I have a 1989 Pontiac Firebird 2.8l V6. I'm deciding to post here to get an idea of how to diagnose this issue. Basically the Firebird will not start and there is no crank whatsoever when turning the key. It used to start perfectly fine. One day I tried starting the Firebird and I heard a strange electrical type buzzing noise to the lower left dash area by the fusebox or steering wheel. On the second attempt it started right up. On a different day I tried to start it again and it would not start. It made the buzzing noise again from that same area. I'm not sure exactly where the noise came from but it sounded like inside the dash to the left of the steering wheel and maybe close to the fuse box. As I kept trying to crank it I heard the buzzing sound getting fainter and fainter until it finally stopped. Then I heard some click type sounds. Eventually the clicking sounds stopped too and I hear nothing now.

When I turn the key, the gauges move and most electronics like the radio shut off but nothing happens. No cranking at all. All other electronics seem to work fine like the headlights. I checked the fuses and they all look ok. Made sure the battery was charged to max at 12.67 volts with no corrosion on the terminals. Checked 3 spots with ground wires on the firewall and the ground under the engine and they all seem snug and connected. Starter looks new and was installed by the previous owner. Wires seem snug. The car has VATS but the security light stays off. It lights briefly when first turning to on and then disappears after 3 seconds. I dug my way to the Starter Enable Relay and am not sure if its good or bad. I tried touch the two leads from the big wires together with a wire but nothing happened. Should I try replacing the relay? Any information or leads would be appreciated! Thank you.

 

Buzzing is likely the starter relay.

Sounds like a VATS issue.

You can try sticking a LARGE piece of wire (#12 stranded would be about right) in the terminals of the connector on that relay, to jumper the 2 LARGE wires together; then turning the key and see if it works. I suppose you could even leave it like that if you want, it would disable VATS but in a 6-cyl car in 2019 that's probably not too big of a deal.

 

Ah I forgot to mention that I have had VATS like problems before with the car. No security light but when I crank it, nothing would happen. I would leave the key in the accessory position for 10 minutes and then everything would suddenly work again. I guess I will try getting a hold of another starter relay and see if anything is different. If not then I will try out sticking a 12 gauge wire between the two terminals. There is no chance the Ignition Switch would make a buzzing sound is there? And if the problem really is primarily with VATS, what is an easy way to test if VATS is the cause?

 

Far be it from me to use words like "always", "never", "none", "all", "impossible", and the like; given that all it would take to make me a liar, would be ONE instance to the contrary; but short of that, I would agree.

By jumpering the relay connector terminals as described; which would then carry the starter solenoid signal from the key and the safety switch to the solenoid, independent of the state of the "starter enable" (aka VATS) relay.

 

Got it. As soon as I get the materials together I'll try it out and report my findings.

 

If you remove the prom and jumper the enable relay it should fire up if it’s a vats issue. The engine will run real rough in limp home mode. If it does you can repair the vats or get a prom for your car with vats delete or a hz modulator to feed the ecm a hz signal like the passkey module does.

 

Is there a way to test the 14093107 relay? Either with a multimeter or some other way? Thanks.

 

By jumpering the connector terminals and seeing if the rest of the circuit works.

Get that yes/no answer first. Quickest way to get to the root of the problem.

 

So I found the relay on ebay for about 10 bucks. Also ordered some wire. The relay came first so I decided to pop it in and see if it works. Funny enough it started right up. So I guess I got lucky that it was just the relay that went bad. But if the VATS ever does go bad, I'll keep the wiring around just in case. So the relay was hidden behind some gooey wall under the dash. Is it vital that I restore the wall or can I just throw the plastic cover over it and move on?

Thanks,

 

I'm posting here again because I'm having new problems with the Firebird. The same thing happens. I turn the key, no crank. I think it might not be completely VATS related because I tried jumping the starter relay terminals like was mentioned in the above posts and it still would not crank. The only thing that seems to make it work again is time. Sometimes it's 20 minutes. Sometimes it's a couple hours. When I crank the car and it doesn't start, I notice the brake light comes on the dash and temp gauge goes to max. Also I find that the car usually ends up like this after I have reversed. In general the car stalls a lot but seems to stall more in reverse. Maybe rain water is leaking on something? Too many possibilities. But yeah basically I come back to the car and it just starts after a while. Not sure where to start. Could it be the Ignition Switch? Or maybe the neutral safety switch? If anyone has an idea how to test something I'll try it out.
Thanks,

 

To anybody wondering what the problem was, it ended up being the ignition switch. Car starts every time now.