heres the run down its a 1989 rs with a 2.8L 5 speed
starts sometimes and runs great but the whole time the security light is on.After I drive it and shut it off and try to restart all the gauges work and lights work but the starter wont turn over.I already replaced the clutch safety switch. The car doesnt have a vats system like 90-92 .When I turn the key It clicks under the dash but wont turn over so I leave it overnight and it will start any help will be appresiated

 

Sure as hell sounds like a VATS system to me! But I don't see why the security light stays on even when the car works..sounds like a malfunction in the system. When VATS doesn't work quite right and doesn't recognize your key, what it does is it cuts power to the starter solenoid. So when you turn the key you might hear a little click or something, and then nothing. Every turn there's nothing...takes like 5 mins for it to reset itself.

 

only one problem it is a 1989 it doesnt have the chip in the key that system only came on 1990 to 1992 so its not that .Is their another type of vats for my car? Could it be the starter relay? Maybe after it gets hot it doesnt work I dont know but I still have the problem

 

why does your car have a "security" light if there is no kind of security system?

 

You don't have a chip-key? I thought almost all Third Gens were equipped with those, not just 90-92's? Also...exhaust manifold heat can get to the starter and the solenoid and sometimes make them not work...particularly true if you live in a very hot climate. They sell starter heat shields to solve this problem. I've personally never had a problem with that though.

 

Nope.. chip keys were 90+.. don't think 89's had 'em, but.. why the hell do you have a security light? Is there a place for a security light on an 89? I know there isn't a blank for one on my cluster bezel..

 

Maybe his instrument cluster has been replaced with one from a 90-92, and the security light always being on is because it couldn't be wired up? These gauge clusters are pure garbage...so the idea of one being not original is fairly viable.

 

89 cars DO have VATS, look at your key, and if there's a little black nub with a silver line on it, that's your VATS resistor.

Now the VATS working on my car, is a totally different story, disabled, my old alarm fried it.

 

i don't have VATS on my car. I do have empty lenses on my insturment bezel though. I even have a lens for the shift light, but there is no light socket behind it. Don't think my car uses it. BTW, i have an '88 RS.

 

Their is no resistor in my key it still has the original cluster
it goes blank,security,ses,up shift. Ill look into the heat sheild and post back more info and more info would be good thanks

 

I bet you do have VATS, but someone tried to bypass it, and just had a regular key cut. All the '89's I've seen have had VATS systems. My friend's old Camaro (the one I did the engine swap on, http://www.geocities.com/tomp_3rdgen ) had a bypassed VATS- one that was bypassed very poorly. He had an older steering column in the car. There was a silver button underneath the steering wheel. To get the car to start, he had to push the button in while turning the key to "Crank". After the engine started, the security light would stay lit up while he drove.

Under the hood, it was a patch job from hell... wires came from the driver's side door, from the top of the fender (!), and were patched into the wiring harness with electrical tape. I couldn't do any kind of diagnosis on it because my GM manual is from 1986- no VATS. My MECP friend tried to figure it out, he's had VATS experience, and he found out that there was other wiring done to the car's fuse box. The final words out of our mouths regarding this hack-job were "F--- it, as long as it starts."

 

im sure u have a VATS system, my 89 does..so why wouldnt yours, i thought they started that in 88..or late 87

 

FYI- VATS debuted in the f-body in 89
the y-body in 86

i agree with TomP, either bypassed or you have a weird short