Diagnosis help please?
Thread Starter
12 Second Club
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 479
Likes: 0
From: Mpls, Minnesota
Diagnosis help please? I dont know if this is the correct area to post this but please bear with me. I've been having troubles getting my car to start, it will start and as soon as it does it will run fine till I turn it off. Up until now a friend has told me he thought it was VATS but as I called a local shop today they said with VATS the car will absolutely not turn over. Then as a counter statement my friend tells me VATS just cuts off the injectors....(which he fixed his problem which sounds exactly the same as mine by turning off vats) My local shop tells me to check all the grounds and it sounds like I have a bad ground(which i was told could be a result of a code I was throwing previously which was injector sending unit not responding i believe, although while this code was going I was running 12.54 on a stock motor) I'd like to hear some more input, sorry for the long post but I really need to figure this out, post up whatever questions you have. Oh and yes I can hear the fuel pump whirling as well.
check your ignition relay.you have a couple relays under the hood that are the same, switch your ignition relay with another one and see if a similiar problem happens somewhere else
Thread Starter
12 Second Club
Joined: Jul 2004
Posts: 479
Likes: 0
From: Mpls, Minnesota
Also I found this site
http://www.thirdgen.org/vats_passkey_system
which states
If the engine WILL CRANK and a code 53 is displayed, that indicates that the VATS decoder module has detected a correct key resistance, and has grounded the relay coil negative wire for the start enable relay, but that the ECM is not receiving the VATS signal from the module. That can be caused by either a failure of the VATS module output which generates the signal, or Circuit 229 between the VATS module and ECM is open or shorted to ground.
http://www.thirdgen.org/vats_passkey_system
which states
If the engine WILL CRANK and a code 53 is displayed, that indicates that the VATS decoder module has detected a correct key resistance, and has grounded the relay coil negative wire for the start enable relay, but that the ECM is not receiving the VATS signal from the module. That can be caused by either a failure of the VATS module output which generates the signal, or Circuit 229 between the VATS module and ECM is open or shorted to ground.
TECH Senior Member
Joined: Dec 2001
Posts: 5,399
Likes: 3
From: Jacksonville, FL
Most times I see the security light flash when there is a vats problem.
I have run into GM cars that hard start problems, but run fine after they start. Although they had plenty of fuel preasure and ran fine replacing the fuel pump solved the hard start issue.
I have run into GM cars that hard start problems, but run fine after they start. Although they had plenty of fuel preasure and ran fine replacing the fuel pump solved the hard start issue.
