i just bought an IROC Z convertible and i got it cheap because it had some sort of electrical problem. i thought it would be easy to fix since i've had this problem or a similar one with one of my friends camaro. however im starting to get stuck and have no idea what to do next. the problem is that when i go to turn the car on the instument panel lights up and everything looks good as if the car was going to turn on but it doesnt. the starter doesnt even crank at all! what could it be? please help!

 

Stupid question: Is the starter good?

Edit: Also, what year? If it's 89+ it could be a VATS problem.

 

thanks for helping.... yeah the starter is good and i was thinking it was a VATS problem to but dont know how to check? its a 1990...305 tpi

 

My knowledge of VATS is minimal at best. IIRC a security light will come on somewhere on the cluster with ignition on.

Also, since this doesn't sound like an intake problem at all, a mod might want to move it to the Electrical forum.

 

I had a problem like that once on a guys car,it did as you described, it was a vats problem, the wiring at the ignition switch for the vats resistor broke. I also had the same symptoms on my car once I thought it was vats related, but it was just a solenoid, it required more current than my start wire could supply, you could jumper across the terminals and it would start fine.

I would start at the starter and see if your getting power and work from there, if you aint I would remove the lower dash cover and check the wiring going to the vats in the igniton switch, its two small wires yellow I think running down the steering column undo the little connector, with the key in the ignition, check the resistance to see if you have a circuit through the key.

If you find you have faulty wiring in the column you can check the resistance of your key, get a similar resistance resistor and put across those two wires until you get the correct replacement key cylinder, it wont hurt anything just make your car a little easier to steal.

HTH

 

or you could get a custom Eprom and disable the VATS all together.


i had a similar problem like that with my 91 Z and it was vats related.


i don't really think that it's a real sure way to keep someone from stealling my car. cause if you can just simply put in a resistor in and start the car. hell even a dumbass car thief could do that and still motor off in the car.

so when i got my eprom tuned for the car i just disabled the VATS to prevent anymore problem like that to occur.

 

Besides, is it like all the F-bodies made before 89 just walk away by themselves because they have no VATS?

Then again, there are a lot of stupid car thieves. Sort of like the classic guy who steals a car only to find out he can't drive a stick.

 

Yea it's not a very hard system to bypass if you have an hour or two to try ten different resistors to steal one.

Even if you bypass the vats in the chip, it wont fix his problem though that part is for the fuel injection not the actual cranking of the engine. He'll have to bypass the starter enable relay also, which aint hard, I was just saying it may be easier to install a resistor if that is his problem, than reburning a chip and the other rewiring if he dont have access to chip burning equipement.

Anyway let us know what you find

 

thank you everybody all this is very helpful.. im going to try some of the things you guys said and get back to you guys.i have a question though...how do i bypass the starter relay in case its that????? and on the two little yellow cables do i just peel both and connect a resistor with similar resistance from one cable to the other??? thank you guys so much!!!!!!!!!

 

why not turn the key to on and crank it w/ a starter button(gator clips, direct power)? That would verify a lot. - if the VATS is screwed, it shouldn't start, but it should crank that way, key on or not.

 

is this car a manual?

 

no the car is automatic hey thanks for helping everybody...im going to check the nuetral safety switch...does anybody know where it is? and i will also try that with the starter so if it doesnt start it means that the vats system is messed? i didnt quite get that?

 

ok guys i went to try turning the key today to see what the car does...the panel does turn on and the security light does not go away like you guys asked me to check for..what does this mean? when i turn the key to turn on the car i hear the pump go on for a couple seconds and i also hear something under the hood like a relay... i put the car in nuetral and it still would not start...so its the vats system? i wouldnt mind replacing the nuetral safety switch just to make sure thats not the prob...can anybody tell me where its at and what it looks like? also anything else i can try to cancel more things out? thanks!!!!

 

If memory serves, security light staying on for more than, I think, four seconds means your key is sending a bad signal to the VATS.

If you search around these forums you will find plenty of topics on disabling the VATS system, just to make sure that's not the problem.