security light came on this morning. i was told by someone that this might be kind of a serious problem. recently i took out the center console, had the plugs/wires changed (385LT1 = the man)and switched to a digital 6+. whether this contributes to this problem or not im really not sure. where do i start tryin to work this bug out and what happens if i dont fix it right away? guy told me today his car quit runnin because of it

also since i got my plugs and wires in it feels like it is really missing and is kinda bogging when i initially let off the clutch. the car has a shake to it at low RPMs enough to rattle the shifter real hard. after i noticed it was happening a lot i mashed the gas a little to see if it would bog or straighten up, backfired once then i just babied it the rest of the night. sound like an optispark problem?

any help/advice/pointers/phone numbers or anything would be really appreciated, im gonna get to work on some research tomorrow. thanks guys

 

Probably two different problems....the shake/miss is likely related to the plugs/wires, recheck the routing and ensure everything is tight. The security light is probably due to moisture on the key (there is a resistor pellet that gets read by the VATS system) or a faulty/worn ignition cylinder...that's a VERY common problem on these cars. Just do a search for security light, ignition, or VATS and you'll find tons of info.

 

KINDA SOUNDS LIKE AN OPTI. PROBLEM, MINE WAS SHAKING KINDA BAD AT LOW RPMS....

ARE YOU SURE THE WIRES WERE PUT BACK IN THE RIGHT FIRING ORDER?

 

well i would say the plugs and wires werent put back right but the guy that did them really knows what hes doing. on top of that it was shaking before i did the plugs and wires. its almost kind of a violent shake the thing really wobbles.

 

Get under the front of the car and take a good look at your harmonic balancer.I had this problem on my Mustang right after I did a clutch swap. Went through all the tune up stuff thinking it was a miss then wondering if something was out of balance I pulled the trans 3 times looking there. Then I was under the front looking at the plug wires for burns and saw the rubber ring of the balancer had seperated and ripped apart.The balancer was about ready to fly apart!
Seemed just like a miss but was worse at 1200 to 1300 rpm.May not be your problem but worth taking a look.

 

good idea i'll take a look at it tonight.

about the vats, i purchased a new key today from my local dealership. light still on gonna start lookin for the easiest route of getting around the vats. found a few pretty good ideas so far but im far from an electrician!

 

Doesn't matter how many times someone has done plugs/wires, it's easy to make a mistake, but barring that, I'd still check for a loose connection, bypass the new ignition box, test the coil/etc. Don't just assume it's the OPTI, that can be an expensive and painful lesson.

As far as bypassing VATS, it's fairly straight-forward, just need a resistor of the same resistance as your key and you connect it to the two wires at the base of the steering column. There's a writeup on the net somewhere, check Brent Frankers F-body fix-it guides, I'm pretty sure I've seen it there before. It's probably the ignition cylinder then...that's what mine was.