Our Monte Carlo issues - part 1

My wife has an 01 Monte Carlo SS, that she just loves. Well, that isn't 100% true. Lately, it's been sort of a love-hate thing. She never knew when Sassie (That's her name for it) would go temperamental on her, and refuse to start.
Sassie had two failure modes. She would either:
1) refuse to start, and the security light would come on.

or

2) refuse to start, and the security light would not come on.

With the help of the internet (Thank you Al Gore), we diagnosed it as a worn ignition lock cylinder. I started checking around for prices, and found that we'd be out about $200 for the cylinder alone. I'm sure it would be less, if we didn't have to buy the Passlock sensor with it. But GM has to make money too, I suppose.

Then, the cylinder had to be coded to our key. The price for this varies, quite a bit, depending on the dealer. The first one wanted $85.00 to code it. The second dealer quoted me $20.00, then only charged $10.00. Guess who I bought from?

Then, it was time to change the cylinder. I searched & searched on the net for instructions, only to come up empty. I even checked with Alldata-DIY which I subscribe to. It was as if this was some closely guarded secret, known only to a chosen few.

I finally did find some info in my Haynes manual. I haven't been a fan of the Haynes manuals, but on this repair, it really bailed me out. I could have figured the procedure out without it, but the job would have taken longer.

So, I have the manual, I have the part, and I have a free evening. In the next installment, I'll try to describe the procedure to change the switch on this model.

Till then, Take Care

73,

DE KD8MQ