Hi All,

I recently purchased a 2000 Malibu for my sister. I purchased it from a couple that couldn't afford to fix the lower intake mani gasket leak. I believe the car sat on their property for a year and I just came and towed it away. I did the repair work and everything came out great until the moment I went to start it.

The car cranked and ran for a few seconds and then shut off. I didn't think anything of it since the rails and lines were dried of fuel so tried it multiple times but every single time the car cut off at the exact spot regardless of me kicking accelerator.

I also noticed the fuel/temp/rpm gauges aren't working and neither is the radio. However, the lights work for the instrument panel and for the clock work just fine.

I immediately sensed some type of a security/theft issue with the car cutting off the fuel pump or injectors and that lead me to a lot of research regarding PASSLOCK/PASSKEY II. However, most of my findings were regarding cranking but no starting..

After looking under the dash I noticed a toggle switch and a push button which sparked some curiousity so I followed them and pulled the radio to find a remote starter Avistart 3100 with a GM passlock bypass module. Later i'm going to try and trace wiring to PCM and ignition/bypass module to make sure everything is all connected but this is where I'm coming to the end of the road.

Does anyone have any suggestions for me as to what it can be/or what to try.. this is what i've done: all fuses are fine, relays are fine as they were swapped around, the security light goes off when i turn key to on and stays off, i tried with toggle switch off and on, tried the relearn for 10min x3 times.

Any help is appreciated and sorry for long post!

Thanks,
Chris

Thanks for your fast reply!

From the bypass module which is a DEI 555L, there was a black/yellow marked BCM which gave 5.5V and then a yellow wire that said Ignition signal which also gave off 5.5V.

For some reason i don't think this remote starter module is working because even though all power is running through it, the LED on the brain doesn't light up. It also has absolutely no response when i hold down the button for troublshooting/programming according to the Avistart 3100 manual i found online.

Anything else I can try?

Thanks again,
Chris

Yup thats what i'm about to do.. i just checked the wiring and the toggle switch goes directly to the RS brain. The gray (+) from the toggle goes to the brain as well which is marked as a shutdown wire (which i'm assuming is solely for RS purposes)

I'm going to bypass those wires like you said.. i traced them back and there was a solid yellow (bcm i'm assuming) that was cut in half and black/yellow on one side to bypass module and the other to the yellow on bypass module

I'll report back when i loop them

Okay, just looped the wires. The theft light continues blinking now when key is ON. The car just cranks but doesn't run.

I did this with bypass module unplugged and plugged in and pulled the wires in question and spliced them as well.. no change.

I did this a couple times.. should i not crank it first? The way i did it was crank it and leave it on the ON position waited 15mins but light was still flashing.

Should i just put key in to ON and leave it alone for 10mins?

I'm crossing my fingers!

Just tried the way you said and nothing but cranking. The light still blinks as well.

Tried again and no luck. The light just continues blinking, it does not turn solid at any point. And voltage was 5.5V

Any other suggestions?

Thanks

It appears that the Passlock sensor on your ignition switch is damaged (the lock cylinder was forced, perhaps?) or disconnected. The proper way forward is to replace the ignition switch.

As far as the 10-minute learn (I got that wrong), do:

Begin with the key off
Go through the motion of starting
Leave the key on and observe blinking THEFT SYSTEM indicator
Wait 10 minutes and observe the indicator turn off
Turn key off and then wait 5 seconds
Start the car and you're done

Okay so I tried using multiple resistors from the black to the yellow on bcm side. I used 2.2K, 4.7K and then i doubled up the 4.7s.. It starts and runs only for a couple seconds. The light continues to blink on the radio as well.

I decided to rip out the remote starter and try again but nothing. I checked the resistance from the ignition side yellow to black and it gave no reading but black to yellow bcm gave me first 9.7 and then once i ripped out the remote starter it was 3.8.

I have no idea what to do next. Any other suggestions? I really appreciate all the help thus far!

Hi Starship,

I'm going to order a new ignition switch now. But also had another question, does the passlock sensor control other functions like radio and instrument gauges as well?

Thanks,
Chris

Okay, but you may want to find a way to get the BCM scanned/tested. The the blinking THEFT SYSTEM indicator is trying to tell you something.

The Passlock sensor on the ignition switch doesn't have anything to do with the radio or instrument panel. The radio is powered through two separate fuses. It kind of stands on its own and thus will work as long as it's getting power and the THEFTLOCK hasn't been triggered. See the wiring diagram at http://cid-54465800aad91b49.office.live.com/self.aspx/pub/va116268.pdf.

The instrument cluster is also powered through two separate fuses. It gets the speedometer, tachometer, and CEL from the PCM on separate circuits and the rest from the BCM over the serial data interface. See http://cid-54465800aad91b49.office.live.com/self.aspx/pub/va132716.pdf.

It appears that the Passlock sensor on your ignition switch is damaged (the lock cylinder was forced, perhaps?) or disconnected. The proper way forward is to replace the ignition switch.

As far as the 10-minute learn (I got that wrong), do:

Begin with the key off
Go through the motion of starting
Leave the key on and observe blinking THEFT SYSTEM indicator
Wait 10 minutes and observe the indicator turn off
Turn key off and then wait 5 seconds
Start the car and you're done

Interesting, as I am having same type problem.

I was working on my son's 98 Malibu and ran the battery down, when I attempted to connect my jumper cables to the battery to charge it up the anti-theft system engaged; horn started blowing, lights flashing, etc. Now, no matter what we do we can't get it to disengage in order to get the car to crank. I've tried all the reset procedures I could find on the internet yet the Passlock light keeps on blinking, and the car won't even attempt to crank. Even talked to a service guy today and tried the reset method they use at the dealership and nothing.

I am thinking of trying to bypass with a toggle switch on the yellow wire. I hope that fixes it. Any other ideas-

I can help you if you can post a link to a wiring schematic. I used to be an electronics technician.