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Old Oct 26, 2018 | 11:58 AM
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Default stranded. immediate help needed

Typing this from my phone. Having problems searching . stuck at gas station with blinking security light right this moment. Is there an official process to get one more start out of it before I call a tow truck and pay a 100 mile towing bill? Like wait with key on for 10 minutes (tried that) thanks.
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Old Oct 26, 2018 | 12:58 PM
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Nevermind. I did a VATS BYPASS at the gas station LOL! Wow surprisingly easy once you know the right combination of resistors to hit your same pellet resistance. Amazing what you can accomplish when facing a 100 mile tow truck bill. But for the record and anyone else reading this, I did all of the following suggestions found on the Internet and the security light would not stop blinking with no crank condition, none of these work with a bad ignition cylinder apparently:

1) key out for 15 minutes and retry
2) ignition on for 15 minutes and retry
3) lock car with fob, let sit for 15 minutes, unlock car with fob
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Old Oct 26, 2018 | 03:16 PM
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Just so you know for next time. I had this happen to me a couple times until i permanently bypassed. Take a knife and lightly scrape the vats pellet to expose a clean connection surface. Worked for me.
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Old Oct 27, 2018 | 10:02 AM
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Originally Posted by Kfxguy
Just so you know for next time. I had this happen to me a couple times until i permanently bypassed. Take a knife and lightly scrape the vats pellet to expose a clean connection surface. Worked for me.
I didnt try a knife but tried cleaning it 20 different other ways, no go. I also had 2 keys and neither worked, must have been the ignition switch sensor or whatever. I just caved and dove into the bypass since I had the resistors available. I had a small keychain multi-tool, was able to use it to get the two screws out of the lower panel under the steering wheel and popped it off, I found the wires but couldn't get the connector to unplug, was very impatient doing this in a parking lot with people all around me, so I just cut the wires and stripped with a pocket knife and twisted the resistors in series and twisted them on the wires on the purple side and it started right up. Local friend saved the day for me.
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Old Oct 27, 2018 | 10:59 AM
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Originally Posted by mk3cn4
I didnt try a knife but tried cleaning it 20 different other ways, no go. I also had 2 keys and neither worked, must have been the ignition switch sensor or whatever. I just caved and dove into the bypass since I had the resistors available. I had a small keychain multi-tool, was able to use it to get the two screws out of the lower panel under the steering wheel and popped it off, I found the wires but couldn't get the connector to unplug, was very impatient doing this in a parking lot with people all around me, so I just cut the wires and stripped with a pocket knife and twisted the resistors in series and twisted them on the wires on the purple side and it started right up. Local friend saved the day for me.
ok. God deal. Most people don’t know about that. The contacts in the cylinder are likely the culprit. Good thing you were handy enough to jump it with resistors.
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Old Oct 28, 2018 | 12:55 AM
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the problem is POOR *** GM design.......there are 2 wires on the key cylinder and everytime you turn the key those wires chaff ....eventually breaking......GM has a protective cover on the wire til the last inch where it breaks

once it breaks the BCM no longer reads the VATS....setting off the security light....possibly leaving you stranded

i got stranded once and cost me 500$ at the dealer to replace the cylinder and 2 new keys....my son did it himself on his car last week just for the price of the parts....less than 100$ ( blank vat keys at the dealer are 37$ !! ) So not a question on IF it will happen .....just WHEN

very easy to DIY
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