Which ignition lock for replacement

[gman8321]

Need to replace the ignition lock cylinder. I see both expensive and cheap cylinders. Expensive cylinders have the following description: : Ignition Lock Cylinder -- With Immobilizer; With Anti-Theft; Must Use Scan Tool With Anti-Theft Security Access for Installation.

Cheaper ones have following description: Without Immobilizer; Without Anti-Theft; Must Use Scan Tool With Anti-Theft Security Access for Installation

How do I determine which one to buy?

[AndrewButler05]

Does your car have key-less entry?

If so, then you need to buy the lock cylinder with the immobilizer. That's part of the anti theft system.

The reason you need someone with a scan-tool is so that the car can be programmed to accept the new immobilizer and the anti-theft system will trust it. Otherwise it will not be recognized and the anti-theft system will be tripped and the car will not run.

No spark, no fuel. From its point of view, it thinks someone is trying to "hot-wire" it.

Hope that clarifies for you.


Best.

[gman8321]

Does your car have key-less entry?

If so, then you need to buy the lock cylinder with the immobilizer. That's part of the anti theft system.

The reason you need someone with a scan-tool is so that the car can be programmed to accept the new immobilizer and the anti-theft system will trust it. Otherwise it will not be recognized and the anti-theft system will be tripped and the car will not run.

No spark, no fuel. From its point of view, it thinks someone is trying to "hot-wire" it.

Hope that clarifies for you.


Best.

My car does NOT have keyless entry. Need the key FOB to enter by using the unlock button on the key FOB or use the key in the door lock cylinder.

[AndrewButler05]

My car does NOT have keyless entry. Need the key FOB to enter by using the unlock button on the key FOB or use the key in the door lock cylinder.

Then from my understanding it won't be very easy to add key-less entry to the car.

If your car doesn't have the key-less system, you'd need the alarm module, wiring harnesses, immobilizer, reprogram the BCM/ECM (maybe even replace it if it's a different model that's required), keys (fobs are integrated into the key for most years), and I'm not sure what all else would be involved.

If your car has the system, and you need a "fob" you're best bet would be to have a dealer help you. Aside from that, I'm not sure you'd really want to undertake that project.

The Aveo is an Economy class car, and even in the later years people bought Base Models and the only thing it had was usually an Automatic trans, and maybe AC. I realize people are sometimes limited on what they can afford, but a mid level trim is usually not much higher and includes a lot of the little niceties like Key-less entry and some power options. Especially for something as cheap as the Aveo, was/is.

Because of that I never understood why people will by a base model, (I'm not targeting you since I don't know what year the car is or if you bought it new, etc.) I'm just saying this is an issue people run into when they decide the want something and realizing that it's done in production and can't easily be added.

I apologize if that seems rude, as it wasn't intended to be.

Best,

[gman8321]

Then from my understanding it won't be very easy to add key-less entry to the car.

If your car doesn't have the key-less system, you'd need the alarm module, wiring harnesses, immobilizer, reprogram the BCM/ECM (maybe even replace it if it's a different model that's required), keys (fobs are integrated into the key for most years), and I'm not sure what all else would be involved.

If your car has the system, and you need a "fob" you're best bet would be to have a dealer help you. Aside from that, I'm not sure you'd really want to undertake that project.

The Aveo is an Economy class car, and even in the later years people bought Base Models and the only thing it had was usually an Automatic trans, and maybe AC. I realize people are sometimes limited on what they can afford, but a mid level trim is usually not much higher and includes a lot of the little niceties like Key-less entry and some power options. Especially for something as cheap as the Aveo, was/is.

Because of that I never understood why people will by a base model, (I'm not targeting you since I don't know what year the car is or if you bought it new, etc.) I'm just saying this is an issue people run into when they decide the want something and realizing that it's done in production and can't easily be added.

I apologize if that seems rude, as it wasn't intended to be.

Best,

I don't take what you are saying as rude.

I'm not trying to add a keyless entry to the car. I'm just trying to find out if I can use the cheaper Ignition Lock Cylinder without programming. Can I use the current key to lock\unlock the car and use the new ignition lock cylinder with the key that comes with it to start the car.

[AndrewButler05]

Ok, you should be able to change it and use both keys...?

My Grandmother (Mom's Mom) had an 02' Malibu LS V6 and the key would fall out of the dash while you were driving (it wasn't on the steering column) and the ignition would stay on and be perfectly normal. Since it didn't have key-less or a chipped key, I changed the lock cylinder and she had two keys. It was still working fine when she went into a nursing home and we sold it. We could've had the dealer custom order a new cylinder for it to match the doors or change both door locks, but they wanted like $250+ vs $35.xx and she said she'd just rather have it the old way and use two keys.

I'm not sure if you can do that on our cars since they have chipped keys, even the "non-fob" key has a chip if it has an immobilizer. That's why the head of it is fatter. The car won't know if you change the lock cylinder, but if it doesn't detect the one of the keys that's programmed it won't work.

You can pair a new key without using a scan-tool depending on the car's year, but I forget the exact process and you have to be able to insert both keys in sequence and that might be tricky to do. Even if you don't have key-less, it still has to be programmed to the car as far as I understand. When I bought mine I was given a second key, and I asked for one plain key to put away as an emergency spare and he told me how to program them. I should've written down that procedure.

That's all depending on whether an Aveo without key-less still has the anti-theft module, and specifically the year of the car, since there are two generations of the Aveo.

I wish someone else would chime in here. I'm not sure if I'm right on this about the Aveo. Anyone else with a Base or without Key-less want to chime in here??

What year is yours?


Hope I'm being helpful,

Best.

[gman8321]

I have a 2004 Aveo LT. I have the following issue with the car that brought me here. A few days ago we encountered an issue in which one of two things happen. One, the key will only turn to ACC gets stuck in the ignition cylinder. When I remove the negative from the battery the I can turn the key to lock and remove the key. The second thing that happens is I can turn the key as far as ACC and remove the key, but the car thinks the key is still in it and chimes, plus with the car thinking the key is in it slowly drains the battery and the battery will drain overnight.

I saw a video on youtube (but didn't bookmark) that demonstrated the key sequence. I had to mess with a key sequence with a new FOB I bought with my Chevy Suburban, it wasn't too bad to perform.

Instead of messing with the ignition lock cylinder, a crude but simple solution I thought about is to wire a switch in the interior of the car that would allow me to "disconnect" the negative and remove the key. I would lose the key FOB lock/unlock functionality, but I'm willing to live with that if I don't have to mess with the ignition lock cylinder.

[petrified.rabbit]

the ignition lock cylinder is not as difficult as everyone thinks.

for the "which one to buy" question. take the clamshell off the ignition. Is there a module with a ring around the key lock? if not, you do not have the immobilizer, you can but the cheap one. If there is, you can still buy the cheap one, but have to accept that you will need to wire tie one of your old keys near the ring on the module and leave it there (either on the key ring or strapped inside the column) this will leave the feature "bypassed"

Based on your question, you may not need to worry about the lock cylinder at all. you may need a new ignition switch.

[AndrewButler05]

Thanks for chiming in Rabbit! This is one that I felt kind of out of my league.


Best.