Steering Column Repair: Problem starting the vehicle, z28 camaro, gm vehicles

Question
Dear Douglas,
  I'm having probelms trying to start my 94 Z28 Camaro and wondering if you could give me some advise.  The car has been sitting for alittle over a year now since the block has been cracked due to over-heating problems. Then the last couple of mouths bought a new block and now everything is together.  My problem today is that I'm having to shake the steering column for the ignition to fire up.  Note i havent had this problem in the past till now.  I'm wondering if something came loose or the ignition just went bad for some reason.  The car sounds fantastic its just the hassle of shaking the column for it to start is the problem.

Answer
Hi Acelin:

this is a new one for me.  I'm not sure what you mean by shaking the steering column.  Are you moving the steering wheel left to right (like turning the wheels), or are you grabbing the top and just pulling and pushing the whole column?  Either way, that shouldn't really do anything.
I think your car does however have a little black chip on the key.  If that's the case, that is a very popular problem.  The contacts inside the lock are not reading the chip on the key, or the wires inside the column going to those contacts are beginning to break.  That's the most common and intermittent problem I have seen on your style vehicle.
You have 2 choice, replace the lock and key or bypass the system.
We have recently uploaded pages and a description of how to bypass the VATS system on GM vehicles that have the chip on the key.  They are broken down into step by step detailed instructions.
http://www.stolenandrecovered.com/howto/vats.php

I hope these instructions help you.  If not, please contact me again for more information.
Lastly, if you need parts to repair this column simply email us on our "Contact Us / Order Parts" page and we will get back in touch with you personally

Good luck

Doug

http://www.stolenandrecovered.com