i recently bought a 91 camaro it had a push button starter already. ok well it drove fine... i drove a couple days then went to my families and in all the chaos my keys disapeared well first of all the steering wheel isnt the original one it is smaller so (someone showed me how of course) but i put some little pin that unlocked the steering wheel and turned the ignition cuz i figured since i have the push button starter it will still start...well i would get it started but it wont idle it backfires and you can smell gas really bad.....well i know im just a girl but i know enough to not let any idiot start doing stuff to it without knowing whats wrong...i even had someone trying to convince me my catalyic converted is bad and let him cut it off..anyway i got to thinking since my key had a little black square thing on it could that be it...and several people said no it wouldnt even start if that was it...so i when searching the web and i think it is the problem cause it drove fine and the only thing that changed was i lost the key.........so what do you experts think can you give a girl some advice

 

that "black chip" is a resistor.with VATS (Vehicle Anti Theft System) theres a module that reads the value of the "chip" and grounds the start enable relay and sends a signal to the ecm to allow the injectors to fire. so without the key, it shouldnt start at all unless the entire VATS have been disabled or bypassed.

 

well it starts ...just dont run right....so since it starts , do u think it is something else wrong and not the vats so its possible the previous owners disabled it already??

 

If it starts and runs ( no matter how bad ) it is not VATS related

Need to pull the error codes and see if any thing is showing

Read
http://www.freeautomechanic.com/diag...blecodes5.html

 

It will start and run fine if the VATS has been bipassed correctly. It sounds like you may a a sensor or something wrong with it.

 

thank you guys very much!!! well i guess the previous owner already disabled the vats and just ust the key to unlock the steering wheel...so now i guess i have a bigger problem...lol when it starts it wont idle i have to feather the gas petal but if i push to hard it will die too... it sometimes backfires and it puts out a very strong exaust smell real bad and i can hear a sound like air sucking somewhere a little....like i said it ran GREAT i could leave it idlling and it didnt get hot or anything, i parked it a couple days lost keys then wahlah it runs like this i thought that was bizarre ,so i thought since the key was the only thing that happened that , that was the prob.....but i am noo mechanic but thanks so much guys i was hoping you guys would answer my post at least now i wont be wasting time

 

sounds like you got a vacuum leak

 

Yeah if you don't have a "Service Engine Soon" light on, then more than likely you've got a vacum leak, which isn't a bad fix once you find what is causing it.

 

i have been trying to check out my car and follow vacum hoses and the canister lookin thing that has a thing that says purge on it and it has hoses comming off it well then it has a 3 ways hose thing and one of the hoses comin off of it was tucked back and went nowhere just open...is that right? and then in the front of car i was following a little hose and way down i feel a kinda big round ball the hose goes to it is broke off somethjing cause it is not attatch to the car by anything else but the one hose ...what is that?.......man i just wish i could understand this crap...not sure what to do

 

the canister thing is part of the fuel evap system. its an emissions thing. the big round ball is a vacuum reserve canister. it only has the one connection so thats ok. is the car tbi or tpi? im thinking that one hose not connected could be a problem. try capping it off and see how the car runs.