Negative post on the battery was broken inside!
Hmmm...that's typical on a side-post battery.
Negative post on the battery was broken inside!
NOT a side post battery tho.....
Right...just a sidenote.
A side note on a top post
mine has a special black key that fits into a wiring harness under the driver dash, its an anti-theft device, not sure if its stock or not, i taped mine all up and shoved it back under the dash because it would fall out of the harness all the time, it used to be screwed to the center console about where your knee is
I wouldn't think it's the aftermarket HID's, I've got those on my 98 and never had that problem.
If the battery is good, and the key won't crank the engine, I'd suspect the ignition switch on the steering column that you replaced. I'd run a positive 12 volt jumper wire to the starter solenoid (small terminal) and see if it cranks. If it does, I'd replace the ignition switch on the new column, with the one that you took out.
That's just the way I would approach this, let me know if I'm way off base.
Isn't the Gen 2 ignition switch on the dash, not the column?