Took off my steering wheel and deleted airbag and now car wont start!
 

I put on a new GT Grant steering wheel on my 91 RS and disconnected my airbag at base of steering column and now my car won't start. no power to starter or fuel pump but everything else works, just not letting car start/run. I believe it is that VATS.... HELP!!!!:(

Re: Took off my steering wheel and deleted airbag and now car wont start!
 

I would bet you are correct that it is the VATS, I think you need to go into the computer and delete that.

I would much rather have an airbag than a cool looking steering wheel, haha.

Re: Took off my steering wheel and deleted airbag and now car wont start!
 

the airbag was shot anyway. I put it all back together the way it was and nothing. so I have to screw with the ECU?

Re: Took off my steering wheel and deleted airbag and now car wont start!
 

I think I have a VATS problem as well. Google "bypass gm Vats" kinda rednecky but I am going to try it tomorrow.

Re: Took off my steering wheel and deleted airbag and now car wont start!
 

Ok I looked on google at the bypass with the resistor fab. My question is how does bypassing the VATS perception of the key that is in the ignition going to help the car start for me when it all started over taking out that airbag??? I left the battery off for the night to...just want to see what that does over night.

Re: Took off my steering wheel and deleted airbag and now car wont start!
 

As noted you may have disturbed the wiring going to the key reader in the Ign switch
But if your fuel pump is not running them you have other problems anyway

Re: Took off my steering wheel and deleted airbag and now car wont start!
 

Be aware VATS has 3 parts ;
a input (the most common problem key reader ) and outputs (the starter and the injectors)
rednecky resistor fix only " fools " the VATS module into thinking the correct key is in the ignition.

If fault is with the output side of the VATS module then resistor mod will not fix anything

Re: Took off my steering wheel and deleted airbag and now car wont start!
 

I am going to check the wiring to my ignition and make sure I did not bump/pull anything loose. If the VATS does not control the fuel pump at all something got disturbed somewhere else blocking the flow of power.

Re: Took off my steering wheel and deleted airbag and now car wont start!
 

Well my wiring at the ignition is ok :( No power to anything but the lights, radio, windows/door. Something is stopping it from getting to fuel pump and delivery/starter.:mad:

Re: Took off my steering wheel and deleted airbag and now car wont start!
 

have a question as well.. swapping an '86 steering column into a '91 camaro. I dont have the harness from the passenger side hooked up, so no computer, vats, right? I used the engine harness from my 86 camaro. Is there something that the ignition wires go through under the dash before going to the starter that i am missing? I have power in the car but no crank. Also i did not see where the cable runs into the column that prevents it from going into gear when the key is off. Could someone tell me where that goes into the column?

Re: Took off my steering wheel and deleted airbag and now car wont start!
 

I'm honestly not sure about that one....I have to say at least from my stand point the the wiring in our cars is crazy but, wiring in general sucks for me....just not my thing. I solved my problem kind of ******* rigged but I did it up clean. I ran a hot 12v wire to a toggle switch then right to the yellow ignition under the dash and all you do is switch on the direct power and the dash lights for security, SES and all those come on and just turn the key. starts right up. and a crazy thing it will do now....keep the switch on and I can take the key out of the ignition and my car will stay running..... lol idk.

Re: Took off my steering wheel and deleted airbag and now car wont start!
 

Per the following images, use a solderless splice, a bit of wire and an eyelet terminal to ground black with yellow trace #625 in the first diagram, and dark blue #229 in the second to a good chassis ground. Chances are, there's a wire screwed to the floor or firewall near here anyway, use that. This will bypass VATS on both your starter and your fuel pump, as all it does is ground these circuits when the correct key pellet is inserted and the key is turned to start.

Full disclosure: I haven't done this yet, I'm going entirely on the diagrams to figure this out, but I'll be doing it on my car in a few days when I get my new steering column.

Attachment 363860 Attachment 363861

Re: Took off my steering wheel and deleted airbag and now car wont start!
 

Ok, so after some further research (read: I got schooled by BigBadLou!) Grounding the first wire will enable the starter, but cranking fuel won't happen, so I found this kit that's meant for doing engine swaps for VATS dependent PCMs to enable the cranking fuel without a VATS module hooked up.

http://www.summitracing.com/parts/PRF-64024/?rtype=10

Thanks again to BigBadLou for pointing out my error, much appreciated. :thanks: