I have a super clean one owner 1990 Camaro RS with only a little over 90k on it. Everything looks and runs superbly. Today I got off the freeway and came to a stop and the car just died,as if I had shut off the key. I tried to restart it and got nothing,not even a click of the starter solenoid,I had to push it into a parking space at a curb,minutes later I get inside it and turn the key and it fires right up and drive home fine.
I am thinking this has got to be VATS related,but it was my understanding that once the car started VATS doesn't come into play again until you start the car.
It has never done this before,except one prior time but I had shut the car off at a train stop and when I tried to start it got the security light and once again,nothing happened at all when I turned the key. That time it fired right up again when I waited 5 minutes or so. I went home and cleaned the contacts in the ignition cylinder and the key with alcohol and a swab.

the car is extremely well preserve. No wear on the seats,tilt column is as tight as a drum,no slop. No engine or trans leaks. Paint is beautiful. It's never been beat on or abused.

anyone else have this issue? What does it sound like? I bought the VATS resistor kit to bypass it. But haven't messed with it since it's been starting and running fine. This is another example of the modern BS I dislike about newer cars.
I prefer the earlier carbureted models before VATS,but the car was so clean I had to buy it.

any help would be appreciated.

 

I would lean more to it being the distributor module or pick up coil in the distributor,it could be the fuel pump.It hard to diagnose without being there,you need to check for ignition spark and fuel spraying from the injectors the next time it does this because I am sure it will do this again.

 

If I had to pick one part as being the most likely suspect , I agree with LT1/TA , the ICM is behind a lot of these "phantom stops"

And your understanding is correct , VATS will not kill a running engine . I had a different GM car with VATS (late 1980s Caddy) that the key was SO worn you could pull it out with the engine running , and VATS did not stop the engine with the key (and it's resistor) missing from the circuit .