Hey guys,

I know this is not an f-body question, but need help and not sure who to ask anywhere else.

Inlaws have a 96 grand am that has recently had a VATS system faliure and can't start their car.

I know on my tunercat for my 95 lt1 i can dissable this. I have all the cables for obd1 and obd2 diagnostic ports and laptop interface. Am wondering if anyone knows of a software vendor (tunercat perhaps) where I can buy a program with which I can dissable this VATS.

Is there any other way to dissable it and get the car to start/run?

Thanks a LOT for any info you can give me.

Igor.

 

Tunercat sells his OBD2 tuner package through JET now, which includes an OBD2 interface cable to connect your laptop to the car.

However, I do not see 1996 Grand Am on the list of supported vehicles. Maybe one of the other tuning packages supports this car?

 

Also, although your 1995 F body has an OBD2 style connector, understand that it is actually OBD1. Unfortunately your cable will not work on 1996 and newer vehicles.

 

There are places on the net that sell hardware that will bypass VATS. If that's all you need to do, then it would be cheaper than buying software and cable.

 

Whats the name of this hardware? How cheap is it? My vats system (h*ll or key) has been faulty acting for the pass two weeks. Two days ago it had me stuck sitting in traffic after i stalled leaving a light!! One of the most embarrasing moments ever. And i dont have 300 bucks to go to the dealer

 

I think all of the GM VATS with the key pellet work the same way. If the reading the key pellet is the problem, you can bypass it with a resistor like the PassKey info in the "How To" section of my website shows.

 

I bought a VATS bypass module for like $40 at Autozone a couple of years back. They might still sell them

 

vats is simply a resistor, you can buy a variable resistor from radio shack and play with it until it starts

 

That will be pretty difficult, If you get the resistance wrong, you have to wait 3 minutes to try again. Just measure the resistance of the pellet in the key and buy the appropriate resistor.