1994 Buick Park Avenue, 120k or thereabouts miles.
>About once a month, I turn the ignition key (which has a security chip on
>it), and nothing happens. It is like the battery is dead, but the lights >work.
>
>After turning the key several times, the car will start up on one of the
>tries just like everything is fine. The car operates normally after that. >
>The starter, battery, cables, and solenoid are all new. Any ideas?
Check to see if the Security warning light is on at the dashboard. If it is, then that suggests that the key chip is bad or the contacts in the ignition switch that read the key chip are bad. I would tend to suspect the switch first, but I had a key whose chip *changed* its value overnight (by two notches). The GM parts guy was amazed, and they got me a new one.
---Bob Gross---