1998 ws-6 randomly fails to start....help

**midnitejam** · 12-27-2015, 05:43 PM

I have a 1998 WS6 with 243 heads ported and polished. and performance cam.

The car randomly fails to start. It cranks fine, but refuses to start at times. When it fails to start, it sometimes starts a day or two later.

I've had the key switch/replaced and new keys made after receiving suggestions that the problem could be a faulty key switch failing to communicate with the ANTI-theft system.

A Chev dealership service department cannot find a cause. The service department told me that the anti-theft system was designed not to be disconnected without possible injury to the ECM computer. Therefore, they will not disconnect the Anti-theft sys for me. They don't know how to disconnect the alarm.

They are afraid to replace the computer with a new one because the current computer has been reprogrammed by the dyno tune. The replacement computer might not read the ptogram for the new cam, jets, and heads.

Does anyone have any experience or knowledge or suggestions?

Fellows, I NEED HELP! PLEASE!

I TRIED TO POST THIS THREAD A FEW MINUTES AGO, BUT i DON'T BELIEVE THE THREAD POSTED. IF IT WAS POSTED BEFORE, PLEASE ACCEPT APOLOGIES FOR REPOSTING

**douglowden116** · 12-28-2015, 04:52 AM

Anyone with experience installing remote starters will be able to bypass anti theft and alarm . When I read this my first thought was a problem in the antitheft . Find someone with a good reputation with remote starters and they can bypass it in no time . There are step by step directions on here if you want to try it yourself .

***SMWS6TA*** · 12-28-2015, 09:50 AM

Ok you have 2 possibilities here.

1st one is to by pass the VAT's

http://www.ls1.com/forums/f6/how-byp...ur-vats-61262/

2nd one is the BCM could be the issue. Do you have issues with the windows rolling up, radio, VATs A;arm, Headlights, etc? Those are signs of BCM

**midnitejam** · 12-28-2015, 11:08 AM

Originally Posted by SMWS6TA

Ok you have 2 possibilities here.

1st one is to by pass the VAT's

http://www.ls1.com/forums/f6/how-byp...ur-vats-61262/

2nd one is the BCM could be the issue. Do you have issues with the windows rolling up, radio, VATs A;arm, Headlights, etc? Those are signs of BCM

My electric windows have been extremely slow going up or down. the right window slower than the left. Have to look hard to determine if it is moving at all.

Your advice gives me a glimmer of hope. The dealership has had the car in their service shop for 5 weeks and cannot find the source of the issue.

***SMWS6TA*** · 12-28-2015, 01:04 PM

Now the VAT's by pass they will not do. But it is something you can. The BCM ties the Vats and the starter, there are 3 spots that the solder can crack. GM will charge you $150 for a new BCM and $150 to program it.

Window issue - The passenger side is always going to roll slowly and kill the motor faster then the drivers side. There is a fix from Autotrix ($38) takes an hr to do and fixes it. GM ran the hot wire from the drivers window motor switch all the way back to the passenger one. It basically is under powered and over time kills the motor. This kit runs a new wire and adds a relay that once installed makes it easy as cake. I've had it for 5 yrs now and still works great, also haven't needed to replace the motor since.

***SMWS6TA*** · 12-28-2015, 01:09 PM

I just thought of one more possibility - On my 96 FB I had similar issues as you. Turned out the wire to the key ignition that the 2 contacts that touched the key had broke. Sometimes it would run, others nothing...but the VATS light. Got frustrating. I pulled the steering wheel and found it just by plain dumb lock. I was trying to swap out the ignition switch when I found it. I ended up re-soldering it together and no more issues.

**sjgreen6** · 12-28-2015, 03:05 PM

One other suggestion that I've had personal frustration with is the relay for the ignition going bad. I have had the relay both outright fail and fail intermittently until it finally failed outright. When it fails intermittently, the car will crank fine but never fire. Later when I retry it fires right up. Cheap fix if it is the cause. The relay is located in the second fuse box under the hood right next to the starter relay. Cost you between $10 and $15 at most auto parts stores. The relay for the ignition and the starter are the same part. If the car is cranking but not firing, try swapping the two relays between the starter and ignition. If the car now fails to crank (starter no longer works) you know you have found your problem.