k guys this jsut happened out of nowhere. put key in security light stays on and car wont start. i had battery tested and starter is fine so i know its vats. thing is sumtimes i put the key in and the light goes off and it starts fine. do i gotta bypass this thing? or do i just need a new key?

 

Try cleaning the key where the resistance pellet is first. If that doesn't work i'de just go get another key made. No use bypassing it cause you need to find out what resistance the pellet is anyways to sodier in. Not to mention if you have the VATS system,it's a good thing to have.

 

Don't bypass it it. Find out the problem and have it fixed. If you bypass it, your f-body will be about the easiest thing to steal next to a 1989 honda accord.

 

The vats problem I had with my 89 was due to the thin wires attached to the pellet reader on the vats key cylinder. The wires rotate with the key cylinder every time you start the car. After a while, this breaks the wires. When mine started acting up, it had the same symptoms as your car. Sometimes it would start fine, other times nothing. I soldered the wires and put everything back together, but the wires ended up breaking again within a very short time, and I ended up having to pull my steering column apart in a truck stop with meager tools so I could fix it again. I checked into getting a new vats cylinder, but I really didn't want to spend over $50 just for a damn key cylinder! Plus, you have to go through the trouble of figuring out your resistance value on your key. What I ended up doing was taking the vats cylinder out of the column and replacing it with a standard key cylinder, which only ran me a measly $12 at the parts store. Then I fixed the wires on the vats cylinder one last time, stuck the key in it, put it underneath the dash on the driver's side just on top of the kick panel, and plugged it back into the connector, which is right at the base of the column in the dash harness. I liked doing mine this way because it didn't cost hardly anything,the wires will never break from rotation again, and if you still want to disable the car to prevent theft, all you have to do is reach under the dash and remove the original key from the vats cylinder. So if broken wires end up being your problem, this is a cheap and simple way to solve the problem.