Just had a Security light on my 97 Buick. Was reading on the net about the VATS. A lot of stuff about bypassing the key resistor. Is this a good idea?

Debatable. Some say its perfectly fine, some say its a horrible idea and not to do it. Personally I prefer the cars theft deterrent to work the way it was suppose to. Ive had a friend with a camaro (same style vats system) and his acted up so he did the bypass, which worked for a little while but then it messed up and they had to replace everything to get it back on the road.

Its a gamble and it really depends on whats wrong with the car as to why its doing this. If its that the key you have is old and you don't want to spend the money to get a new one, I say suck it up and buy the right key vs chancing something really getting messed up. If you don't know whats wrong with it, you need to start testing things vs just disabling the whole system, that causes problems down the road.

The other side is the padlock is problematic and as the car gets older its a mater of time before it fails

Thanks, I wil try the new key and see if that works...

Thread moved to proper mechanical section.You can make an intro thread in intro section To simply introduce yourself and your ride!