I went out to start my testing and the first step is simply to see what the car does, or essentially verify the reported problem of the car not cranking. When I turned the key to the run position the dash lights all bulb checked, and when I continued turning it to the start position there was no sound at all. The car did not crank, and there were no sounds from any relays being commanded on or off.

Now pause for a moment before reading further what should you do at this point?

The answer is look at all of the lights bulb checking on the dash, go ahead and even turn the key off and back on if you have to in order to see all of them. Some of the critical lamps you want to see are the charging system indictor if used, without the engine running it should be illuminated. You need to see the check engine light, it also should be on. Keep in mind of you leave the key on for ten or more seconds without cranking the engine some cars may flash the check engine light and on some it will go out. We will leave the explanations of why they do that for another day, but if you don't see it simply turn the key off for about five seconds and turn it back on and it should be on again.

During this step I noticed a lamp flashing on the dash, it was low on the right hand side of the cluster and it displayed the word "Theft". Now that's a clue as to why this won't start. It's time to grab the scan tool and my battery tester and see what's happening. Now why the battery tester? If you don't have good system voltage all bets are off as far as how a vehicle will operate. The batteries open circuit voltage was low at 12.1v but passed at 94% health. It needs charged but it doesn't need replaced like the parts store told her. With the scan tool I retrieved a B1601, ignition key not learned or faulty signal from the key.

What's the next step? I'll post the answer in a day or two.