I need some quick help folks. Please. I have to visit my father out of town tomorrow because he had some serious surgery and now my car is foobarred.

1. Every so often for the last week it wouldn't start on the first key turn, but would if I backed off to accessory and retried. It acted like the battery was going dead.

2. I bought a new battery today and put it in and now it doesn't start at all. There is full power when in the on position, but no starter engagement.

3. I noticed my security light came on solid for half the day and then went out before I made it home.

4. Now the security light is flashing when the key is in the on position.

I have tried disabling VATS through my HPTuners, changing starter and ignition relays, changing battery, and cleaning off the key. What is going on?

Troubleshooting help? If anyone has some quick ideas, please call me at 816-853-4313. Name is Donald.

!!Update!! Car randomly started but put out a PCM P1626 Theft deterant code. What is failing?

 

you could always just unplug the connector under the dash and wire in a quick resistor. That's how they set remote starts on some cars

 

im in the process of doing the same thing,,but when i go to my local radio shack,,they want to know what wattage the resistor should be,,,any info??

 

anyone??

 

i highly doubt the wattage for a vats signal is ganna be high enough to blow the resisitor

 

Here is the latest update. The problem isn't fixed, but the car seems to start. I have the dealer manuals for 2001 Fbody cars and read through all the theft deterant system pages and schematics. Last night a LS1Tech sponsor called me and thinks the problem is the wires inside the ignition tumbler failing/broken. I agreed.

So today I bought some resistors after getting the code from a dealer buddy and soldered them to a 16 gauge wire. here is the interesting part. There is an orange coated wire that has two wires inside of it going to the VATS/ignition tumbler. One is white with a black stripe and the other is purple with a stripe. I cut the signal reference wire and hooked up the resistor module I made. Then I started the car and it worked fine, except the security light was still on. Just for ***** and giggles I pulled the wire apart and then attempted to start the car. IT STARTED. This should not have happened. Next I reconnected the wire and cut the other wire, low reference signal input (purple w/stripe) and started the car again. Why is it starting. The car should be dead in the water since there was no resistance or reference signal?

The only thing I can think of is the wrong wire was used, but I don't see how this is possible when two internet write ups and the dealer manual schematics say the same thing and identify the wires the same. The car is currently starting with ever crank at the moment but the security light is still illuminated. The problem isn't fixed and I am sure it will act up again when I need the car. I cleared the DTC's with HP Tuners and then tried to scan for other codes. No codes are currently displayed?

The only thing I can think of now is to figure out if the VATS module is bad or there is a crack in the BCM. Nothing else on the car is acting up.

Any ideas?

 

Had a car that wouldnt start due to vats from time to time, tuned it out - ended up changing the ingition switch due to it being heavily burnt up- and the car wouldnt start. went into the wiring for the vats chip and pulled the referance wire and the car will turn over- but the car im dealing with turns over but wont start.

I think that the diagrams dont explain the system correctly, or Im missunderstanding it - But with no referecne signal the system works when it shouldnt... but still have the security light and a car that turns over.

This car had poped fuses previously for ignition and Engine contrls, the big 40/50 amp ones under hood.

 

I found the problem and why it acted the way it did yesterday. I had the wires correctly identified, but I put the resistors in series with the ignition tumbler wires. The break is up at the tumbler and the resistors did nothing. Today I bypassed the steering column completely and put the resistors in so that the signal from the BCM is looped back to the low reference input wire. All is well. The security light went out and the car starts fine. As a test I put a switch in to turn the VATS on and off and it did what it was supposed to do. When the switch was off the car would not start because the VATS was active. When the switch is turned on the signal is received at the BCM and the car starts normally. This is the temporary fix. I'll have to take the steering wheel off eventually and re-solder the wires where the break is at to trully fix it. Or replace the tumbler set up, but that isn't cost efficient.

For all who replied, thank you.

 

Hello I already changed the Anti Theft relay, start relay, ignition switch. The still doesn't start. The security ligth on the top of the dash blink but the light of security on the instrument panel doesn't at all. Is it difficult to remove the key tumber in Camaro 98/
Please need some help.
Thanks.