Alero is DEAD!
 

hopefully somone can point me in the right direction... went to shopko and everyhing is fine... come out to start my car to leave... it fires and dies right away... try to start it again and all it does is crank... got a half tank of gas, battery is strong, turns over fine... i can hear the fuel pump whine when i leave in in the on position for a sec... what could be the problem? and more over, what could i do to get a great diagnosis in the shopko parking lot... i was thinking ignition control module? <--- how much is it and how hard is it to switch?... or mabye the coil packs? how much are those? and what's the most likely scenario... any helpful ideas would be great... i dont have the money to get it towed and fixed if i can help it... thanks a lot guys...

security light flashin?

try
 

Try to pushing the throttle just a little incase your IAC is stuck. Test fuel pressure on the rail.. test your spark. Replacing your ICM may take you 20 minutes at the most.

after i try and crank it over, yes the security light flashes... i did try pumpin the gas a bit...

You got a passlock issue. I had it this summer. My sensor ended up needing replace ment, but sometimes if you pull the battery for a while it'll reset and oyu'll be ok. I forget the other trouble shooting methods.

crank position sensor?

the security light will flash for 10 minutes and then you should, in theory, be able to start to car. my car was like this for a couple months before i had the money to replace to the ignition.

yep, turn the key to on and leave it sit for 10 minutes. you might need to disconnect your headlights so battery dun go dead

or put the e-brake on

ur keyless entry bullshit security system wont let u start it thats whatsup, happened to me and I ripped the alarm out lol

thats you were a dumbass and tried to uninstall it yourself. let pros handle it. remote starts require a bypass for passlock II and require cutting a passlock wire. if you just "rip" shit out you can expect other shit not to work right.

well i dont have keyless entry...

so you are saying its a passlock issue? what's that? and what needs to be replaced if that is the problem? any idea what it'll run me? i hope that's the problem... then at least i'll be able to get it back to my house.

so i turn the key to the "on" position for 10 minutes... it should then start up again... if not... try disconnecting the battery for a little while... and if that fails?

you may not have to replace anything, but most likely the sensor is goin bad

disconnecting the battery wont do anything. turn the key to on without trying to start it. leave it sit for 10 minutes, security light should go off. you should be able to start it then.

if that fails, ur effed?

sweet... gonna go give er a go

i take it all went well?

ya he went to go pick up his girlfriend at her junior highschool thats why he hasnt replied yet ;)

haha... not quite...

nope... no go. turned key to on, left it sit, still won't start... disconnected the battery for a sec... still won't fire...

when the key is in the on position, there are a few lights on but the security light is the only thing that flashes... what do i have to do to replace this sensor or whatever? and where is it? and if it's not that passlock thing... then wtf is wrong with my damn car...

oh... if it helps, it's a 2.4

keep in mind it's in the kmart parking lot so i am limited in my ability to perform service to it... if there's anything i could rip out and stick a new one in that is probably the problem i could do that... any other check to rectify the passlock issue?

spare key
 

use it.... lol

tried a spare key...

i dunno what happened the first time i tried the passlock resolution but it worked this time... thanks guys... this site is a great tool

hooray!

Sorry to come to this late, but I just went out to my car (2001 2.4) to go to lunch and it wont start.

I was running fine this morning when I parked it, but several hours later it wone start. It turns over fine, but just wont start. When the key in trying to start I have a solid engine light and a flashing security light. What was the fix here? Spare key? Disconect the battery?

Thanks

Sam

disconnnet battery for 10 mins i think...

no it was turn the key to the on position for 10 minutes. then shut it off and start it up... if it doesn't work, try it again...

i have the same exact problem as the first poster in this thread, i even got my car towed, nobody had any idea, then i came here to this forum ya im a newbie but have been getting very useful info off of this forum for months, i tried the key thing i turned the accessory on let it for about 10 minutes the security light stopped flashing and bam i turned it to start im like omg it works! My face was priceless, i just couldnt believe it, i got it towed but its all good i have triple a so it was free, thank god for this forum!

same issue
 

so last night i was in total shock thinking that my starter blew out on me...
and then i read on here about the security 10 minute wait, tried it, and my car fired right up! i didnt quite catch what it was that i need to fix though..

you might not need to fix anything. you can try getting a NEW key cut(not one cut from your current key). or you can try replacing the whole key cylinder. but it may have just been a one time thing

ok good deal, ill just wait until it happens again and then work on one of those things, thanks for savin me 200 bucks and alot of labor!

i had the same thing happen to me i tried the turning the key to the on postion for the 10mins it will get you started but want fix the prob. igot a new key made (factory code cut) didn't work then i bought a ignition switch from a junk yard they had a grand am i gave 30 bucks and it works every time if you replace the ignition you still have to turn the key to the on position for 10mins to reset the new switch or used after that it should work every time.

I have had similiar problems with my Euro SPec "Chevy Alero". I have found that if I unlock the door using my keyless entry it willl shut off the security lock. I have noticed that it only happens when I leave the car unlocked for to long with out putting the key in the ignition. so something like this "I go out side, unlock the car, open the door, run back in side b/c i forgot something, come back outside, security lock is on, so I just double tap the unlock to unlock all doors, and blamo the ho starts.

Well, that really doesn't count so much for the US-Spec cars. The Euro-spec cars have a different immobilizer setup than we do.