Pontiac Repair: Firebird VAT (Vehicle Anti Theft) Ignition key system, radio shack store, volt ohm meter

Question
How do you disable this system without having to replace it? mine is going bad really soon and replacing it will cost me 500 dollars (pontiac dealership estimate price for work + replacement) Im sure its not easy i've done work on my car before (including removing the steering wheel and such) I live in an Air Force base and we're supplied with all sorts of tools on the auto hobby shop here on base. Your help is very much appreciated.

Answer
Hey Daniel.
Well I wasn't going to tell you how to do it until I got to the bottom of the message and you mentioned being in the armed forces so that gave you brownie points... It's really easy on one of those. As long as the problem with the system isn't with the key it's self. I assume that you are having the problem with both ignition keys?? First off the correct repair is usually replacing the ignition lock cylinder and that isn't all that much money. there are 2 wire in it that "read" the key and they fray and break. so you need the cylinder and 2 new keys to match that cylinder. That is the correct repair. $500.00 is a bit steep. about $125.00 for the parts approx. ball park. now the way to "fix it" if both keys are not working then most likely it's in the car it's self. this is what you have to do. the ignition key has a black pellet in it. It's a resistor. use a digital volt ohm meter and measure the resistance of that pellet there is a shiny point in the middle of that pellet measure the resistance of the pellet put on probe on one side and one on the other side. do not touch the leads you body will add resistance to the meter. put the key in a vice. Make sure both keys read approx. the same with in maybe 100 ohms... when you get that resistance reading do to the local radio shack store and buy a resistor that matches that reading you got on the meter within approx 100 ohms. If you have to string them ins series to get the right resistance that's okay. buy ones with the highest wattage reading you can get. now on to the car. the wire harness that runs through the steering column there are 2 very small white wires that are sticking out of a orange insulation they run into a "BLACK" connector cut those back from the connector a few inches and solder the resistor or resistors in series to those cut wires on the car side on the connector not the steering column side. That will do it. Once it's bypassed you should be ready to go just use some duct tape to insulate your repair from touching anything and your off to the races... good luck :) You didn't hear it from me...