95LQ1VERT Posted August 30, 2020 Report Share Posted August 30, 2020 Hey all, I've read and read on the vats issue however i cannot find my exact scenario. I changed my alternator yesterday on my 3.4 DOHC. Not too terrible, had it done it 3 hours. However, I took it to a friends house last night and then left a few hours later. But as I was pulling out of their driveway, my security came on solid. First time ever happening. From my understanding is that the vats key is read by the ignition cylinder and it sends the resistance value to the module allowing it to start. I've gathered that the wires sometimes break off the ignition cylinder and will cause the TDM to go into a fail safe mode. My keys resistance is 5.82 and at the orange/white wire under the column isnt reading. Does this mean my cylinder isnt working and I just happened to luck out with it entering fail safe while it was running? Could i just "bypass" the key chip with a resistor to turn the light off the dash or is the module bad too? Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jman093 Posted August 31, 2020 Report Share Posted August 31, 2020 (edited) Yes, if you had the key inserted into the ignition and ohms tested the wires on the column side, you should have gotten the key's resistance as a reading. If it was reading open circuit with the key in the ignition, then a wire broke as they commonly do. And yes, if it broke while the car was running, you got lucky and it entered its failsafe mode. You'll be fine until the battery is disconnected or goes dead, and then it won't start until repaired. You can replace the lock cylinder or wire in a resistor to bypass it as you mentioned. I always replace the lock cylinder, but that does involve making new ignition keys as well, and I like the factory keys which are a bit more. Edited August 31, 2020 by jman093 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mfewtrail Posted August 31, 2020 Report Share Posted August 31, 2020 Throwing this out there for people that potentially land on this thread when searching: If you don't care about having the VATS setup, there are complete bypasses for $20-25 that will eliminate the whole setup. In addition to wiring in a bypass, you would also need to bypass the start enable relay. https://www.amazon.com/Timers-Shop-PASSkey-Bypass-Module-Painless/dp/B074YZ6XPM Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
95LQ1VERT Posted September 4, 2020 Author Report Share Posted September 4, 2020 It was for sure the ignition cylinder wires. One come unattached, causing the security light to pop on. Thankfully it happened as it was already running, so I could make it home. I ordered a VATS override kit which was $10 from Amazon, which is just a slew of resistors matching the key pellet resistor values. I snipped the wires coming from the ignition cylinder (2 small white wires in an orange conduit), and soldered in the new resistor (6,040 ohms) matching my key to the connector. I first started the car and the light was still on solid. So I shut it off and turned the key back to run position until the Pass-key 2 system detected the "new key". Security light is now off and looks to be good to go! Sent from my SM-N960U using Tapatalk Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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