Pontiac Repair: 1992 Bonneville not starting, pontiac bonneville, starter solenoid

Question
QUESTION: Hi,

I have a 1992 Pontiac Bonneville SE with about 230K miles.  It started about 1-1/2 yr ago.  Initially it would happen on rare occasions, I'd turn the key and nothing just a clicking sound, I'd turn the key again and it would start right up.  But for about the past year now it just kept progressively getting worse and worse with each passing day. It takes more than a couple of turns of the key to eventually get it started.  Now it takes 20-30 mins of turning the key on and off before it will start, all you hear is the clicking sound of the starter but it wont start.  All the lights and guages come on like normal. I took off the starter, alternator and battery (less than 6 months old) and took them to get checked at the auto parts store and they checked out fine.  I checked all the connections, cleaned everything and still wont start.  The only odd thing, aside from the fact that it wont start, is that on very rare occasions it wont even click and when that happens I notice that the Security light on the guages comes on and stays on even after I take out the key from the ignition.  When this has happened I have to wait until the light turns off on it's own and then I'll get the clicking sound of the starter.

Any ideas what else I could check for?

ANSWER: Hi Alberto:

wel you could have a base electrial issue her like a bad starter motor or battery cable. the just clisk and no crank would indicate either a bad starter motor or a bad cable because the starter solenoid is engauging but no starter motor running.. You could also have an issue with the factor anti-theft system. the ignition lock cylinders on these cars would go bad the wires on the cylinder frey and eventually break causing the security lamp to come on, that was VERY common back in the day. good luck :)


---------- FOLLOW-UP ----------

QUESTION: So I've already had the starter, alternator and battery checked and they checked out OK.  I checked the ground cable and the oned goind from teh positive side of teh battery and they seem fine.  I randomly took off a piece of insulation on each and they don't seem to have that blueish/greenish build up on them.  I even checked all the fuses and all the relays and still nothing.  So would you agree that the last option is the ignition cylinder?  If so, is this hard to change.  I've never tried changing this part.

Thanks

Answer
I would not condem the lock cylinder if the starter clicks. If it clicke it does get some sort of a crank signal it may not have a full 12 Volt crank signal. if you have a digital volt meter have someone crank the car over and check the purple wire at the starter solenoid. If you have any less then .5 volt then battery voltage when cranking then you have a high resistance in the "crank" signal wire it coudl have a bad park switch/ignition switch or a bad pass key power relay. it it has full battery voltage when you ceank it and it still swill not crank then you have a bad starter motor or bad power feed to the motor it's self.