So I'm assuming its a vats issue from reading other posts. Every once in a while like once a week or every two weeks the car wont turn over and the security light stays on and I don't hear the fuel pump kick in. I bought a new key but havent had it cut yet, was looking to get a new cylinder too. Couple questions will the cylinder affect what resistance it is looking for or does that come from the vats computer? And which part behind the dash is the vats computer i wanna check and make sure its not loose at all because i had the dash apart a while ago when I swapped the heater core.

 

Don't buy anything else. If it is a Vats issue it most likely is the skinny wire in the column leading from the key cylinder down the column. Better fix before you get stranded somewhere. There's a good article here in the how-tos section and another in there with more info. You can either take the column apart behind the steering wheel and replace the cylinder or do the bypass outlined in many places here on TGO. Not hard, just kind of tedious. Good luck and have fun!
https://www.thirdgen.org/vats/
Henry

 

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Here's another article, you can find many online that may make it more clear. You may just need to make sure the contacts on both sides of the key are clean and not gunked up in any way?
https://www.lockmasters.com/ecommerc...%20Article.pdf
Hope this helps some

 

Anyone know where I can get a 3.740 ohms resistor to bypass it? I did a search on eBay and nothing came up.

 

You would most likely need to put two or three resistors together in series to get the correct resistance. Something like a 3k, 680, and a 56 should get you within tolerance. I bought a package of over a thousand resistors for around $8 shipped off Ebay when I temporarily bypassed mine because it was cheaper then trying to source just the ones I needed locally.

 

Got mine at Radioshack.

 

Yeah radio shack here switched to sprint store, not sure they still sell anything anymore haven't been there since the buyout, I miss living in Phoenix near frys electronics!

 

Thats what i had to do also and i would solder them in so you will not have issues later

 

My personal preference is to just cut the wiring going to the ignition switch but after the connector that connects the ignition switch to the body harness. That way you can remove the pigtail from the car, solder in the resistors, and then just plug them in. I figure the wiring in the ignition switch is already messed up so you aren't ruining anything there and if I do replace the ignition switch with a new VATS on I can just get the right key and plug the whole thing in.

 

Directed Electronics 652T GM VATS Bypass Kit had the resistors to bypass. I got it on Amazon for about $5

 

How is it going? Real quick question I have a 91 pontiac firebird with the 305. It started not wanting to start sometimes to finally not starting at all. I learned it was a security problem that could be fixed with bypassing the system with a resister. I install the resister the car fires up problem fixed. My question I have tho is that all I need to do or is there more? By doing the bypass will it effect the way my car runs will it mess with my computer or over time will it make my car run like crap. It's kinda running like crap now. It was running great but on day it just seemed like it lost a lot of power. This was before the security light came on tho. I just installed some headers and a heated o2 sensor. I'm pretty for sure I have an exuast leak coming from my passenger side header. But I don't think that's the only reason for loosing that much power. It seems like it's only running off of 6 out 8 cylinders. It's running really rich to by the smell of things. When I give it gas like leaving a stop light in a non racing manner it seems to shake. I'm thinking spark plugs or maybe I don't have the heated o2 sensor hooked up right. Any help is better then non. I gotta say thanks for the previous tips this site has help me out a lot. I've learned so much about my car from this site, but I still need to learn more.

 

VATS is not your issue. The resistor simply fools the computer into thinking the correct key is in the ignition. If it runs then your resistor fix worked. Your rough running is probably caused by one of the other things you mentioned. You mentioned that you just installed headers. With that in mind it's possible that you may have a plug wire or wires resting on a hot header tube. If so you could have fried one or more plug wires and don't have good power or maybe zero power to some of the plugs.