My '96 would not start, but car had full power, it would not even attempt to crank. If the battery in the fob is low, will it not disarm so thinks the alarm is not disarmed. Or what if it does not recognize the chip in the key? It eventually cranked, I went through a series of trying door locks, made alarm sound off, etc... The when I put the key in, it just cranked, I don't know why it wouldn't and then did? I'm thinking operator error??? It was initially in the pke mode.

 

The VATS system could care less about the battery in the fob - the system looks at the resistor value of the resistor built into the key only.

IF the car cranked - the VATS was satisfied. If the VATS system thought you were trying to steal the car - it wouldn't crank. What was the security light doing ??? Was it flashing ??? Was it off ??? Remember - after what the VATS considers a few "improper" start attempts - it imposes a wait period on the driver (This was supposedly to prevent a thief from trying each possible resistor value - one right after another).

The C4's are sensitive to battery voltage - so if the car is cranking slowly (indicating a weak battery) that could be the problem - charge, jump or replace the battery. If the car is cranking at normal speed as you indicated - start troubleshooting in the normal manner - do you have spark - so you have fuel pressure - are the injectors firing ? Will it try to light with starting fluid ???

 

If your chip gets obstructed like I did purposely with mine, there is a 10 minute wait, give or take before it allows another attempt. However, what you describe can be one of several things. People, out of some irrational fear start with VATS hence they offer a kit to replace it. I have had 2 VATS cars from that era and haven't had a peep out of them till I forced it to crank to test the system. Many others have jumped on VATS as the first line of attack too. I wouldn't say that most of them were successful, FWIW.

There are a couple of OTHER things that can go wrong. First is that it detects an improper start and concludes that someone is trying to steal the car so it shuts down for about 10 mins. Second is that your neutral safety switch went bad and it refuses to allow a start. Also, you could have a bad starter. So, we need to work backwards. I don't know what to say at this time since all you have is an isolated incident so we can guess if you want to.

My suggestion is to leave it alone till it becomes more consistent so we can better help you. We don't know if it does this because of operator error or hardware defect. I know that my car starts on neutral BUT you might have to wiggle it so someday, when I get back into that section of the car, I will have it fixed permanently.

When it becomes more pronounced, here is what we can do. Get an idiot light and hook it up to the starter where it gives the signal. If it gets the signal, it is the starter. IF not, we go backwards till we get to the issue. The alternative is we throw parts at it till you get it fixed or run out of money.