Surprise on the 4th of July!

[captcorvette]

Just wanted to wish everyone a safe, sane and enjoyable 4th of July. Its already after 9 in the morning here so I was going to take the Z out for a cruise to some of the various 4th of July functions that are going on with the American expat community.

Surprise! Dreaded no start. Same issue as before. VATs "Security" light came on and stayed on when turning on the key. Having two years worth of issues on this problem I tried everything I have been told to try in the past. No luck. Same problem.

OK roll with the punches! As someone famous once said "I roll with the punches so often I have rounded heels" came to mind.

Targa top off, weather-stripping all removed, cleaned and prepared for new weather-stripping to be installed. It will be a working at home 4th..

Once again hope everyone has a brilliant 4th of July holiday!
Wayne

[tomtom72]

Thanks Wayne! I hope you have a great 4th also!


Tom

[scottfab]

When you've tried all possible ideas to isolate start over at the beginning.
Do you have a different key to try? The resistive pellets in the keys have been know to crack and be come intermittent or otherwise contaminated.

Happy 4th to you too.

[gbrtng]

A friend found a broken wire at the ignition switch so the key resistor was not being measured. I don't remember the repair procedure, but it sounds like substituting the pellet resistor with a resistor of the same value downstream from the ignition switch might
get you going. Do you have section 8 of the service manual?

[John Boothby]

I use a little alcohol rub on the key pellet. I find this gets dirty and a little cleaning works!!

This has worked for me more than once. I now carry some alcohol swips with me in the glove box.

Happy 4th!!

[captcorvette]

Thanks for all the help and suggestions. And yep have tried all except checking for a broken wire. Will put that on the list.

Have other nitpicking items that I can expend some energy on while the car is sitting with me trouble shooting different items. Won't give up but did take a ride in one of my other toys. Then came back and back at it. Good thing working on toys is one of the great joys of life eh?

Now time for all you guys on that side of the world to get back to the BBQ, suds and visiting with friends/family.

[rhipsher]

Speaking of taking a july 4th cruise it is a beautiful day in the Houston jungle. The Z is looking fine just sitting in the garage ready to roll. I think I'll run some errands in it on my day off before heading over to my mother and father inlaws with the kids for BBQ. Delicious.

[zedrone]

Find yourself an electronics supply store. Get them to measure the resistance of the pellet in the key. Buy a 1/4 watt resistor as close to that value as you can. Resistors can be added in series, in other words a 10 ohms + 5 ohms = 15 ohms. You need to get within 10% (I think) of the key's value.

drop the underdash panel and find a thin two wire connector under the RH side of the steering column. I can't remember, but I think the wires are both brown or black. The connector is the same physical plug that your seatbelt recepticle uses to plug into the body harness (as a reference). Don't touch any yellow coated wires, those are for the airbag.

Just to make sure, you can unplug the connector and ohm the steering wheel side when you have the key in the ignition, the value will be the same (give or take).

take your resistor(s) and attach them to the computer (non-steering wheel) side of the circuit. The best way would be to cut the connector and solder your connections. This will permanently defeat the VATS and keep the problem from recurring.

Good luck,

Ed

[scottfab]

Originally Posted by zedrone

Find yourself an electronics supply store. Get them to measure the resistance of the pellet in the key. Buy a 1/4 watt resistor as close to that value as you can. Resistors can be added in series, in other words a 10 watt + 5 watt = 15 watts. You need to get within 10% (I think) of the key's value.
<snip>

I think the word "ohms" would work better than "watts" in 3 of the 4 places used.

[zedrone]

Originally Posted by scottfab

I think the word "ohms" would work better than "watts" in 3 of the 4 places used.

duh, lol