I believe it mentions what happens. You ruin an expensive part that allows operation of the air bag in the steering wheel. Why would you not heed the warning?

The small wires leading to the "clock spring", as people call it, are delicate and only have so much travel to left and right. Spinning the wheel can rip them apart. Your air bag light may remain lit if it is broken (and, of course, no air bag operation).

 

You can jump the starter with a screwdriver (just like the old days). The ground wire you refer to does not sound like something factory.

 

damn that kind of sucks about the airbag, i guess we'll find out when i get it all back together. i dont think i spun it around too much, the heat was getting to me today and i just made that mistake.

as far as that ground, it really looks like its supposed to be there. it goes through the wall right next to the steering column shaft, ill try and get a pic tomorrow up here so i can figure it out.

ive been searching like crazy for similar symptoms and i feel like my problem lies within the wiring, and or a relay. and also because the last time i started it i took a few turns of the key to actually get the starter to engage so something went wrong somewhere

 

Update:

Okay so today my mechanic and I tore into it to see if we could find the problem. We tested the starter and its working 100% so that wasnt the issue, got it bolted back up and tried starting it to see what happens. In the process of troubleshooting my key got stuck in the lock cylinder and wouldnt move at all so tomorrow we are replacing that. I figured that might have been an issue at the beginning because the key was getting more and more difficult to turn, like it was sticking. I'm hoping that solves the issue.

With the new lock cylinder it has new blank keys, does that mean i have to order keys with the correct pellet? or can i just do the VATS keey circuit bypass mod to get it running with the blank keys for the time being?

I should also note that prior to all of this happening, my security light would come one and stay lit permanantley while driving. Is it possible that the new lock cylinder and the VATS bypass will take care of my problem?

if that doesnt work, where should i look next for possible issues?

I'm really eager to get it running because were putting a set of headers on after all this crap

 

If the new lock has trouble making contact with any old pellet keys you have then do the resistor bypass.

 

got the new ignition cylinder in this morning, the old one was locked up bad and the key is still stuck in it. Upon removal we noticed one of the VATS wires had split which i thought would explain why my security light stays on and also possibly the reason for why it didnt start. we got it all put back together and did the resistor mod for the VATS bypass. Started up on the first try so we got it running, thank godd.

One thing i noticed though is the security light still stays on. i tried to clear it by leaving the key in the one position, no luck. So i disconnected the VATS switch at the bottom of the column and tried to start it and it fired right up. What does that mean about my VATS system? is it disconnected somewhere else as well because I'm pretty sure it shouldnt have started with the switch unplugged

 

It means your VATS is still in fault enable mode.

 

Yeah i get that, what would be the reason for it to still be in fault mode?

 

Still not reading the key (or your bypass) most likely.

 

thanks for the help so far shoebox...

So its in fault enable mode and been like that since ive had the car. the security light just stays lit but its never given me problems starting. I tested the resistance on the key and I believe its pellet code 7 if i did it right, its in the 1800s when i test it.

Is it possible that its the wrong resistance to correspond with my VATS? I'm going to order some new keys so i want to make sure i get the right pellet code. Is it possible that fault enable mode could eventually lead to the car not starting? I just want to do away with all of these issues and make my car as reliable as possible.

 

If you suspect you have the wrong key(pellet) then getting more won't help your situation.

If you want the right code, merely try the resistor trick with each of the different values. They (resistor) values are on Shoe's website. It's a hell of a lot cheaper than trying to do it with the key. And MUCH more reliable in the future since neither it or the ignition switch will wear to the point that it won't work anymore.