I'm a little confused as to which cars were equipped with VATS. From what I have read on these forums it seems as if most LT1's have a VATS system. I currenly have a 1995 Caprice which has an LT1. I picked up a repair manual for this car and have searched through it and all the wiring diagrams but see no indication of a VATS system. All I have found is an anti-theft audio system, which appears to be an option. Is it possible that this car does not have a VATS system?

well, as I remember it, GM doesnt publish much about the VATS system. I dont think there was anything in the Chiltons or Hayes manuals about it, but I know there was a little but of info about it in the GM repair manual. I guess it would be possible that the Caprices dont have it, but Im not real sure.

Caprices, roadmasters,corvettes,camaros,grand ams,monte carlos,regals and impalas all have VATS now. It not published because it's a theif system !!! How would you like that some dude buy the Chilton for Caprice and steal your car ! ? ! well if you want info on it you will have too get the service manual for the car ... what are u looking for about the vats ??? I might have the info from the camaro service manuals

Well i'm mainly looking for the items I need to swap into my thirdgen, so that the LT1 will run. I pulled out the wiring harness today, I know what all the connectors are for under the hood, but when I get to the wires under the dash I have no idea what I'm looking at.

Does the VATS system read the resistance across your key and compare it to the value stored in the PCM?

It would probably help if I understood exactly how this anti-theft system works.

Sorry if i'm asking a lot of questions on this subject, it's my main worry.

Well it's pretty simple, what VATS does is giving out a 50 hertz signal to the ECM so it can turn on the "injectors" and the "fuel pump enable relay" also it sends out a signal the "starter enable relay" so the engine can crank . It works with the pellet resistence in the key. Usually the VATS "passkey" module will be located in the center dash and it will be very hard to remove "trust me", I cutted myself seriouly while trying that. If you need to locate the "starter enable relay" it will be most likely located in the driver left kick panel usually in a big chuck of sticky "sh*t". !!!

I hope this helps you understand what it does, if you need more info, tell me

Hey Matt, Im not so sure about the VATS any more. I think mine crapped out, because one morning I went to start it but the fuel pump wasnt turning on. We checked everything we could, then we checked the wire coming from the vats, no signal. so I was like wtf, didnt know why that would crap out all of a sudden. well, just to try it, we hard wired the relay so that when the key was on, the contacts were closed, of course the fuel pump turned on, but then it started up and ran just fine, without the vats working... and I know for a fact that the VATS worked right after the swap because a few months ago the key reader messed up, and it wouldnt even crank then. so something is really messed up.

TexasLT1

so you have your VATS bypassed now? Or it's just being weird?

apparently both. by bypassing the signal from the VATS to the fuel pump relay, Ive basically bypassed the vats. which doenst make sense, because if that vats wasnt working right, it shouldnt even crank over. so that tells me that its still working, atleast somewhat. I dont know, I havent had a chance to actually sit down and try and figure out whats going on.

if your VATS is bypassed, change your resistences, it may started to f*uck because of the car vibration and all that, if you're still using the key with the pellet resistence, try to clean the contacts. Mine is also acting up, I need to solder everything again .

yeah, well, I havent tried the other key yet, becuase I thought the same thing, maybe it wasnt making good contact. Im going to try that probably tomorrow and see what happens.

So would it be safe to asume that my ex-police cruizer 9C1 package does not need to have a VATS system bypassed? I don't think they had that option.. And I'm in the process of disassembling right now.. so I should look into this..