I removed the entire cruise/tilt steering column out of a 91 coupe I'm parting out and luckily an ignition key did come with the car. It does -not- have any chip in it though, I now know ithis year of car should have the theft system, so how could this car have started up without the chip in the key? Before we took the engine out, we fired it up temporarily to make sure the motor was good and at the time I didn't even think about the chipped key thing. The whole car is such a rusty POS that never had a nickel spent on it unless they were forced to, so I can't see anybody going to the trouble of bypassing the VATS. Column swap maybe?
If the whole column was swapped in from an earlier car, say an '85, would the VATS still come into play or is the ignition cylinder and associated pieces gong to send power right along to the starter like the old cars would have?

 

Given the unreliability over the long term of the VATS system, there are acoupla bypass methods. They are VERY popular nowadays. Cost about as close to $0.00 as they could and still cost anything. Not impossible that one or another has been applied to your car.

The parts that make VATS work, apart from the contacts that touch the key and the wires that connect that to the rest of the system, are not in the column. Wrong line of inquiry.

 

Agreed with sofakingdom. The ECM controls the injectors and if it doesn't get the "OK" from the VATS box, it's not going to enable the fuel injectors. Engine will not start and will not run without starting fluid. Then there's the starter disable function, too.

So swapping in another column does not bypass the VATS.

I believe even the exported Firebirds had VATS so I don't think there's any exceptions. Something on the car was most likely changed or altered. Car is 32 years old so a lot could have happened.

 

Resistor or even the complete original ign lock cyl is under the dash behind the kne pad someplace. My guess anyway

 

I'm sure that must be the case.

Before I toss it's poor cascass into the crusher, I'm going to look the remains of the wiring over real good under dash on this car and see if there's been a fix performed someplace. No matter what, the steering column is tight and all levers and switches work well, that's why I kept it. It's always going to be good for somebody. (even though those air bag centers on the steering wheel look like crap)

Appreciate the responses and the education!

 

Good call TTOP! I found this wrapped in electrical tape stuck up on top of the fuse box.

 

The fix is in! Lol

Now you have a spare vats system with a known good resistor for it.