2004 Ford Ranger 6-cyl 4L standard tranny, PATS system.
Over the last 3 weeks I've had an intermittent starting problem.
Starts in the morning, drive a mile to the grocery store, doesn't start. Does not crank at all. No clicking. All dash indicators light up just fine.
After 2 - 10 tries it starts OK.It had been getting progressively worse over time.
I recently replaced the battery and alternator and honestly this never felt like that was the problem.
I replaced the starter relay (56) and checked all the related fuses - all good.
After reading some posts in this forum and doing a bunch of other research, it seemed that the problem might be the clutch position switch. So I bought one and replaced it. I'm pretty confident I installed it correctly on the old clutch shaft.
Now I turn the key and it doesn't start at all. The dashboard lights up but no crank, no nothing. I thought I might have received a faulty part so cleaned up the old one (there was a bit of corrosion and grease from somewhere) and put it back in. Still no crank, no start.
The only thing I missed in the instructions was disconnecting the (-) battery terminal before I installed the new part the first time. Might it have lost the key code? What else could be happening?
Any insight would be appreciated.

Also FYI - last year someone tried to steal the truck and I had to get a new ignition cylinder and key. I got a locksmith to program a new key, and I still use the old one for the doors. Is it possible that the antenna has 'forgotten' how to read the RFID in the key?