We rebuilt the motor and put it back in, hooked everything up, and it will not crank with the key. We are able to turn the motor over with a screwdriver jumping off the starter...(even though it was a brand new starter, we still wanted to make sure). The battery is new also. The purple wire on the starter solenoid that goes to the neutral safety switch does not have 12 volts at either end, but I do have resistance on the two white wires (for VATS) coming off the steering column-which match the resistance for the key pellet, there is no fluctuation while switching the key from on to off several times. All fuses have been checked. There is no power at the fuel pump relay either (again...signaling VATS, but...??). The security light is not coming on (for VATS) and we tried to read the check engine light with the code key and the dash lights did not flash (we have done this before on this vehicle and it did work, it just isn't working now). No dash lights are coming on now when switching the key on except the brake light and the seat belt light.

*Gasps for breath*...I'm not done yet...lol.

Starter Enable Relay: We found power going in but no power going out, but since this is linked to the VATS, we weren't sure if that meant that it was actually bad or if the VATS wasn't working correctly, if that was the reason for no power coming out of it. So...we took the dash panels off and found the VATS/Passkey box. The resistance going into the box matches the resistance of the key-meaning that the wires going from the ignition to the box are intact! YAY! There is power coming out of the box from the wire going to the ECM...so....we bought a new ECM because we found out that it could be tested though certain shops, but by the time we pay a mechanic $X we could buy a new ECM (and it is 17 years old anyway, so we decided to go ahead and change it). Anyway, plugged everything back up...still nothing. The dash is still torn apart so we can't see if there are any codes flashing or not with the new computer. I guess next time we get out there we are going to keep following wires and see what happens, but meanwhile...anyone have ideas?

 

No ideas? *cough* anyone out there?

 

Only thing that pops in my head is that the new ECM has a different resistance value.

 

I didn't think the ECM had anything to do with the resistance value because when we followed the wires to the Passkey module they were correct. After the Passkey module, the wires were holding a 10V charge to the ECM and the wiring diagrams showed that the wires going into the ECM from the Passkey module would use 50% duty cycle (and 50% of 10V charge is 5V, which is what the diagram shows inside the ECM).

Is there something I'm missing? (I'm actually asking...not being rude)

 

The ecm does use the resistance value but its stored in the chip. if you haven't done so yet change the chip in the ecm. I had problems with my vats before i decied to convert to tpi and just eliminate the vats al together

 

Update: We grounded the starter enable relay with a jumper wire with a good ground and the motor turned over. We went back to the VATS and used same jumper wire with a good ground in the VATS main ground and the motor turned over. We also took a multimeter and checked the ground and it is showing 10V. Being a ground...it shouldn't be reading 10V, correct?

We followed more wires and the fuel pump relay ground also has 10V. When we jumped the wire with a good ground the relay clicked.

We checked the ground wire from the negative battery cable to the fender and motor and the ground wire from the firewall to the motor and ALL are good grounds.

Where do all the ground wires come together at for a good ground at the body?

 

I'm giving the benefit of the doubt that no one saw my thread...and another chance to see my thread...