The strangest thing happened the other day... I went out to my car and tried to start my car (it usually fires right up with no hesitation), this time the starter went for a while. I stopped and tried again, but the engine would not fire. Just when I was about to give up, I tried one last time and the engine fired up. Although I was worried, I went ahead and drove it to work. At lunch I tried to start it again and there was nothing. No click, no starter, nothing! The battery was fully charged, all the interior accessories were working, etc.

At first I thought the problem could be my alarm malfunctioning (starter kill)? I disconnected it and rewired everything back to stock, but had no effect. I had my uncle (a good mechanic) come over and take a look. We installed a new ignition switch, with no luck, then he proceeded to disconnect some wiring under the dash and bypass the ignition, in which he was able to get the starter going again, but the engine would not fire (as before).

We checked everything... Fuel pressure, coil, distributor cap, we are getting spark to the plugs when the engine is turning over, etc.

Anyone have any suggestions? I’m at a complete loss.

 

If you bypass the VATS the Computer will not fire the injectors.

My car wouldn't start and I waited 5 min. or so and then it would start. After 4 or 5 bouts of this i found info on this forum and disconnected the the Wires from the Computer to the ignition switch and soldered in a couple of resistors to match my Keys and no more problem.

 

Thanks for the info. I don't mean to be a pain, but is there any way I can get more information on this procedure? I would need to know more about what type of resisters to use and where exactly to put them. =)

Or better yet, is there another way to fix this? What was causing the problem that you bypassed? Is it something that can be replaced to make it function correctly?

Much appreciated.

 

Are your injectors pulsing during the no-start condition?

 

I think the reason for my problem the key wasn't making proper contact with ithe ignition switch. It would always start eventually but I had to wait 3-5 minutes between attempts. I suppose I could have replaced the switch again but it expensive and I just installed a very alarm and it disables the igniton switch already.

Good Luck

 

Measure the resistance of the pellet on your key and buy a resistor of the value closest to it.

Instead of band-aid'ing it like that though, I would suggest trying to solve the problem.

Check the starter-enable relay, it's underneath the lefthand kickpanel usually buried underneath a mess of tar-like goo.

 

I just wanted to post and let everyone know that the problem was indeed the VATS system. I performed the bypass using a resistor and it worked like a charm.

Thanks to all who were involved to help with this project, and the ones responsible for creating and maintaining ThirdGen.org. I would have been in some serious trouble without it.