Okay my friends,

I got stranded yesterday when I came out of the store and tried to start my car up again all power comes on there's power to the starter, all cables are good, all lights work, battery has 100% charge, no codes, module is a couple months old (some might remember my last dillema with that), coil good, dist good, timing adjusted to 10btdc, the symptom of a broken connection between the key cylinder and the starter...

this is actually an intermittent issue i've been having for years on and off, it's AlWAYS fired back up after a while, this time it's official...it's happened so many times over the years, I spent about four hours waiting hoping it would make it home....nope

we jumped the 2 terminals on the starter with a jumper and pushed the button and the engine turned over perfect like normal, the fuel pump powers on and primes every time the key is cyled on like normal, fuel pump is rather new and holds briliant pressure, but when we jumped it and were cranking it it wouldn't fire like the injectors were shut off, currently my car is stranded on a backroad I really don't feel comfortable having it at so if you guys could help me figure this one out i'd really appreciate it.

My friend with a 91rs was thinking vats even though no code 43??

I'm pretty much sure i've all the way narrowed it down to either Vats, The Ignition Switch, or the Engine Control Computer

 

is the security light on ?

 

actually thats not always a good way to tell, incase the bulb is burnt out

if it fails to start again this is what to do

turn the key to crank position and crank the motor, if the motor does not fire LEAVE THE KEY IN THE ON POSITION for 5 minutes.
after 5 minutes jump the starter terminals with a screwdriver or jumper wire

if the car fires its vats

vats stops the car from starting for 2-3 minutes when u cycle the key
trying to start it with the key again will reset the timer


if it is the vats system it costs about 50 cents to bypass

u take an ohm meter and ohm the pellet in the key then goto radioshack and buy a resitor thats the same as the ohms reading u got from the key
u pull down the cover below the streering colum and disconect the orange wires) i belive there orange its been a few years since ive had to disable vats

its a very tiny pair of wires running together up the colum with a connector halfway


what i do is cut the wires above the connector and wolder in the resitor



the reason i do it above the connector is so i can reach down and unplug the resitor if im going to leave the car somewhere id rather not leave it



i do have pictures in my photobucket from whn i disabled that vats on my car so i can post them if u need them

 

And, also, VATS is code 46... Code 43 is the spark control (knock) circuit.

 

The wires are purple/white and black/white. I think the orange wires you are talking about go to the airbags.

 

my car didnt have airbags so maybe thats why they were orange,
airbag wire should always be yellow iirc, and the wires should also be in a cover

 

I believe that on the column side the VATS wiring is orange... Airbag wires are ALWAYS yellow covered...

 

well i was right and i was wrong

the actual colum side wires are white, but they are in a orange sleve as u can se ein the pictures below




and airbag wiring has to be yellow or in a yellow cover like the vats wires are in the orange cover by law or whatever u want to call it, its a color code the auto manufactures have to follow

 

Mannnn....Been at work all day had no clue you guys did all this for me...thanks guys it's appreciated

So yeah I went back to the car and tried still nothing...No security light, it does work i'm pretty sure I saw it the other day flash on for a brief second the orange one, and no code,

And when we jumped the terminals on the starter it definitely cranked normally and healthily just no fire

Could it still be vats with no codes, or security light??

It has to either be vats, ignition switch, or the key cylinder portion no???

Been reading up on the VATS bypass with the resister though and def doesn't seem to tricky if need be...

My buddy was thinking it could be the key itself as well, because no codes, and it's the original, no spare, and mcclendons said they couldn't make one if I wanted....

Man.....straight headache

 

if u knwo the security light works its deff not the vats system.

sounds like the ignition moudle went bad, does the tach read anything while cranking?

if the ignition moudle goes bad the injectors wont operate

 

No I don't think it did read anything on the tach, and it only cranked with the bypass

I had just assumed the module was good since I changed it a little while back, but I guess it could have gone bad in like 5 months?? Was a duralast so should def have a lifetime warranty, worth a test though for sure

Definitely put the heatsink grease on there properly and everything, I did remove it once after I changed it and put it back on, could that have affected it?

coil is the orig. but would it cause these probs?

 

no tach when cranking usually means the moudle is bad.the coil could also cause the same issues but the ecm would still get a tach signal and allow the injectors to pulse

and a duralast module is crap, when it comes to ignition parts try to buy geniune ac delco stuff though they are getting harder to find


take the ignition moudle back and replace it car will prolly fire right up

80% of the time for elctronic/electical compnets i prefer to goto the junkyard and try to find an oem original before i will buy partsstore reman or brand parts , this also holds true with starters and laternators

 

well it doesn't crank at all with the key, only when we bypassed by jumping the terminals,

just replaced the ignition switch, and still nothing lol it's all good it was only like 15 bucks,

gonna put a new module in it, it was similair before except it went out when the car was running, but the symptoms were similair...

but if it was the vats the code would show up?

 

check the fuse box should be a 3 or 5 amp fuse in there for the starter
if thats good trace the wire going form the fusebox upto the ignition switch then back out to the starter , might be a break in the wire somewhere

 

OK guys so it was the Vats

So yesterday I, adjusted my new ignition switch just to be sure everything was good in that dept., then tested the module and it passed 2/4 times so that wasn't good enough for me, I replaced that in a couple minutes, still nothing...

Sooo I go to radioshack and buy some resistors, hit em with a lil solder in between and slipped the leads in on the purple wire side, and it started right up,

key's resistance after settling on the ohm meter was 886 ohms, resister came out perfect at 886 as well,

well not right up because you know...those first two starts with a new module arn't gonna be that pretty since it has to relearn

so at least for now I wrapped and ziptied, I guess when I have some time, i'll actually solder it into the wiring permanently??

So what would be the proper fix to this to still have functioning vats?? key's resistance was fine...is it the cylinder portion or the vats reader, because I def. don't wan't this happening again, soo what do you guys say??

just leave it off and bypassed??

 

just leave it bypassed , it will cost to much to repair

 

im in need of help bad i have a 90 firebird formula the owner before me did something to get it to work he didnt use anything u guys r saying and some how it got messed up and now my security light comes on and turns over but no fuel heres my big problem i dont have the actually key to test the ohms to maatch so what do i need to do need help bad