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View Full Version : Bypassing the Vehicle Anti-Theft System (VATS) in my Camaro...



Scream And Fly
01-12-2004, 06:01 PM
As many of you know, many GM cars have the Pass-Key VATS system. It's that little pellet in the key that authorizes ignition when read by the ignition cylinder. Well, the "workhorse car" - my 1993 Camaro has it too.

Basically, these systems are very problematic. When the system fails to read the key on start-up, you must wait 3 minutes to attempt to start the car again. Very annoying. Anyway, the "pellet" in the key is just a resistor, so I went to a Chevy dealer today and got the key code for it. After that, I went home to look up the resistance value for my code. A quick trip to Radio Shack and 69 cents later, I had the resistor I needed to bypass the system.

My situation was complicated further by the remote starter in the car, which uses an extra relay to bypass the VATS system on remote startup.

Pic 1 shows what was under the dash cover. What a mess - the previous alarm installer really hacked into this car. Time to identify wires and reorganize things. In my hand is the remote receiver, the Viper VATS bypass module, and the remote start relay.

Scream And Fly
01-12-2004, 06:03 PM
Better picture of the Viper alarm remote start relay...

Scream And Fly
01-12-2004, 06:04 PM
These were the wires that were wired in to the factory VATS module. They were removed. As you can see in the previous post, I had already begun to strip the tape, etc... This was the worst installation I have ever seen.

Greg

Scream And Fly
01-12-2004, 06:09 PM
These are the wires for the GM VATS module. They have already been cut for the alarm installation. These wires read the resistance in the key...

The yellow connector at the top of the picture is the air bag sender wire. Don't mess with that!

Scream And Fly
01-12-2004, 06:10 PM
The resistor is installed, fooling the VATS module into thinking the proper key is being read. The alarm relay is bypassed, and I still have full alarm function, including remote start.

Oh yeah.


Greg

spn#43
01-12-2004, 07:17 PM
WOW man ;
I had same car and only if key got wet it would act up but other than that it was all fine.

spn#43
01-12-2004, 07:20 PM
:cool:

Scream And Fly
01-12-2004, 07:37 PM
Cool!

It's a good "work" car. I like it on long trips too!

1BadAction
01-12-2004, 08:00 PM
... next week on scream and fly, how to hot wire an 03 cobra!

:D

spn#43
01-12-2004, 10:08 PM
Man,
:rolleyes: :( I miss that car so bad.
That was my second one but I had to sell it for the sake of boat racing…o well…love racing more;) ;) ....can't have it all...:rolleyes: ...at least, not yet:D :D :p ..LOL:)

1BadAction
01-12-2004, 10:12 PM
if you are interested, i have a nice low miles 2000 i am letting go for a decent price...

lokinutz
08-09-2006, 11:09 AM
Dont they make a VATS bypass wire loom (about 3" long) for the camaro like they do the 'vette that plugs right in just below the column? Costs about 20$. Or had the previous installer removed the plugs? Thats a bummer you had to go through all that, either way.

transomstand
08-09-2006, 11:19 AM
What a mess - the previous alarm installer really hacked into this car.

Aftermarket installers never saw a wiring harness that a Sawzall and a hundred butt connectors couldn't fix.

Pete