Expert: Rob Painter - 4/20/2010

Question
Hi Rob,

Thank you for helping people the way you do.I have also the same problem as below.Display shows either "starting disabled" or anti-theft problem and the car will not start.I had to tow it to the cadillac dealer in woodland hills. They have had my car for 4 days now and they are telling me that they can't figure out what's wrong!Can you believe that?
You suggest to take the car to a local alarm store to have the VATS bypassed. What kind of store are you referring to? Can you give me a name? I went to 1 store, they said they had no knowledge in Cadillac
Thank you in advance.
Jean-Claude
Cadillac Deville 98
Encino, CA

Question
my car will not turn over and the message, "Theft System Problem" is displayed...how do I restart it?

Answer
Hello,

I have answered this question a hundred times here and have had thousands of requests on this piece of junk known as VATS. Have car taken to local alarm store and have the VATS bypassed. They have the resistors needed.

You have no protection then and pay to have a HIDDEN starter disable installed. Your problems will be over.

Rob

Answer
Hello,

The first problem you have is that you are in California. I don't say that in a mean way, however I have found it to be like another world for vehicle repairs. I am very glad I don't have to deal with what are called mechanics or technicians there. I could see myself losing it.

If your dealer can't diagnose the problem, they shouldn't have the right to be a Cadillac dealership. What goofs!

As far as the alarm store, I will make this simple. Look in your yellow pages under auto alarms or car alarms. Call and ask if they install remote start on VATS equipped vehicles. If so, go in there and tell them you want the VATS bypassed and you want a hidden starter kill installed. They should know what you are talking about.

By design, the key has to be in the ignition to start the engine on a VATS car, because that resistor pellet on the key blade completes the electrical circuit.

Now in order to install remote start, the engine needs to start without a key in the ignition. In order to do this, the system is lied to and is bypassed where the vehicle computer recognizes the correct resistance every time the engine is started.

These days every alarm set up for remote start comes with the vats bypass kit of all 14 resistors. Since GM is the only one that has that system, many of these kits are thrown out, but even I still have a couple kits left.

All they need to do is read the key with an ohm meter and look at the chart in the bypass kit and use the appropriate striped resistor, install it in line bypassing the steering column. Alarm techs know how to do this, even in California.

My suggestion to you is to NEVER take the car to the dealer again! There are many qualified service centers that are half the price of the dealer with much better technicians.

Rob