I have a 1989 Firebird, L98, auto.

When I try to start the car, the starter doesn't crank. The starter is new (put it in two weeks ago) to address the same problem, and once in it started fine.

I'm not getting any power to the small wire going to the starter, but when I jump the starter, it will crank the engine fine, but the engine won't start. So it doesn't sound like it's the starter.

I tested the wires on starter enable relay. When trying to start the car, the two yellow wires have power, but the green/white one does not (I read this goes to the park/neutral switch), and the dark green one does not gound. (Though when I do ground it manually, the starter will engage.)

Unfortunately, I don't have a multimeter to check that the key is reading the correct resistance.

Jumping the ALDL with a paper clip and all I get is code 12.

I pulled a plug wire while jumping the starter, and I was getting spark.

None of the fuses under the dash are blown.

The only dash light that comes on when the key is in the on or start position are the "Service Engine Soon" (oh, and the e-brake light).

If the VATS module is bad, would I not get a security light and some code from the ECM? Could the ECM be bad? How can I confirm either? Or is there something else I can look for?

Thanks for any help.

 

I got my hands on a multimeter, and checked the vats reader wires coming from the steering column and they were reading an open circuit. I jumped the wires with a resistor that matched my key and it started right up!

If it was an open circuit, would that explain why there was no security trouble code thrown? It simply didn't think there was even a key present vs throwing a code for the wrong key? I'm just curious, I like to know how things are working.