I go to start the car...nothing. Thanks to this board and all the people on it I diagnosed it was a bad VATS. I first took off the kick panel and cut and connected the yellow and green wires. Now the car turns over fine, but no fuel is getting to the engine. What is my next step? I have searched all the threads but cannot find the answer I need. I also got the Key checked out at the dealership and they say it is fine. Please help, Thanks in Advance!

 

Are these the VATS wires I need to solder the resistors into? I tested the key and I have an 887 ohm resistance.

 

Yup, good job.

But I wouldn't solder it in yet. You can just connect the resistor temporarily until you are 100% sure that this solves your problem.
If it does, you have two basic ways to go around it:
1) solder the resistor in and enjoy the feeling that your car can start now ..... with a screwdriver.
2) replace the ignition lock cylinder to do it right and keep the VATS functionality. The cylinder isn't that expensive, it cost me around $30 and two matching keys cost me another $30.

The decision is yours.

Lou

 

Thanks Lou! So if I want to test it with the resistors, I just put them in between the two wires and make a loop then reconnect them to the plug that runs away from the steering column?

 

Yup, that's how I'd do it. You won't easily find a resistor with 870 Ohms but you can connect two others in series to create that much resistance. Let's say 470 and 390 would give you 860. The resistance accepted by the VATS module for your key should be in the 850-942 Ohm range. So you can even use a 10k and 1k resistor in parallel. (easier to find)

Hope this helps.
Lou

 

So, today bought myself a multimeter, digital one, at WalMart for $15. Went to RadioShack and spent a whopping $2 on 10 100 ohm resistors. Went home twisted together 9 of them and got a reading of 889! 2 Ohms off my key reading. Twisted the resistor chain to the two little white wires and VROOM! Started right up and ran fine. I feel like a real mechanic! haha Thanks ever so much for the help, I am going to need more as I restore this thing. Oh, by the way, the local Chevy Shop wanted $80 to do a VATS diagnosis and then between $200 and $500 to fix it.

 

Now that you know how to fix it, you could get 1 resistor (910 ohm) instead of putting 9 resistors in series. Any resistor between 850 and 942 ohm should work acording to this chart I got from another thread.

 

When purchasing resistors for this "mod" what wattage resistors would we be buying? 1/8? or 1/4watt @ 870ohms for example?

 

0.125W is adequate, 0.25W is more than enough.

Hope this helps.
Lou

 

I have the same two wires in the orange housing hanging down with nohwhere to F'n connect it??

 

thx lou fixed.