I posted about my problem a few days ago when my car would not start at all. After some thread researching and some helpful replies (thanks guys ) I found out it was the VATS.

So I bypassed it by tapping into the wires going to the steering column using enough resistors equalling the resistance of the pellet in my key. Fired right up, so i wired everything back up semi-permanately for now. I'm in no rush to fix it as long as it starts fine (cause I'm on limited cash flow right now).

However, I am wondering (for when I do go to fix it later on), what part(s) will I be needing to replace?? Is it the ignition switch, or just the cylinder? Or is it possible its just the Theft Deterrent relay?

TIA,
Ryan

 

Your problem would be the key cylinder. It comes with the wire leads that go down to that connector you unplugged to put your resistors in. A portion of the upper steering column has to be disassembled to allow replacement of the cylinder.

 

Cool, thanks a lot Shoebox , at least I know what it is know. Now I can phone the dealership and find out how much I'll have to set aside for this part. Thank god this was a problem that I could bypass until I can afford to replace it.

 

hey bundle can u check and see if your cruise control still works with the VATs bypassed?
I bypassed mine a while ago and the cruise doesnt work and i think its the reason

 

after rigging in the resistors yesterday, i washed the Z and of course was dying to drive it again so i went out on a nice 1.5 hour drive and used the cruise more than once and it worked fine.

must be something else ZDriver. I know it sounds weird, but I think I've seen b4 that if the 3rd brake light is out, this can somehow affect the cruise, u could check that out. good luck

Ryan

 

already changed the cruise box, 3rd brake lights, and cruise cable. But the thing happened when i did the bypass.
hmm... See i actually pulled the relay and bypassed it which also bypassed the clutch switch adn the clutch is attached to the cruise... u put a resister inline right? Measured the resistance across the key resistor and put that inline with one of the wires on the column ignition thing right?

 

if the vats system where to be disabled from the pcm, will this work?
does this now ignor the vats chip in the key?
thanks
tony

 

That is what I understand. If you disable VATS in the PCM, the PCM no longer looks for any input from the VATS module to enable engine function.

 

ZDriver: No i didnt pull the relay, just as you said, I put resistors inline. had to use 4 1.5kohms in series to get the equivalent of the chip in my key. soldered the resistors together and then to a peice of wire on each end of the string of the resistors. then i just used wire taps on the harness.
didnt really want to tap into them, but wanted something that would hold for a while cause i'm in to rush to replace the key cylinder if its gonna cost serveral hundred dollars, or maybe more from what i've heard
wish i coulda done it from the pcm, but i dont have a programmer to do this (i'm assuming thats how its done)

 

thanks shoebox, its always great where you chime in
tony