 Alero had Passlock issues until I did the resistor bypass. It would always crank. I did a lot of research on this, and like rusty, have never heard of Passlock disabling the starter.
My guess would be a worn out ignition switch (not cylinder). However, that doesn't explain why doing the 10 minute thing works. Maybe that was a coincidence that it worked for you twice?