I am having a few electrical issues...

I put a tilt steering column out of an '84 Sport in my '89 RS and im guessing the ignition switch is'nt working... Just dropped my small block in, havent started it yet, but everything under the hood is getting juice that is supposed to. Lights come on when you open the doors, but the headlights/taillights dont work, and nothing happens when you turn the key. No dinger, no fuel pump, no power to the distributor, nothing. I've double and triple checked all of the connectors on the column and theyre all fine.

Also, all of my fuses/relays are brand new.

Any suggestions?

 

1989 has VATS, 1984 does not - so the VATS system in the 1989 car needs bypassed, since you are trying to use a non-VATS key cylinder.

www.thirdgen.org/vats

 

Oh thats right i completely forgot about that! Thanks for that, it helped but i just ran into more problems...

So I checked my old key, and its got about 2.4 MegaOhms of resistance. Then I was looking at my old column, and I'm pretty sure the VATS connector on it is a two-wire orange and white. I looked back under my dash (This has been my project car for the past two yrs, and I put the tilt column in probably six mos ago) and the connector coming from the dash for the column one is a two-wire purple and white. But because my new column is pre-VATS, it doesn't even have a connector for this purple/white one... So is there any way to just bypass and get rid of the whole stupid thing? I thought it wouldn't do anything now because it ran through the ECM, which I removed, because my new engine is carbureted.

 

you can do the resistor trick to bypass your VATS. basically you car will think its always got the correct key inserted and will start as long as you can turn the key (chipped key or not)

 

Yeah but theres not a wire coming off of the steering column for the VATS system, so I don't have the other end of what I'd need to splice the resistor into. Or could I just run a wire from some other switched 12V source (or from one of the fuses or something) to that wire under the dash, and just put the resistor in between that? I'll probably try that tonight and see what happens.. Because it shouldn't matter where it's coming from, as long as it has power with the right ammount of resistance, right?

 

You put the correct resistor between the two purple and white wires to do the VATS bypass. You can bend the ends of the resistor and just stick the ends in that plug, or If you still have your old column with the orange sleeve with two white wires inside and the plug on the end, you can just cut off a couple inches of that wire, solder the resistor between the two white wires and then just plug it in to the other plug. Doesn't need any power

 

exactly what he said...

 

Ohhhh so it's just between those two... I wasn't sure if the white was a ground for it or what... Electricity is obviously not my forte. Good thing I never got a chance to try my previously stated idea lol

Thanks for all the help.

 

Sure, let us know if it works out OK, and then you'll be able to help somebody else of of the same predicament
You know where to find the chart for resistance values, right? If not, it's right here
https://www.thirdgen.org/vats_passkey_system
Looks like you might be a #8

 

@Henryd3: Haha yeah thats very true, I'll be a freakin pro at this stuff by the time I'm done screwing with everything...

So the resistance chart and the walkthrough on the system were both extremely helpful. Just one thing... The more insight I get on this stuff, and the more I find out from the help of all of you guys, the more I find that's even more messed up than I originally thought. So, now for the new issue.

For lack of a better term, the kid I bought this car from was a dumbass. It had a non-running 2.8, and before pulling it, he sort of started the conversion on his plans of a carb'd v8 by cutting out "unnecessary wires". I've already fixed a lot, but the main thing now is the plug ins that hang on that bracket on the firewall by the brake booster. I'm pretty sure that oval-shaped one is the multipurpose relay, and that explains why I have no wipers or flashers. But he also removed those flat wide ones too. One was for OBD1, I know that much... But the other one, the one that was actually plugged into something and not just hanging there, is that a relay or something for the VATS system? I'm hoping that this makes sense to someone, and my car isn't just that screwed up... I'll try to get pics up soon.

 

Is the motor you dropped in fuel injected or carbed?

 

Carbureted. I've done all of that work, the 2.8 was still in it when I bought it. The previous owner planned on pulling it when he got all of his "wire work" done, but he ran out of cash, and now it's my problem. lol so do you know which connectors/relays I'm talking about?

 

Okay, so here's what I'm dealing with. This whole thing was sitting in the pass. seat when I picked the car up, but I know it goes on the driver side of the firewall:


This is the connector that was just hanging on its own. Pretty sure it's a diagnostic link.


And here's the second deal. I'm almost positive that the rounded relay (left) is the general purpose relay, and that will have to go back in somehow... But the right one is what's getting me... The plug in is the same on it as the pic above, just the one plugged in has more wires, as the picture shows...

 

those pics arent showing. if they cut up the driver side harness, then its going to be a pain to fix. if they cut up the passanger side harness, thats no big deal since all that controls is the fuel injection thats no longer there.

 

Yeah, it's been a while since I've been on, but I think I sort of figured it out... I got the general purpose relay wired back in, but not sure yet if it's right... I'll probably hook up the batt and try it later today.

As for the security system, there's not much that I can do except for hack it out. All of the wiring for that relay is gone, so I think I'm just gonna drill a hole through the firewall, hardwire the ignition and isolate the fuel pump circuit. Maybe even a push button start but who knows...

Anyways, thanks to everyone who tried to help solve my problem. When I do the rest of the wiring, I'll probably do a thread on it or something

 

FINALLY got around to finishing the electrical work, three months later... But I figured it out, the ignition switch was bad Now she turns over like a champ. The other thing I had to do was eliminate the start enable relay in the kicker panel, and just run the wire from the switch straight to the neutral safety.

Now, one last thing before I have it running...
I also found out what those relays were. one was the fan, but the other was for the fuel pump. Not a big issue, I just wired a four-pin in and it should be good to go. Just need to know which wire to splice into off the ignition switch. Pretty sure it's the big orange one, but not sure. Can anyone confirm this?

 

should be a big fat pink one