2001 Monte Carlo SS won’t start after battery replacement

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Sep 10, 2018
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Northern va
Friend of mine pulled a weak battery out of his car. Sat overnight with no battery. Next morning gets a new battery, installs it. Everything works but when you attempt to start it, it does absolutely nothing.

Checked all connections and and battery volts. All are fine.

The battery light and security light flash back and forth. I found the relearn procedure where you attempt to start it, leave it in the “ on “ position for 11 minutes, turn it off for 5 seconds and repeat 3 times.

Now the security light is off, but it still won’t start. I HIGHLY doubt it’s a starter problem. The car is really nice and only has 80k on it.

Everything worked 100% before changing that battery.

Any ideas ?
 
If the battery checks out fine, the Securilock system may have malfunctioned. It was very problematic throughout those years.
 
When you checked "all the connections" did you physically remove the engine ground strap and starter hot lead?

If either was a marginal connection, it could have arced, which would blacken the copper and increase resistance enough to no longer work. This can get misdiagnosed as a bad battery.

A way around the potential passkey problem is to get at the starter and cross the solenoid wire to the main lead. This will demonstrate the battery has the ability to crank the engine over, regardless of if the computer wants it to. The "typical" Passkey symptom is to allow the engine to crank and maybe even catch, but then die, feeling like it's out of fuel.
 
I’ll take a look at the starter Hot wire and ground cable. I really think it’s a security issue, but other than following that relearn procedure. I’m not sure what else to do
 
Is this one of the systems that disables it for a period of time after seeing a "wrong" key? It may say in the owners manual. If the security light was on and is now off after a reset, i would be tempted to give it an hour or so left alone...


This might be something. Does this car have a chipped key?
 
I would jump the Starter Relay just to rule out a Starter/Connection issue....If the engine cranks good...Then you can move on with further diagnostics.

Side Post Battery Terminals are notorious for corroding between the bolt & cable where you can't see it!!
 
If the battery checks out fine, the Securilock system may have malfunctioned. It was very problematic throughout those years.
Needed to correct myself. Securilock is Ford, PassLock is GM. Having owned the two, I get them confused.
 
Try this... with the doors and hood closed push the lock button on the remote, wait for 3 minutes, push the unlock button on the remote, then get in and try to start. This procedure resets the factory anti-theft security system after the battery goes dead or is disconnected. If the car has an aftermarket anti-theft and/or remote start system you will have to refer to it's specific reset procedure. Also, check to make sure that the shifter is in park.
 
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It's my understanding that PassLock is easily bypassed. Mine only goes off during some sort of weather extreme.
There are definitely ways around it on the older PassLock systems. Which I think the OP is able to do on a 2001 Monte Carlo.
 
Is this one of the systems that disables it for a period of time after seeing a "wrong" key? It may say in the owners manual. If the security light was on and is now off after a reset, i would be tempted to give it an hour or so left alone...

I’ll give this a try
I hate to be that guy and ask, but is it in park? Have you tried starting it in neutral?
Yeah that was one of the first things I tried. Tried both park and neutral several times.
Try this... with the doors and hood closed push the lock button on the remote, wait for 3 minutes, push the unlock button on the remote, then get in and try to start. This procedure resets the factory anti-theft security system after the battery goes dead or is disconnected. If the car has an aftermarket anti-theft and/or remote start system you will have to refer to it's specific reset procedure. Also, check to make sure that the shifter is in park.
I’ll give this a shot too. I wish the car was at my house but it’s at his house. No tools at all… car is nosed in the garage with little to no room at all work around it. If push comes to shove I’ll push it out of the garage.

Nothing aftermarket on the car either. It’s 100% original. He’s owned it since new.
 
Does your Key have PK3 engraved on it? Those are harder to by pass. The Trans Am key just has resistor. That one is pretty easy to bypass.
 
Ok I just tried the lock for 3 mins and unlock still nothing. Here’s a pic of the key. It’s the original one. There is nothing printed on either side of the key. The security light is not on anymore
 

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