I bought this '89 Firebird Formula at a police impound auction last week. Research indicates that '89 was the first year for VATS on this model. It’s a fairly clean 350/5.7, tuned port, 5-speed, car with a good interior. It is well worth fixing, at least If I can do it reasonably. It had apparently been stolen at some point as the lock cylinder has been completely drilled out of the steering column. That’s probably why it was impounded. What the key used to turn is now turnable with a screwdriver, but this will not engage the starter. The dash, including the ‘security’ light, comes on. I can jump two wires under the hood (red and purple from a bundle on the firewall above the brake booster) to make the starter turn. It has fresh gas, and a brand new fuel pump with sufficient fuel pressure. The pump hums when I turn the screwdriver in the lock cylinder. If I spray starting fluid into the intake, it will run as long as I keep spraying. Of course that’s not good for the engine. I suspect that the injectors are not putting fuel into the engine, but I have no known way to test them. There is a small white wire sticking out of the opening where the ignition lock cylinder used to be. There is an orange wire and a white wire hanging under the dash. I do not know what they used to do.
Does the VATS system control the injectors?
Does the VATS control the starter?
Any other ideas why it won’t start on its own?
Why did Pontiac name a car for baby food? (Actually I know the answer to that one. I just thought I’d toss it out there.)
The “VATS” is the Passkey system for theft deterrent. Check your ignition key. If it doesn’t have the little computer chip imbedded in it…it will not start the engine.
@Cavell, you appear to be correct. I may have been misinformed as to what’s under the hood, or the sticker (or engine) may have been changed. Is there an easy visual way to tell which engine I have?
Note: GM is MG backwards. I don’t know as much about GM’s cars.
@MGMcAnick…my uncle had a problem almost identical to yours when he purchased a nice Monte Carlo at a police auction. He’s on vacation right now but as soon as he gets back I’ll post again. I think he just bought another lock cylinder and had the dealer reprogram the vehicle. Maybe something that simple can be done to your Firebird.
If you had the key you could measure the resistance and then insert the closest value resistor across the harness coming down the column from the lock cylinder. Most I’ve seen were smaller gauge than any others in the bundle (28?), yellow, 2 wires and had a connector about 2’ down. Just insert resistor into connector going away from column.
You could try each known value using a pot. Take awhile because detected fault has 15 minute timeout. Security light will flash. Could get lucky and hit it early on…
@MGMcAnick…I just spoke to my uncle. His situation was “nearly” identical to yours but the difference was that he actually had the spare ignition key. Good luck…there is a solution out there.
The VATS controls whether or not the ECM recieves power. When the ignition key is inserted the Pass Key Contol Module recognizes the key and allows power to the ECM.
I had an '89 Camaro that I had to jump the VATS input. I think this was the first version of VATS. The way that version worked was the VATS module output a pulse train to the ECM. If the ECM did not see that pulse train, it wouldn’t supply injector pulses.
There have been a few versions of VATS over the years. I believe at least one other one I ran across also disabled the starter relay but now I couldn’t tell you what year or even what car it was.
Regardless, if the security lamp is illuminated, the system is engaged. Bypassing the original VATS was a fairly easy task…
@Tester You said “The VATS controls whether or not the ECM receives power.”
I thought the ECM would control whether or not it has spark. Apparently it has spark since it will run with starting fluid sprayed into the intake. Am I wrong? I’m guessing the injectors are not getting a signal for fuel. It has 43 PSI of fuel pressure at the rail from the new pump.
@TwinTurbo You said Bypassing the original VATS was a fairly easy task… "
Can you explain how to do that? I know a guy who will come and do it for me for $80, but if I can do it myself that would be $80 better. Please send me a personal message if you don’t want to have that info on the BBS.
This system may be one that disables the starter relay as I have to jump those wires under the hood.
If you had the key you could measure the resistance and then insert the closest value resistor across the harness coming down the column from the lock cylinder. Most I’ve seen were smaller gauge than any others in the bundle (28?), yellow, 2 wires and had a connector about 2’ down. Just insert resistor into connector going away from column.
I also mentioned that since there are something like only 15 different values, you could use a pot to figure out which one works. Takes a bit of time because each failure detection has a 15 minute timeout period.
On my '89 Camaro, that version of VATS disabled both spark and fuel injection as well as the fuel pump relay. I jumped around the fuel pump relay but was dead in the water due to the ECM inhibiting both spark and fuel injection. Faking out the VATS signal to the ECM was problematic as I didn’t know what the pulse rate or duty cycle was needed. After some thought, it occurred to me you could just fake out the entire system by providing the correct resistance. Ran it like that for years. Although that was the first VATS failure I had to address, unfortunately it was not the last. Those tiny gauge wires going to the lock cylinder take a lot of repetitive motion stress and break. I spent a lot of time looking into how the early versions of VATS were implemented…