I am a new member here so I would like to start by saying hi to everyone, and bare w/ me, this is my first post. I can't imagine that anyone wants to talk 'bout VATS, it being such a common irritant.however, any help at all is much appreciated!

I have a '91 Camaro RS (305 TBI) 5 speed. All of a sudden, Car wont start...
All electrical functioning properly, all guages and headlights working 100%. However, When turning key, I get NOTHING. Starter doesnt respond at all, nor do I hear click from starter enable relay.

Being the genius that I seem to believe myself to be just before I really screw things up, I decide that it's a VATS problem, and I GROUND the YELLOW wire w/ the BLACK STRIPE from the STARTER ENABLE RELAY. Now starter turns and cranks motor, but it still wont start. No Fuel I think. "VATS module" not sending FUEL enable signal to "ECU" "ECM" "PCM"? How do I get my car to start?!!? -Thanks for any help, it is appreciated much by me AND my boss who needs me at work tomorrow!

 

Idont have vats on my 87 iroc but i do know you can have them tuned out of your chip,but that may not be the problem.How old is the fuel pump?Have you had it replaced/checked.OH,and welcome to the boards.

 

Thanks! The fuel pump is no more than 3 yrs old... As is fuel filter. Not sure how to get computer to enable fuel to get to injectors...
How do I get Injectors to fire at startup?

 

Unless you can get a square wave to the ECM you can't just jumper stuff.

If you think it is the key or the tumbler you can unplug the VATS wire from the tumber and jumper it using resistors that match the resitance of your key. That will bypass the key and the tumbler part of it (the common failure area).

Oh, and is the "Security" light staying on solid after you try to start it? It should turn off after like 3 seconds, if it doesn't then it is the VATS.

 

I'm not sure either.I'm no computer guy and only a fair mechanic,but you can find out alot useing the search feature.There is a computer prom burning meesage board on here as well

 

<HR>
Hey Thanks AmorgetRS. I appreciate the help. Yeah the "Security" light stays on. Is there any way to simulate the signal to enable the fuel injectors? What if I connect a transistor to the fuel enable pin on the PCM? 30Hz?

 

No, the problem is that it is looking for a square wave, not a resistance. The VATS box is looking for the resistance. You can buy a VATs bypass box from Summit that creates a square wave.

Have you tried measuring the resistance of the pellet in the key then matching that resistance with resistors soldered in series, and plugging that into the wires that come from the tumber? They are white and orange as I recall, all by themselves and a rather small gauge.

 

hey hey hey now thats a problem i know. i just got my vats system fixed in my 91 camaro. do u have a second key?? if so here is a simple way to check ur igniton tumbler to see if thats the problem without having to change your igniton.

if you have a second key go to advanced auto and buy another tumbler with a dummy key. there is an orange wire that runs off of the tumbler in the colum and runs under the dash. unplug the old wire and plug in the new one. place ur second key in the new tumbler and turn the key thats in the colum that will tell you if the tumbler in the colum is bad. if so replace with the new one and go to your friendly GM, Pontiac dealer with your old key and get a new one cut Ta da

 

I found the orange tube with 2 white wires inside. Then unpluged the conector for them at the bottom of the colum. Next i cut the side of the wire going up the colum and removed it. Got my wire stripers, a soldering iron and my spare key. Solder the white wires on the keys contacts. Wrap well with electrical tape, wires are weak and tend to come off. Now just plug in the connector into the car. Now start up your car.

It's been 2 years and it's worked fine for me.

 

Why ruin your key? Just got an ohm meter and measure the resistance of they chip in the key and match it up with resistors from Radio Shack. It costs 5 bucks at the most and it is much easier to solder the resistors then the key.

 

 

Still Havin' Problems....
Well I stoped into my local Power Chevrolet dealership and had the key's resister value measured. They told me that it had a resister value of "9"... Which I put a multimeter on the "pellet" and cant get a reading from it. However the dealership says its working properly w/ a value of 9. The closest I could get to that was a resister w/ a value of "10" which is acceptable as far as I understand. I found the 2 white wires under the dash which i believe to be from the "tumbler" , that connect, via a wiring harness, to a purple/white and a black/white wires going to the VATS module. I cut both white wires w/ orange coating and soldered 10 oam resister in. Then re-connected both white wires on other side of resister. I think I did that wrong? Also keep in mind that starter enable relay is grounded out. Starter cranks car, but no fuel=no start. Whats going on here?!!?!??!?!?!

 

A resistor value of 9 from GM isn't the resistance. They are weird that way to make it seem all secretive on how the system works. 9 is actually 3010 ohms (acceptable range 2890-3150).

 

I know a guy that did a lot more than ruin a key. Instead of doing that he ripped his EFI. Did a carb conversion and it cost him alot more than a $35 key. He spent 600 bucks. So I think I'll stick with the ruined key.