Any of you local guys deal with any VATS problems?

I have a problem which I have tracked down to my VATS system in my '89 and am looking for some guys which have had some previous experience in tracking down problems with the VATS.

Any of you guys have experience in how to bypass temporarily till I figure it all out...without alterning the prom?

NEED HELP...summer is almost here and my car still doenst start!

Dave

 

I've disabled a few of them without destroying anything that is stock. Unplug a connector, insert a resistor and tape it up. Can you get it to start sometimes?

 

She started up in Feb when I had to move it...but since then nothing. it is dead....fresh battery, their is power to the starter, and solonoid when trying to crank...power to the two yellow wired on the Starter enable relay (checked with a test light)....tried a new relay....jumpered the a & c terminal and she cranked but no fuel comming out of the injectors (supposidly typical of a vats problem)

How would I go about bypassing her....half inch? PM me any details if you could..

Thanks,
Dave

 

Measure the resistor in the key with a multimeter. Use the closest standard restor value. Disconnect the harness under the drivers side. Place the resistor in the connector going to the Vats module. Don't reconnect it to the steering wheel connector. Problem solved.

I don't remember the colours of the wires under the dash. I would if I saw them. Have a look and describe things. I should be able to tell you if you have the right connector.

 

Same thing happpend to me DEAD.... no ign the key barrell needed to be replaced costed me $350 for a brand new key barell.Or go pull one from another car ,caddies ,buicks,etc had the same key barells

 

Ya this thing is really starting to **** me off!!! I tried to temporarily bypass it tonght...no luck. I have narrowed it down to that the wires connected to the lock cylinder are fubared becasue the resistance dies when you turn the key and measuring resistance on the circut. BUT....the thing still wouldnt start even with it bypassed. I gave up tonight...the only things I can think of why the temporary bypass wouldnt work was because either a) I got the wrong resistor or b) I didnt give it long enough for the "time lockout" to elapse....between trying different things

...I want to shoot this car...my patience is running very thin!

 

Same thing is happening to me with a 350 tpi trans. I m no t a master mechanic but my friend is so he s doing the work. I m going to take a look at the VATS system tomorrow. The engine security lite poppes up the ehgine starts but there s no gas flowing to the enigne.i changed the prom and the ecm still nothing. if u hear anything let me now too.

 

Hello momoracinginc,
Do you hear the fuel pump priming when you first turn the key?

 

guys honestly its the key barell.When I did mine the guy at the dealership told me to take his word and not buy a new passkey module and go with the barell because they are common as dog**** for crapping out.I took the advise and my cars starts

 

That is true, the contacts on the key & inside the lock cylinder get worn and makes reading the resistance in the key difficult. Also the wires attached to the lock cylinder have a tendency to break at the worse time.

 

That is what mine ended up being...problem solved.....

 

Well i tell my boy to take a look at the key barrel, but the fuel pump is working it s just not recieving the pulse.

 

Theres a guy in the classifieds thats selling a Vats system i think , and better yet he's in Brampton Dave !!

 

that would be me

 

I bypassed mine by soldering the resistor and I connected the two wires together...it starts up sometimes...and then ireplaced the ignition switch, clutch switch..and now im out of ideas...do you think I can buy a reg. ignition cylinder for a car w.o vats and install it? and should i also unplug the module under the drivers side?

 

You could do that, but you would still have to fool the computer into thinking it was still there.

 

With the handfull or so VATS systems I've dealt with, all of them had problems in the key cyl or wires down thru the column. Resistor was always the fix if the person didn't want to pull apart the column and replace the key cyl. They didn't get much better over the years either. Had to tinker with some relatively new 4th gens. Same problem. VATS sucks.