I bought a 1989 trans am a few days ago. The PO said it was running the day before I went to look at it. When I went to look at it the Alarm started going off when I opened the door and the red security light started blinking.
When I tried starting it Nothing Happened, the lights were working properly so it wasnt the battery. At first I thought it was the starter but then my friend said it was probably VATS acting up. The PO lowered the car by half and offered to tow it to me, I couldnt pass it up so I bought it (I knew it was a risk). Its in my garage right now. Also the positive battery terminal was burning hot when I touched it

The PO said he replaced the steering wheel column so it uses normal keys. I was going to try the resistor bypass but I couldn't since I cant measure the resistance of the key resistor pellet

I've been look around and found some cheap bypass modules on ebay for about $20 http://cgi.ebay.com/ebaymotors/ws/eB...d=220572989482

I'm not sure If I even need to bypass since it has normal keys.

I've looked at the VATS diagram but it confuses me. I found a blown 30A fuse on some wire under the dash and replaced it. I've aslo been trying to find the Vats fuse but can't find it

 

I would sort that out first.
May simply be bad connection on battery wires and grounds not allowing full current needed to turn starter.
Check and clean both ends of both battery cables.

After doing that run a wire to starter solenoid terminal and touch it on batt +.( out of gear )
Does engine crank? If not you have a starter problem
If engine cranks ,turn key on and do again and see if engine fires.
If it does , problem is with starter circuit; could be bad IGN switch , neutral switch or starter enable relay.
If engine doesn't fire then VATS related

 

There's some red wire that was near the battery, it wasn't connected when I went to see the car. Also the battery cables are both black, there's two red wires on one of the terminals, I'm assuming that ones the positive cable

 

To access the starter, I would need to jack the car up wouldn't I? I can't jack it up since its too close to some shelves which gives me no space in the front of the car, unless someone helps me push it out a little

 

Heay, Billy, I know this is old, however, have you manage to fire the engine at the end. The other thing, I would love to cut off my alarm for good, I don't need, to me this alarm thing is more trouble than good, do you guys know if I can cut it off from the fuse box, and which specific fuse to cut. I can't crank my GTA and I know it's the alarm

 

Yeah I did fire it up. One of the Fuses to the alarm was blown and the alarm remote wouldn't work. You probably have to look at some wiring diagrams to see whats stock and go from there. I haven't taken the alarm off yet but, I will soon.