Originally Posted by sosorry2004

I've been there my father owned a 96 caviler, it started doing just like your describing we checked all the normal things, we were thinking the pump was going bad (we figured out that if we would play with the key and and cycle it back and forth until we heard what sounded like the fuel pump but it wasn't ill explain, that the car would start everytime after it made the humming noise, we took it the shop and discovered that the key ignition switch was going out, I bet that you lock cyclinder where the key goes is touch meaning that sometime you have to move the key and maybe even the steering whell to get the key to roll forward from the lock position. and its probable getting worse. 1996 chevys iginition system changed they have a flaw in the design meaning that any other year you can get in the car and hit the key all at once and it starts right up, in 96 the pcm is programmed to run through and check all componets before it boots up and is ready to operate, a lot like ur home computer, and if you crank the car before Its ready it wont start might take 3 or 4 tries when all is working right . my suggestion is the next time you drive your car pay attention to the switch and note weither its as smooth as u would expect or if it drags and also listen for the sounds the car makes when key is on and engine is off before starting in comparison to not starting, make sure u turn ur key on DONT CRANK count to 10 and then continue to turn key on and she if ur luck changes. the switch in the caviler was roughly 800 dollars and that was 4 years ago the parts was right at 5 and the labor was costly cause they had to program the pcm to the key good luck and hope this helps