89 IROC VATS Malfunction

My friend has an 89 IROC and the VATS system shit the bed. He already wired in a resistor and it was fine for a week. Two days ago it shit again and the car is stranded at grocery store. Replacing all the hardware involved is quite expensive so I am looking for suggestions on what to try next to avoid replacing the ignition, module etc.. Any help would be much appreciated. Thank You in advance.

has he tried to start it again lately? the ECM runs the VATS on a timer. if there is a poor connection between the resistor and the contacts, it will change the resistance value, or if the wrong resister is used then the ECM locks up for anywhere from 2-10 minutes.

there's a few ways to bypass VATS, one is the way he already did by hard wiring a resister in place, but you want to make sure all connections are soldered. another way is to make a timer circuit that puts out a square wave at 50hz, this bypasses the VATS module all together, i have schematics for this if you want, costs bout $10 to build. or you can get a PROM that is programmed without VATS.

on tbi, sometimes you can poor gas down the throttle body and jump the starter relay. but i'm not sure how you'd do that on tpi

Ok thanks alot 4. Haven't seen him at work in a couple days, but I will relay the info as soon as I see him. Thanks again.

no problem

i would love to see a diagram of your timer circuit i have a 89 rs that just had the key or key cylender just crap out and would love to try somthin new to bypass the vats and get back on the road my email is [email protected] tks in advance :)

I would love to see that too!! [email protected] Thanks in advance!