No-crank, no-start, does this sound like VATS problem?

[98LuminaLTZ]

I can't get my 98 Lumina to start, I don't hear the solenoid click at the starter when I try, but I do hear the fuel pump prime.

 

I would assume I should have a security light lit or flashing if it were a VATS issue, but I wanted to run this past the experts here for a second opinion. I have checked all fuses (cabin and engine bay) and I have checked the Ignition relay under hood (swapped it with one of the fan relays rated the same), that's all I had time for thus far.

 

Here is a Youtube video of the dash lights when I turn the key, you can see no Security light, but I am not even seeing a flash of it so I wonder if it may have burnt out and is masking a VATS issue. Or if I should be looking at neutral switch, or one of the relays under the dash.

 

Thanks for looking :-)

[Psych0matt]

my Cutlass almost the entire time I owned it would click like that about every 10th time, usually after driving and getting it all warm, but not always the case. Sometimes it'd take 20 minutes or more to finally start, but it always started. I also at one point had a VATS issue, but that was definitely involving the security light

[carkhz316]

Does the bulb check illuminate the security light at all? If it does, then a VATS issue would flash/ illuminate the security light in tandem with a no crank condition.

[55trucker]

Try this........you'll need a light tester or a voltage meter,

Get under the car, put the probe on the solenoid terminal and ground the lead, have someone on the key and go to *start*,

If the probe does not illuminate, you've a problem upstream, if it does, and you also have battery voltage at the large terminal but the starter does not spin & you do not hear the solenoid engage, the large copper solenoid contact inside the solenoid more than likely has failed.

[98LuminaLTZ]

I get NO illumination of Security light, it used to be on SOLID when running since I got the car, I do not however recall what it would do on normal startup.

 

I plan on probing the starter for voltage (constant and ignition switched) this weekend when I can push the car into my paved driveway so I can get it on jack stands, it rides too low to get under it and at the starter with it on the ground, and there's too much crap in the way to see to come at it overhead.

[98LuminaLTZ]

in reply to Psych0matt, unfortunately its not intermittent with my car, I have tried starting it probably 50 times over last weekend when it failed to start for me, after swapping ignition relays and checking fuses and whatnot. Whatever failed, seems to have fully failed (or something chewed its wiring and it finally gave way, I found a old nest under the hood under a shroud, when I was checking relays,fuses,etc).

 

 

Thanks all for the replies, I was hoping I might have been missing something obvious, but it sounds like any one of the things I figured could be the culprit, VATS, Neutral safety, or solenoid (or their wiring).

[98LuminaLTZ]

FYI, Checking back in.

 

It WAS VATS/Passkey related. Key and Cylinder were just fine, I got same reading off key and cylinder plug at bottom of column. Fuses (ignition and passkey related) all checked good, and starter relays all checked good. I was in the process of pulling the glove box to check the security module and its relay, and after banging around a bit on the panels, it cranked over and ran, and seems to be starting every time now, but I am going to have to get in there and check for loose wires or bad grounds on the security module or something.

 

For now its running, I can rip it apart more later when I have more time, winter weather has finally left us here in MN, so I don't need to drive this again until winter.

 

I haven't looked up the significance of it, but before this, the SECURITY light would stay on ALL the time while running, now it is going OFF like it should after starting.