My neighbor brought home a 1990 convertible today on a flat bed. I get the idea he has zero, zilch, nada, experience with cars in general, much less a 25 year old C4.

First look at this car is a 383 stroker motor, FAST EFI, and who knows what else. The first issue to be worked is with VATS. Security light is on (not flashing) when the key is in the On position, and when the key is turned Off. I tried the PASS II key re-program, BUT the Security light never went out after the ten minute Key On period.

I realize two things about this car: (1) I'm SO glad it's not mine! and (2) I have no idea right now what's been done to this poor thing.

I did a search and wandered through the sticky threads but didn't find anything showing a plan of attack to diagnose VATS problems.

Any ideas?

TIA, and have a good one,
Mike

 

There's for sure no RELEARN for it. Your plan didn't do anything but take up your time. The relearn you mention and attempted isn't for a PASS KEY II.

There's many, many threads regarding VATS and some good information, some very poor information and what not. Is this car an A4 or a 6MT car because it may not stop with a simple VATS check.

For a '90 you would first check the resistance of the key, after removing the left bolster and likely the metal reinforcement you check the resistance again at the connector towards the bottom of the column with the key in the cylinder. If they match then it becomes a much more difficult issue.

Did the friend ever see this car run? Does anyone know that it's ran recently?

If you found that there wasn't a connection at the bottom of the column to the car harness then it could be assumed that someone else has attempted a by-pass and it's failed. I'll try to dig up some images that might help.

I don't use this link for information but it could be a "good read" there's images of the connector that you can expect towards the bottom of the column, it explains the resistance stuff and has good information to just familiarize yourself with. There are various links from here to others and I can recommend NONE and won't. I do believe if it's capable of being bypassed with a simple resistor being added it's likely the thing to do maybe only for diagnostics.

http://vats.likeabigdog.com/

The connector that you find and the wires are NOT yellow as in the attached link but should be in the orange sheath as imaged and then to just a mating connector.

You'll need to remove this panel and maybe the metal reinforcement -



It is NOT a tough job. Do you have a DMM? Does your friend have multiple keys? You might drop by a dealer and have them "drop the key" for confirmation of the resistance code. It might help you with your interpretation of some of the material that's presented.

 

I completely with all of this.

When I bought my car, it has the same problem...turned out that it had the wrong key! So WVZR-1 asks a good question; "...ever see the car run?"

 

Here's the procedure I followed. I've used it in the past for a PASSLOCK key and it worked fine.

It's an A4

Oh, my favorite question!!! My neighbor has not seen it run. His friend (the new owner) was told "well, it ran when I got it on my trailer to move up here". BUT, he got a good deal!!!!!

Yeah, I've got the tools. First thing, IMO, is to get the poor thing into a dry stall so I can get some kind of sense of what he's got going on.

Thanks for the help, and have a good one,
Mike

 

Enjoy the ADVENTURE