Pass key trouble?

kx50052 · June 28th, 2008

Hello

I have a 1990 Buick Reatta. The problem is, the car will not crank. If I jump the starter it will start and then die. I do have the correct passkey in the ignition. I also tried another key for the same car.

I do have the service book for the 90 Reatta and am looking in the security, passkey, enable crank relay, section.

Has anyone had any luck trouble shooting this kind of problem and if so am I in the right place???

The book says to look into the ignition cylinder for the for the passkey resistor contacts. What am I looking for??

Any help would be great

Thanks in advance

steveskyhawk · June 28th, 2008

Mine did that. It was a bad battery.

waxbgone · June 29th, 2008

I am fighting the same problem on my '90 convertible. My car starts and runs fine, but occasionally after being run, then parked for 15 minutes, will not start. When It will not start, If I turn the lights on, trying to start the car does not dim the lights. (not a dead battery). There is no sound at all when I try starting it, no relays click or any other sound. Neither key will work. After 2 hours, it starts fine. Here's what I have been through so far:

Replaced the starter motor and solenoid with rebuilt.
Replaced the Starter Enable Relay.
Switched batteries with my 90 coupe.
cleaned and retightened the battery cables and the junction block behind the battery where the positive cable joins all the heavy positive wiring.

Finally, I installed a jumper so I could bypass the ignition switch and actuate the Starter Enable circuit. When the car refused to start, I grounded the jumper, and got the starter motor to crank, but the car would not start. After 2 hours, when the car would start with the key, it would also start AND RUN with the jumper.

I think the problem must be the ignition switch on the base of the steering column. I am in the process of replacing mine. I'll let you know if it works after I put my steering column back in. I removed it to replace the switch, and I am having trouble getting it back into the car (See my post from 10 minutes ago).

89REATTAJIM · June 29th, 2008

Not sure if this applies to a '90. On my '89 I had a similar situation. Turn key & nothing happened. Thought it was the neutral safety switch. Turned out to be the neut s switch RELAY
that is mounted under the dash a few inches above the parking brake release handle. There are 2 relays there. I don't remember what the 2nd one is for. Try swapping & see if you have any luck.... Jim

DAVES89 · June 29th, 2008

Sure it is not the ICM [ignition control module] and coil pack? This is a cheap fix, but then so is the nuetral switch relay.I am curious regarding the relay, how many times is it used, [I thought it was only used in the starting of the car, not to keep it running] that it would have to cool down before being used again?

harry yarnell · June 29th, 2008

When there are Passkey issues, you usually get a message to that effect. I've bypassed the Passkey circuitry on many cars because it's becoming problematic. All it takes is a resistor wired in the contact circuit that's the value of the chip in the key. There are 15 different values used.

imported_55chevy · July 1st, 2008

I punched the resistor out of my pass key and soldered it onto the wires, worked fine.

weewilly · July 1st, 2008

Try a new battery It seems to fix all these crazy problems, it is a relativly cheap fix why not try it 1st.. have had similar problems with a 2000 Regal, AC problems, Starting and stopping problems, slow windows, ETC.
A new powerful battery fixed the regal and has fixed my problems on my 90 reatta. Does not allways work but should be tried....

DAVES89 · July 1st, 2008

Someone previously posted that the battery should be a minimum 800 amps. Best to get the 1000 amp unit.

waxbgone · July 17th, 2008

Did you get it fixed?
After getting my steering column back in, I still had the same problem with mine. I asked Jim Finn for a replacement PASS-Key module and he talked me out of it. He had me measure the resistance of the PASS-Key resistor on the key with an ohm meter. I then went to Radio Shack and got the closest resistor they had. There is a 2-wire connector coming out of the steering column (Be careful it is not the air bag wires you cut!!!!!). Cut the wires and solder the resistor across them. It bypasses the resistor on the key and, in my case, the problem with the starter system. After all the parts replacing, it came down to a 10-cent resistor.

By the way, the guy on e-bay who sells replacement PASS_Key blanks has a very nice chart of the resistance of each of the 15 or so resistors used.