backtothe80s

So yeah. Another one of "those" threads. I decided to go for a drive last night and stopped at the gas station near my house. When I went to restart the car, all it did was crank. After a few tries, it fired for a couple of seconds, then died. I couldn't get it restarted and had to be towed home.

I had a hunch it would start today, and it did. I started and restarted it many times.

When troubleshooting, I always think about the last thing I did, and that was investigating the VATS system. Before going out that night, I discovered that someone bypassed the lock cylinder with a pre-made plug with the correct resistor. I unplugged it and reconnected it to the lock cylinder (replaced back in May). All seemed well and the car started right up. It would not start with the "dummy" key that came with the new lock cylinder. VATS now appeared to be functioning as designed.

Before giving up and calling AAA, I retraced my steps. I noticed that the connection between the lock cylinder and VATS was not fully seated. I pushed it together and tried to restart. That's when it ran momentarily. I reinstalled the bypass plug and still no start.

Since it did the cough and sputter thing, I suspected that the fuel pump might not be coming on, but I could hear it prime for the usual two seconds. Perhaps it wasn't staying on.

So my question is, if this was an issue with VATS, wouldn't the starter have been disabled as well? I don't seem to remember seeing the security light coming on while cranking.

Now I have an issue that may or may not come back. Neither would surprise me.

I think I'm going to rig up something I can keep in the car to provide emergency power to the fuel pump in case this happens again.

I know it could have been any number of things, but I'd appreciate any thoughts or insight. Thanks in advance!

antares57

iTrader: (8)

My guess would be the fuel pump. My '91 Base 'Bird gave me ample warming that it was going out, but I didn't listen til the fuel pump went out. Had it towed home on the sidewalk. Would crank, but not start. Banged above the fuel pump with a rubber mallet and it started one last time enough for me to get it in the driveway. If it was VATS the security light would have stayed on and you wouldn't even get a crank. If you haven't changed out the fuel pump that's probably what it is, even though it starts periodically. Good luck.

backtothe80s

Interesting. How, exactly did it warn you?

RBob

iTrader: (1)

Still have the OEM Multec injectors in the engine? If so time to get rid of them.

RBob.

backtothe80s

No. The previous owner replaced them. The new injectors are orange, so I believe those are the Bosch IIIs. He also claims to have replaced the fuel pump and filter with new Bosch units. BTW, he replaced the MAF and O2 withe new Bosch parts. Obviously, I can't verify if the fuel pump was actually replaced.

Overall the car runs ok, the idle tends to hunt, especially when cold. It also hesitates somewhat until warmed up. When it's fully warmed up it runs pretty well, but could be better.

I'm going to purchase a fuel pressure tester tonight and see what's going on. I haven't attempted to start it since yesterday, but I will and expect it to start.

Bob88GTA

iTrader: (2)

"When troubleshooting, I always think about the last thing I did, and that was investigating the VATS system. Before going out that night, I discovered that someone bypassed the lock cylinder with a pre-made plug with the correct resistor. I unplugged it and reconnected it to the lock cylinder (replaced back in May). All seemed well and the car started right up. It would not start with the "dummy" key that came with the new lock cylinder. VATS now appeared to be functioning as designed."

When VATS is working properly, your security light will not go out after ignition is turned to the ON position and WILL NOT let the engine CRANK over.

backtothe80s

After reading the FSM, that was my understanding. Again, that was the last thing that was altered, so I thought it might have been a cause.

I'd really prefer the car not start at all this evening, so I'm not chasing down an intermittent issue.

graysmoke

why was the vats bypassed in the first place. I tried starting my car with a non security key when I first got it to check if vats was bypassed. It did what you described, started for a couple of seconds then died.

backtothe80s

I went back to having VATS bypassed with a plug-in resistor. When I had VATS enabled and before setting out on my excursion, I used the non-security key and got a NO CRANK NO START with no security light. It started fine with the security key.

graysmoke

Wonder why mine cranked and died. Is it the year. Now I'm concerned about my vats and will need to look at it again.

backtothe80s

The previous owner installed a pre-made plug to bypass VATS.

Deadbox

Read thru this thread. There is a lot of helpful info from these guys. From the sounds of it you may have the same problem.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...t-story-6.html

backtothe80s

Very interesting an informative. I think I need to have a good look at the distributor and pickup. If it happens again, I'll definitely carry a can of starting fluid to see if that gets me home.

Thanks for the information!