Hi,I have a 1990 Camaro RS 305 TBI. The car started pulling this **** about a year ago where periodically it would do nothing at all when I went to start it. I bypassed vats a year back and soldered in the correct resistor taking the key and cylinder out of the equation. Still,once in a while the car will pull this crap where you will turn the key and nothing happens. Sometimes it takes 20 minutes or more before it will start again. Tonight it left me stranded for an hour before it would just magically decide to start again. I can’t have this crap anymore. This thing needs to start when it’s supposed to.
there is no security light on. I have used the correct resistor and soldered it in so it has a good connection. Sometimes it won’t do this for months,recently it’s been doing this every couple of days.

Anyone here have this issue before and what can I do to fix it? Thanks for any advice

 

If it is the vats you can bypass the starter enable relay to get it to crank.
when the event occurs check for power on pin b6 a blue wire at the ecm.
this is the passkey hz signal wire. If the passkey is working you will have 2.5vdc.

 

I am fairly sure this is a vats related issue. I am assuming it may be since the car won’t do anything when you try to start it,which is what the VATS BS does when it doesn’t read the correct resistance,then if you let it sit long enough it will just magically start again. Since I’ve already installed a resistor under the dash it’s not a resistor problem.
All I know is that this needs to be taken care of ASAP as the car is no longer reliable. I got stuck in a parking lot one night for an hour until the damn car decided it wanted to start again.
Sometimes it will be fine for a month other times it acts up every other day. Another thing that makes me wonder if it may not be VATS related is that when it doesn’t do anything when you try to start it,it doesn’t time out and reset after 6 minutes or so. Sometimes I have let it sit for 20 minutes and it still won’t start.

All I know is I never had problems like this with any of the other cars I’ve ever owned and I wish GM never put this system in these cars. I’ve read so many threads hear of people complaining about VATS stranding then and wanting to bypass it

these third gens are great looking cars,but their Achilles heel is all the “hi tech” computer crap gm put into them. They should have stuck with carbs and mechanical fuel pump and left off vats

 

As Tuned performance said, you can bypass the starter relay to completely disable VATS cause that is how VATS works by disabling the starter relay.

 

Tuned performance said buy-passing the starter enable relay will allow it TO CRANK. I believe it will still not start, as VATS also cut the fuel injector pules current.

Tunedperformance, please chime in, again. Also, should the blue wire at the ECM have 2.5 volts in RUN, CRANK, or both? (My 89 has the same condition)

OP When you say there is " no security light on" , do you VATS light does not illuminate AT ALL, or it illuminates and turns off, as it should with a properly functioning VATS system?

 

It's super easy to get a chip to bypass the VATS system. I had no ignition key for my 91 Formula and I had it up and running in about 20 minutes. Download a BIN, disable the VATS option, and burn it. Insert with chip adapter and turn key.

Haven't we told you this before? Like several times I am pretty sure.

GD

 

I think the voltage is key on and crank. Just as long as the ecm gets the signal before start.

 

What's a BIN? Download it to what? How do you " disable the VATS option, and burn it. Insert with chip adapter (what is that?) and turn key"

Can you rephrase that for a guy with little computer experience?

 

A bin is a binary program. It needs to be modified to disable vats.
this can be done to the prom in your ecm or a new prom.
some use a piggyback adapter board to incorporate the new tune in the ecm. Like moates.net g1

 

No time for that. You can read up on it using the search function here and google in general. Also good reading on Moates web site/store. That's what all of us did to figure it out.

If you can't figure it out or have no time/inclination to do so then buy a chip from Tuned Performance. For a one-off it will likely cost less than buying a chip burner.

GD