What is this? (Answer Posted!)

[Jeremy airjer W]

so i had a customer call me about his sons 1994 olds cutlas supreme. No matter what he did or tried the starter would not engage. He had the starter checked, it was fine. and replaced the nuetral safety switch, still no luck. After a week of trying to figure it out he towed it to me and I had it started in 20 minutes after a trip to radio shack.

This is what I what i created from three resistors soldered in series and a wiring harness from the vehicle.

So, what is it?

[delcecchi]

OK, it is a 3.7kohm resistor. must be to replace or spoof some sensor that was broken, telling the electronics not to let it crank. Wild guess, but isn't there a sensor that is supposed to shut off stuff if crashed or upside down? Or did I just think that up?

Oh, and you must have had to come up with the value by trial and error or you could have just bought the right size in the first place rather than having to keep adding 220 until you got the value right.

[Jeremy airjer W]

I knew I needed 3,740 ohms +/- 2%

[Dave S]

Does it have to do with a vats system and the key?

[delcecchi]

Radio shack doesn't sell 1% resistors? You used 5% so you must have measured it. I am eagerly awaiting the answer as to what it is.

[Macgyver55]

Took the easy way out huh?

I can tell just by looking at the connector.

[Jeremy airjer W]

The parts wont be in until Monday. I told him this would be fine for the weekend or we could leave it, or we could "fix" it.

[ZapBranigan]

I'll take a shot in the dark. Security module in the key crapped out so .... Something like that. Was there a security light on when you tried to crank it?

just guessing mind you.

[Jeremy airjer W]

There was a problem with the security system (GM's famous Pass Lock II). The security light was flashing when I received the car. After a quick ohm check of the ignition lock cylinder I determined that either the Pass lock wires to the ignition lock cylinder had broken or the ignition lock cylinder had gone bad. Either way the new wiring comes with the ignition lock cylinder so the fix would be to replace the lock cylinder.

The temporary (or permanent fix, depending on how you think of it) is to ohm the resistor in the key. There are 15 different combinations and lists of the combinations can be found on the net. Once I determined the actual resistance the pass lock module was looking for I made a trip to radio shack and purchased the resistors needed. I then soldered them in series and then soldered those to the lock cylinder side of the harness that I clipped off.

I then checked resistance of the entire assembly that I had made to make sure it was within the 2% tolerance that the module looks for. I then plugged it into the module harness and the vehicle started.

[Tom7227]

Did you just teach us how to start a car without the key?

[Macgyver55]

You would still need the proper key to unlock the steering column and shift lever.

The passlock disables the ability of the car to start and run.

[Jeremy airjer W]

Correct. You will still need a key to start the vehicle what I did was work around a less than reliable security system that has been plagued with problems since its its implementation into GM vehicles.

Normally I am not a big fan of "bypassing" anything but any security system that leaves the owner stranded due to no fault of their on on a regular basis (we see, diagnose, repair, reset a ton of these systems) isn't worth having. To put it into perspective you are more likely to have this system fail and not allow you to start the vehicle multiple times than you are to actually have the vehicle stolen!

[DTro]

I think I'd slip you a little tip and say, "maybe we'll pass on the new cylinder".