99 expy, with the PATS alarm system. I am the 2nd owner of about 5 months. Please help with this problem. About 1 month ago my wife calls, and tells me the vehicle will not start. I have her unlock the vehicle using the controller that comes with the car, and try again... nothing, key turns starter does not engage. I have her press the unlock button on the key controller twice, to see if that works try this a few times over 15 minutes, nothing. Let the car sit for 15 minutes come back and it starts. Couple days later same thing, she unlocks the car, gets in car does not start wait awhile then car starts. Dealership says maybe pats key bad. We buy 2 new programmed keys everything fine for couple days, wife calls same story car wont start. Back to dealership new microprocesser in steering column, few days go by stuck again. Can somebody please shed some light as to how this system works, how long you have after unlocking to start the vehicle, etc. As you can imagine I blamed my wife that she is taking too long to start the ignition after unlocking the door, allowing the alarm to reset itself? Today she calls stuck at the store. I stay with her on the cell phone for about ten minutes letting the car sit, key out of the ignition while she is sitting, the a alarm makes a loud beep sound, I tell her to try to start the car now, and it starts.....what gives? she took it to the dealership again, for the 3rd time in a month.

 

There should be no time limit after the door is unlocked. Did you wife try both keys? If not, it really sounds like a bad program on one of the keys.

 

Yep, no time limit to start a vehicle after unlocking it with your remote.

If you had new pats made then your system was reprogrammed to a new code so everything should be good to go.

Could your new microprocessor be faulty? Just a thought. Also, maybe try unhooking the battery for 20 minutes and letting everything reset?

Good luck...let us know what you find out.