Cassandra’s 1996 Buick LeSabre VATS Fix: She Was Right All Along

Cassandra Huber’s story, sent to us in July 2015, is about a 1996 Buick LeSabre Limited. But mostly it is about being the only person in the room with the right diagnosis, and having to insist on it.

Two summers of it

“I have a ’96 Buick Lesabre Limited that has had VATS issues (passkey) since I bought it in February 2014. We have suffered through 2 summers being stranded out in the hot car because we would get 10+ security lights in a row. That is not acceptable, especially when you have a young child.”

“A month ago, our car finally decided to die on us. It just wouldn’t start anymore, and the security light would flash. We were very lucky, as I was out earlier in the day with my son in this heat and it tried quitting then. After about 40 minutes of me worrying how we would get home since my husband was at work and my family lives 2+ hours away, I finally got it to start and made it home before it died later that day for good.”

Nobody believed her diagnosis

“Everyone was saying to check this and that, and I stayed adamant that I really thought the VATS system finally killed our car. Nobody I know knew about Newrockies, including my dad who has been a mechanic for many decades.”

This is worth pausing on. A mechanic of many decades can go a whole career without meeting a VATS failure head-on, because the failure leaves no trace a normal diagnosis will find. The engine is healthy. The starter is healthy. The battery is healthy. The car has simply been told not to run by its own security system, and the only witness is a flashing light on the dash. Cassandra had done the reading, and she held her ground.

A $200 risk they could not really afford

“After doing all the checks that I knew were not the problem, I insisted that we try Newrockies. We were very low on money at the time and it was a huge risk for us to take to spend $200 on a part that may or may not work. No way could we afford to take it to a shop so they could rob our pocketbook or junk this solid car that runs beautifully and get another one.”

“Being the daughter of a mechanic, I have some knowledge of car maintenance and repair but not a ton. Well, it was an easy install, even for me. Almost anyone can do it!! Hearing the sound of my car starting up and coming back to life was the most amazing sound I have heard in a long time.”

“On top of my car starting the first time every time, I had the pleasure of ripping out and saying farewell to that TDM that had put us through the wringer.”

What was actually happening

The 1992 to 1999 LeSabre runs PassKey II: a resistor pellet in the key blade, read by two small contacts in the lock cylinder, checked by the Theft Deterrent Module behind the glovebox. Twenty years of key insertions wear the pellet and the contacts, and the reading goes intermittent. Ten security lights in a row is not ten separate failures. It is one worn interface being read ten times and failing the arithmetic each time, until one attempt happens to land in range and the car starts as if nothing was ever wrong.

The NEWROCKIES PRO Module takes the TDM out of the picture entirely, which is why Cassandra got to physically remove hers. There is no pellet reading left to fail.

If you have a LeSabre

“Any car I buy in the future with this dreaded system will be getting a PRO Module installed as soon as the title is signed. I cannot thank Newrockies enough.”

The TDM on these cars is under the right side of the dash, behind the glovebox. The full steps are here: 1992-1999 Buick LeSabre installation guide.

Related stories on the blog. More from this family: Trent’s Riviera, trailered 600 miles home, and Alvin’s Aurora.

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