my 98 monte starts when it wants.

i put the key in & turn it, electric works, radio comes on along with the air, but the engine doesnt start, theres no clicking or anything. it doesnt happen all the time, just randomly. itll make me wait about 4 minutes then it'll start like nothing was ever wrong.

i've had people suggest its the starter, or its my key, or its the fact that i have autostart, or an "immobalizer" or whatever its called, i've been told its some kind of security feature....im completely illiterate when it comes to cars, I've heard lots of reasons, but nobody ever seems sure. The thing that really bothers me, whenever i'm showing a mechanic my car starts up fine, so i look like the liar, lol. anybody else have this issue? or an idea about what the problem could be?

i also dont have a manual, any suggestions on where i can get one?

 

My ex had the same problem with her cavalier, I know its not the same vehicle but most autostarts are very close in installation.... what it ended up being was the relay in the kit that kept resetting which then kicked in the security feature. So I would take it to whoever put it and and have them check out the relay

 

Thanks for the response...however, I've owned the car for 2 years now, & i bought it off somebody that is 2 hours away. so having them check it wouldnt be that easy, plus i dont believe that lady was the one that installed it anyway haha. is this something that is safe to assume my local mechanic can check on without taking up a whole day?

if the auto start is really the problem, couldnt i just disconnect it? its gotta be a lot harder then "just unplug that wire" right? i'm very illiterate with cars.

 

Could be the "VATS" - Vehicle Anti Theft System. This system reads the resistance of the chip in your key. If the resistance matches what's in the PCM, the car starts. If not, the starter will be disabled for two minutes. Then you sit and wait for two minutes, turn the key and all is back to normal. My 96 Lumina does this occasionally. You never know when. Here's a link to a company that sells a cheap bypass. http://www.adaptiveperformance.com/vats.htm. You need to know the resistance of the chip in your key as well. I've just learned to live with it since it only happens to me once every two weeks or so.

key codes / ohms
1-402
2-523
3-681
4-887
5-1130
6-1470
7-1870
8-2370
9-3010
10-3740
11-4750
12-6040
13-7500
14-9530
15-11800