Hey all, could really use some help here. I have an 88 GTA, 5.7L, Auto, digital dash, bone stock. I stopped to gas up, and then the car wouldn't fire up at all. The fuel pump is fine, and we jumped the starter, which worked when jumped. The engine fired with starter fluid, but wouldn't stay running, so I figured it was the VATS. Checked the codes, and yup, it's code 46 (VATS failure). So far I've done some digging here (Tech: How to bypass VATS - Third Generation F-Body Message Boards) and also on a couple FB forums, as well as Youtube videos. Seems pretty straightforward to wire a resistor into the resistance circuit. I checked my key resistance, and it's in the list of 15 resistance values used by GM.

The issue I'm having is everything I've read or watched says I should find a connector that has a single external orange wire coming from the steering column to a 2 pin connector, with the connector on the VATS side having 2 wires coming out of it. The first obvious connector I found is both pictures 1 and 2, but that is a different slide connection with a black wire coming from the steering column, and it leads into a connector that has 4 wires. If this is the connector, it's way different from what everyone else seems to have? I dug around to try and find another connector, which is the one in the 3rd picture (the connector on top). This one has 2 wires coming out of what would be the VATS connector end, but the steering column end again has a black outer wire, with 2 yellow wires inside. Is this the ignition to VATS connection? Need some help since I can't find anything that has an orange wire. Once I'm sure which is the connector, I can go ahead and order the VATS module with the inbuilt resistors to plug it in. Thanks much!

PICTURE 1


PICTURE 2


PICTURE 3

 

The one thing I can 100% assure you of, is that pic 1 & 2 are your cruise control connector, and are not VATS.

I don't see anything in pic #3 that looks like the VATS connector in my car, but then again my car is an 89 and not an 88, so the connector for mine may not be the same as yours.

 

Thanks for getting back to me on this. Yeah I figured pic 1 and 2 weren't the VATS after looking at it more. I'm just stumped because the only 2 pin connector I've found is the one in pic 3 (upper one with yellow wires coming out of a black outer wire), and there's definitely no orange wire anywhere. That's why I was wondering if 88 was a weird year where black was used.

 

Ok, so that reminds me of another thing I've read here somewhere;

For the majority of the thirdgens, the first year for VATs was 1989. However, the 1988 GTA got VATs, and then again I'm not even sure if it was all GTAs in 1988 or just some of them. Given this, for all I know, maybe your VATS connector is different ?

Here is a picture of a VATS connector exactly like mine that I shamelessly stole from somewhere out here in internetland (pardon the **** poor resolution) ......

Got anything that looks like this under there ?

 

You're right about the weirdness of the connector wire color. I did some digging, and it turns out that while VATS was standard on all models 89 upwards, in 88 it was phased in, but only on the GTA's, and ONLY on GTA's made Dec 1987 onwards. The connector in my last pic (with the yellow wires) is my VATS connector. It's just that it has a black outer wire instead of the orange, and 2 yellow wires inside instead of white. Before they standardized it with the orange/white wire combo. Here's a somewhat better pic of the 2 pin connector with yellow wires coming out of a black outer shell