okay, i drove my car home from the bus stop after work Christmas morning, and everything was fine. i got home, did the Christmas thing, slept, got up, and went to leave for work. car won't start. hell, car won't do anything, no trying to start, no clicking, no nothing. battery has a full charge, stereo works just fine, subs scared me, headlights work at full brightness, etc. etc. ... VATS was bypassed, and the starter is one of the most difficult things on my car to get to, impossible from the top (thanks govt. for all the smog **** in my way!!), cars too low to get at from the bottom without jacking, and i DO NOT go under a car in the street...at least not my street, too many *******s driving on my street, makes me nervous.

any ideas how a car would be perfectly fine and then the ignition switch becomes completely unresponsive without anyone even touching the car?

 

Pull the Gear selector to Neutral and try it, If the car starts, Neutral safety switch, if not, check Ignition switch (attached to Culumn under dash) Next is Heavy gauge Purple wire from Starter. if that's ok, Guess what!?!?!

 

it does the exact same thing in neutral. thought of that when it first wouldn't start. guess i get to tear apart under my dash now...as for the thick purple wire, what am i checking for, aside from the fact it's making a connection? also, where would this wire be going to on the other end?

 

Does it have the Anti theft system in the key. My 90 RS had that, It took a crap in the column and did the same thing. Woudn,t start for nothing.

 

that would be the VATS, which i bypassed months ago instead of replacing the contacts in the ignition tumbler. unless perhaps a resistor would randomly go bad?

btw Joeboy, to bypass the VATS you cut the wires going to the VATS contacts in the column, ohm out your key, and put a resistor inline instead of the wires going to the contacts. there are plenty threads here about it, and a write up in the tech articles section IIRC

 

disconnect, clean and reconnect the wire bolted to the back after you disconnect the neg on the battery..it feeds thru the alternator to the switch and it gets corroded sometimes..just a thought.

 

wait, the wire bolted to the back of what? you kinda lost me.

 

sorry...finger out ran thought..fat red wire from battery to alternator..like a 7/16 or 10mm nut..