Im troubleshooting a cranking problem on a 1988 TBI 305/auto Trans am, my first question is does this year have VATS? Also is this a neutral safety switch for a manual? i found it under the dash..

 

Yellow and purple are definitely starter wiring ;
you could try jumpering that connector to see if it fixes your problem

 

i believe the birds did have VATS in 88. the camaro got it in 89, corvette got it in 86

 

I tried to jump them but iv got nothing trying to turn her. over

 

Im starting to wounder if thats the case... the previous owners before me said they swaped in a new steering column and it woudnt start so they put in a new ignition cylinder still woudnt start... now its become my problem, something else that iv tested was there is no draw what so ever on the battery when you are turning the key forward to engage the starter... iv only looked at this issue for a couple hours the last couple nights i had a buddy help me last night with both think its something easy...

 

If the car was VATS equipped it would need a key of the correct resistance as the original for VATS to operate

So the car is new to you , has never started?????
Should mention minor details like that because most would think you are trying to fix a sudden problem ,
not a screw up from a PO

 

Yeah i have no idea if the car is VATS. Yes car is new to me. Just trouble shooting someone elses problem that was never fixed. How can you tell if a car has vats?

 

When the keys is in the on potions "service engine lights on" no other lights when are on but when you turn the key to start it "service engine lights on" and the "brake" light comes on but goes away when you back off the crank. if this was a vats car wouldn't you see a security light? this car also has a stupid after market alarm system something else I'll have to look into i think.

 

You are on your own with that.
Until you have the car in stock wiring config , any help you get from here will only be guesses

 

i figured as much...

 

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...onnectors.html

post #3 has a link to austinthirdgen, they have wire diagrams by model & year.

Maybe you can find help there??

 

Turns out it was just the starter...

 

haha wow. must be nice with it bieng that simple. online diag is so hard lol

 

Yeah! i just think its slightly funny and sad that the owner before me automatically thought it was a ignition issues and replaced the steering column and then ignition cylinder when the column didn't fix the issue... It's slightly my fault for falling victim to what he told me had been done and that he insisted it was something to do with the wiring.

 

Makes me wonder how many people get these cars cheap from people that give up trying to fix a basic problem