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First off what are you guys using to upload your images? I used to use photobucket, but ever since I got my iPhoneX all the photos I upload never go through and all it ever says is uploading video when it’s a still picture. So once I figure wtf is going on or find a better hosting site I can post pics of the wiring to help with my questions and your answers lol.
Im in the process of getting my factory alarm back to working and a shop did a fucked up job on the wiring and I’m left with fixing the wiring. The wires I first noticed are in an Orange casing as just dangling, are these for Vats? And for some reason I have a brown wire I can see the splice in a red wire but it goes nowhere, literally is isn’t connected to anything. The brown wire is coming from towards the fuse box area.
From: Jacksonville, FL (originally from Toronto Canada)
The two white wires in the orange sheathing are for VATS going up the steering column to the contacts in the ignition cylinder that are used to measure the resistance of the pellet in your ignition key. If you have bypassed VATS then that connector is no longer needed. But if VATS is still enabled on your car then that connector plugs into one with a purple/white wire and a white/black wire.
Brown wires under the dash usually are for lighting - they carry power whenever the parking lights or headlights are on.
The two white wires in the orange sheathing are for VATS going up the steering column to the contacts in the ignition cylinder that are used to measure the resistance of the pellet in your ignition key. If you have bypassed VATS then that connector is no longer needed. But if VATS is still enabled on your car then that connector plugs into one with a purple/white wire and a white/black wire.
Brown wires under the dash usually are for lighting - they carry power whenever the parking lights or headlights are on.
Ok my hunch was right. Now I need to trace down the wiring and figure out why someone cut the casing and soldered the 2 wires to each other. I already cut the zip ties holding the aftermarket alarm in place, now I need to trace wires . . . having fun with wiring is something I can never get away with lol thank God I use good butt connectors and crimps that crush good, I don’t trust solder for ****.
From: Jacksonville, FL (originally from Toronto Canada)
They soldered the two white wires in the orange sheath together? That's completely pointless. Those wires don't have any use if not connected to the BCM and even if they were, shorting them is guaranteed to cause VATS problems.
Now soldering the purple/white and white/black wires together with the correct resistor in between is how VATS bypasses are done. Again, if they're just shorted together than VATS will be a problem.
They soldered the two white wires in the orange sheath together? That's completely pointless. Those wires don't have any use if not connected to the BCM and even if they were, shorting them is guaranteed to cause VATS problems.
Now soldering the purple/white and white/black wires together with the correct resistor in between is how VATS bypasses are done. Again, if they're just shorted together than VATS will be a problem.
After unraveling all the electrical tape they used, thankfully most wires they clip connected to another wire for. Now for the interesting part, I have a group of wires going over the tunnel towards the passenger side which go no doubt to the BCM but I know the wires aren’t factory so I’m hoping they connected the same way. BUT where it’s really interesting is I can clearly see the orange wire going to the steering column and going into another harness and yet I have 2 wires, purple/white and yellow/black going to a black connector and what is connecting them is that orange wire with the 2 white wires soldered.
I still need reconnect a wire together (forgot the 2nd butt connector) before I can reconnected the battery and fire it up. But I just don’t know why I have the orange wire going up the column and also have this ****. I guess I won’t find out until I go to start it up lol
I’ll try to post pics if I can make a choice on which site to host my images.
From: Jacksonville, FL (originally from Toronto Canada)
It's hard to see whether the twisted red and black wires are connected to the two white wires in the orange sheathing. If they're not then it looks normal - the two white wires should be plugged into the connector with the purple/white and white/black wires (the white/black may be a little discolored to look somewhat yellow). That's the connection between the wires going to the ignition cylinder in the steering column and the wiring to the BCM for VATS.
It's hard to see whether the twisted red and black wires are connected to the two white wires in the orange sheathing. If they're not then it looks normal - the two white wires should be plugged into the connector with the purple/white and white/black wires (the white/black may be a little discolored to look somewhat yellow). That's the connection between the wires going to the ignition cylinder in the steering column and the wiring to the BCM for VATS.
Sorry, the twisted red and black wires are part of the aftermarket alarm. The orange casing is plugged into the connector with purple/white and white/black wires.
So here is the orange wire, the ends are soldered and it’s plugged into the connector.
Now here is where it gets interesting, wtf is this orange wire coming out of the steering column? I thought there was only 1 orange wire in the column for VATS.
If you need a better pic I can get a better pic, but I think you get the idea lol
I spliced the main power wire the spliced into to power the alarm hub, turn the key over and everything works correctly and no lights on the dash that weren’t there before. I’m going to unplug that connector and see what happens later on today.
Update: so I was checking the features with the car running and with it no running of lights and accessories; my windows work, all lights work and now my stereo finally stops resetting itself (it used to reset the stereo every time I shut the car off) but now the door locks won’t lock when trying to use the switch on the doors. I can hear a clicking at the BCM but the locks don’t engage. I’ll check fuses tomorrow.
Last edited by King Nothing; Feb 21, 2018 at 08:23 PM.
Ok so I found out why the locks weren’t working, when they installed the system they spliced into the harness on the passenger side coming from the BCM. Beings that everything was disconnected on the driver side from their relays, it was acting as an open circuit so there is no shock the locks aren’t working. Still unsure what’s up with the VATS wiring.
They soldered the two white wires in the orange sheath together? That's completely pointless. Those wires don't have any use if not connected to the BCM and even if they were, shorting them is guaranteed to cause VATS problems.
Now soldering the purple/white and white/black wires together with the correct resistor in between is how VATS bypasses are done. Again, if they're just shorted together than VATS will be a problem.
Well it turns out it’s not pointless. I unplugged the harness and now I have the classic VATS no start issue. Plug it back in and VOILA the car starts. Now I need to decide if I want to secure it under the dash and forget about it or dive into more wiring fun.
From: Jacksonville, FL (originally from Toronto Canada)
Actually, it has to be something else because of the way VATS is wired. The purple/white and white/black wires are the two that the BCM uses to measure the resistance of the pellet in the ignition key. That resistance must be one of 14 unique values - none of which is zero. If you have the two white wires plugged into the connector with the purple/white and white/black wires and then the two white wires are simply soldered together then that would be zero resistance which VATS will not accept as valid. There would have to be some resistors matching the original key pellet resistance between the wires (in other words a VATS bypass) for the system to work. I suspect you'll find such resistors somewhere in the circuit.
Actually, it has to be something else because of the way VATS is wired. The purple/white and white/black wires are the two that the BCM uses to measure the resistance of the pellet in the ignition key. That resistance must be one of 14 unique values - none of which is zero. If you have the two white wires plugged into the connector with the purple/white and white/black wires and then the two white wires are simply soldered together then that would be zero resistance which VATS will not accept as valid. There would have to be some resistors matching the original key pellet resistance between the wires (in other words a VATS bypass) for the system to work. I suspect you'll find such resistors somewhere in the circuit.
Now I want to dive into it just to find the real cause.
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Wiring under dash/steering column question 
