Hey guys.. my 88 TA TBI broke down a week ago. It wouldnt start and at first I thought it was a fuel pump again. Checked out the relay and found out that the pigtail for the fuel pump relay was shot, all the wires bent and broken right where the connector is. I went out, bought a new plug, installed it and bam the car started.. I drove to autozone to buy a couple bolts and...... no start... I had a voltmeter on me, and there was no voltage to the orange hot wire going to the relay. I put 12 volts to it, started it and drove the car home. I checked for continuity on the hot wire from the relay to the ecm and there is continuity. So the only thing i could think of was that the ecm went bad. I bought a new ecm, and still no voltage to the Relay... I need help... Might it possibly be an inertia switch, or some other input to the ecm that is not triggering it to put out 12v?? If so, where is it located so I can test it??
Thanks guys!!

 

VATS?

Autozone has wiring diagrams, lemme look.

Looks like you got a fusible link between +12V and the orange wire on the relay. The orange wire is what takes that +12V through the relay and is switched between "Prime" and "Run". Look at the wiring diagram I've attached.

Your "ECM" Signal driving the relay is on the dark green / white wire.

BTW autozone.com for all wiring diagrams... (click Vehicle Repair guides, you'll have to tell it 89 pontiac firebird, it doesn't have a TA).

Find that fusible link and I think your problem is licked. If I'm not mistaken its gonna be near the battery.

 

thank you so much... that was exactly the problem!!! btw... I am new at this stuff... what is VATS?

 

V = Very
A = Annoying
T= Trouble
S= Source



When I first encountered problems with VATS, I had a chip made to delete that pest.

 

That'll be $450 BTW. Just kidding, I do monitoring systems for mega and superyachts, we deal with wiring a hundred times more complicated than that. I know how terrible it is when your car just dies.

VATS really stands for Vehicle Anti-Theft system. If you look at your key and you see a little black pellet deal in the center, than your car has VATS. It reads the resistance of that pellet and if it matches, your car starts. Otherwise it disables the fuel pump/injectors and starter motor.

Its pretty common to have the connections in the ignition switch degrade over time and have the car keep you from starting it as if you were a thief, hence Very Annoying Trouble System.

 

Yea that field is pretty interesting.. I'm not too much into wiring, just trying to learn the basics for now.. My 88 isn't equipped with VATS, however my 91 is...

While were talking about anti theft systems, my 88 does have an AC Delco Anti theft module. It has a little black box that blinks when there is noise or vibration. There is also an led mounted in the dashboard next to the hatch open switch. Are you familiar with this system at all?? All i know is that when i bought the car, it wouldnt start. I then noticed that this light was blinking, unplugged the battery, then it started. I'm not sure how the system works, or if there is a remote to it that I was never given...??

 

Not particularly but I remember taking something like that out of my car the first day I got it. I think I still have the circuit board for it somewhere. It only had 2 wires connected and I never had any problems afterwords.