My son bought an 89' trans am gta. Well he let it overheat and blew head gaskets . Decided to rebuild. Had the motor pulled and rebuilt everything the same. In this process my son lost only keys to car. Anyways buy new ign. lock cylinder, head to dealer and was told by 3 different dealers it is too old need to take to prof. locksmith. $300 dollars later with new cylinder and 15 different keys the motor is ready to crank but will not. Yeah stupid me but he told me one of those keys would work. Now its at the mechanic's. Just wondering if I can have suggestions to help speed process and find problems beings I think this is a VATS issue and not sure if mechanic really knows what to do. Small town but pretty equipped mechanic. Just wondering.

 

It most likely is a vats issue. Just a matter of matching the key to the vats module, or bypassing it.

 

After each try with each key you have to wait about 10mins because the vats locks out from a false key being inserted I found this out when I was bypassing my vats

 

We tried even 15 minutes. So do you think the bypass will work even if there is a short in it? Or is there another way of bypassing it without the pellets?

 

You need the pellets or resisters to put in line of the vats wireing.... 2 quick questions to try and figure this out one you said you replaced the head gaskets did you make sure you put all the ground attached to the pass side back of the head. One of thoes grounds controls the vats/start relay and is it tight I had that as my first problem was not getting a good ground when I did my motor swap
The lock you installed is it making connection with the VATS wiring? I would unplug it at the base of the column and make sure your reading a resistance from the key

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...able-vats.html

 

Thats a good article.

 

I thought the VATS system would allow you to crank the engine over, but not start it. You said you rebuilt the engine. Was it the entire thing or just head gaskets? If entire thing, did you measure out all your clearances properly and what is your crankshaft end-play? If those things are not right and are too tight, you won't be able to crank it over. Also, check your crank fuse. Start with basics and go from there. Make sure you have the negative battery cable connected to the block and not the body. This is a common mistake and will make a car not crank over.

 

I think he said it will crank but not fire... Vats disables the fuel pump.

 

The VATS system will not allow the motor to do anything it disables the starter
so nothing will work (no crank, no spark, no fuel)