Another VATS, maybe
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 478
Likes: 45
From: St. Louis
Another VATS, maybe
Refilled the last of the fluids and cranked up my newly rebuilt LT1 tonight, after many weeks of work on my trusty '95. Had to adjust the valves - they were too tight. Successfully cranked her several times doing this. After valve adjustment, buttoned everything back down, cranked again, engine ran great. Yay! 
Let her idle for several minutes, looks great, so I committed to putting the hood back on, and shut her off again. Went to restart, got juice for an instant - it started to crank - then the entire car died - no lights, no fans, no nothing except a VATS light flashing weakly above the radio/AC.
Am pretty sure we got all the electrical grounds right on reassembly. Is a completely dead car a VATS symptom, or would I at least still get dash, lights, etc.?
Let her idle for several minutes, looks great, so I committed to putting the hood back on, and shut her off again. Went to restart, got juice for an instant - it started to crank - then the entire car died - no lights, no fans, no nothing except a VATS light flashing weakly above the radio/AC.
Am pretty sure we got all the electrical grounds right on reassembly. Is a completely dead car a VATS symptom, or would I at least still get dash, lights, etc.?
Last edited by TomH91; Sep 21, 2005 at 06:59 AM.
Le Mans Master
Joined: Oct 2003
Posts: 6,130
Likes: 2
From: seattle WA
ttt. I thought you had everything but crank and start with a VATs issue. I'd check my alternator connection and charge the battery over night-also check the battery connections for clean and tight.
Thread Starter
Racer
Joined: Aug 2001
Posts: 478
Likes: 45
From: St. Louis
Many thanks for the replies. I don't think it's a VATS problem any more - it should have had lights and power, okay. I need to check the battery; if it still has life, I'll start looking for bad grounds, starting with the one under the battery tray that gave trouble about a year ago. I should have tried harder to run the problem down last night, but it was soooo late...
