I have a 2005 Saturn Ion that I bought from my uncle a while back. He had a breathalyzer installed on it during his ownership and I had it removed after I purchased it off of him. Ran complete fine for me for a good half a year until I had a head gasket and radiator problem that I fixed and replaced. As soon as I went to turn it over it cranks but doesn’t start the engine. Me and my mechanic friend have been scratching our heads with this replacing a lot of the fuses & sensors, including us recently replacing the ignition switch thinking it has something to do with our security system going haywire. Any suggestions that it might be something with when the breathalyzer was removed or with the head gasket & timing chain replacement?

 

Have you tried a passlock security system relearn? Probably the 30 minute version with a battery charger or power supply on the battery to keep it from going dead halfway through the process?

There is a passlock sensor in the ignition switch that senses the key as being the correct key. No immediate reason to believe that the ignition switch was damaged unless the key is flopping around in the ignition or is difficult to turn.

Search "passlock relearn" on the forum and you will find the directions. It is critical that you follow them exactly as written. For example, if it says turn the key to on for 10 seconds then crank for 3 seconds, then back to on, do not turn the key to the off position in the middle of doing that series of steps. Do not open the door while doing that series of steps The only things that should change during the reset procedure are the things in the procedure itself.

 

Also, have you confirmed that you have fuel and spark as well as compression?

 

Yes I confirmed with myself and two other mechanic friends that it has spark, fuel & air going through the system. I will look for that thread now thanks!

 

Mechanic friends. Do any of them work on cars for a living?
You don't prove a thing without numbers.
What is the fuel pressure? How we know we have spark? Fuel injectors firing?

 

I had a similar issues after a timing job, ended up being the ignition fuse inside the car.
But as stated above, numbers and/or codes would be helpful.

 

It is not throwing any codes at all, not even stored codes either. We tried having a car jump to throw codes out, charge the battery to full and cranking, still no codes. It has not been wiped from codes either

 

yes i did confirm