Expert: Rob Painter - 8/24/2010

Question
My cadillac wont start.We pulled out the starter had it
tested that wasnt it.. tested all wires..all are good. We
are thinking fuel pump or something like that.. Where is the
fuel pump located.. is there any reason it would just stop
starting without any indications it was failing.. It
literaly was starting and running fine one day and the next
nothing.. all the lights come on when attempting to start
but nothing..

Thank you

Answer
Hello,

Wish you would have looked in my archives of answers before you pulled the starter.

GM ripped off the consumer in many ways with their ineffective, antiquated so-called anti-theft system. It never stopped theft, but the consumer was commonly hit for multple hundreds of dollars to do a temporary repair that was doomed to fail yet again, stranding consumers like yourself.

The tag team of deception was if the car did get stolen because the insurance paid forensic locksmiths who know nothing about theft, to adhere to thier client insurance company would write in a report the car was impossible to steal, thus getting your theft claim denied as well.

In some cases, insureds with these cars were charged with insrance fraud and filing a false police report.

All this because GM lied about thier VATS (vehicle anti-theft system) that is what that resistor pellet on your key is all about.

I answer 10 questions a week on this junk for free. GM over 19 years made how many billions of dollars on this system ripping people off with a false sense of security coupled with the frauds in the insurance industry.

What is wrong with this picture?


Your problem:

Vats wires are most likely broken in steering column. They are very thin and break inside insolation. You will never see the break.


The vats controls the fuel tank mounted fuel pump and the cranking of the engine. What may work to get it started is play with the colmn tilting it up and down while trying to connect the broken wires one more time. If that does not work, put the trans lver in neutral and see if it will crank. Try with the tilting of the column in different positions. Sounds stupid, bit almpst every time, it will eventually start. The brken wires do go back together.


Next, take thecar to an auto alarm store. They have the vats bypass kit that comes with every alarm capable of remote start.

Have them install the Vats bypass and you will never have this problem again. Keep in mind, old cars are stolen a lot. Gm left you with another problem:

an inferior steering column in many ways from 1969-1994 and for this conversation-theft. The left side of steering column (opposite the ignition lock) is vulnerable and can be defeated in less than 30 seconds with a screwdriver and driven off with no keys!

Have the alarm store install a hidden and hard to access staeter kill switch.

If my amswer assisted you, please rate it.

Thanks


By the way, we dealt with thousands od vats and thousands of steering colimn rebuilds.