Two problems related to starter have been reported for the 1997 Chevrolet Lumina. The most recently reported issues are listed below.
I was driving my car one day, and when shutting it off briefly in a friends driveway, it refused to start. I had accessory power, but the starter would not crank. After checking that there was a good connection with the battery, there was still no ability to crank. After trying for about 5 minutes multiple times, the car finally turned over and started. I immediately drove it home, which took about 1 hour, but the security light kept intermittently coming on and turning off. The consequences of this was that I almost stranded an hour away from home, and now I cannot rely on my vehicle to start, and so I feel it cannot be relied on to drive. When looking in forums and searching for answers to this question, I have found that a lot of users are experiencing problems with their pass lock systems, and we do not feel that this system should be failing.
While driving the vehicle and making a right turn there was a noise like metal on metal. When taken to dealer, problem was discovered to be a weak spring in the starter. The starter has been replaced. No problem with vehicle at this time.