I just purchased a '98 Suburban 4X4 7.4L (454) at an auction last weekend for the purpose of towing my Crossfire and trailer out to the track... (cheap $4k).

The Suburban was an insurance deal that had been previously stolen then recovered and sold at auction... It has serious electrical problems because the ignition lock and dash were ripped out and the anti-theft computer has completely disabled the starting system, etc...

Anyone have experience trouble shooting / overriding this type of electrical issue ?

 

Take a look here... it may help. I believe the '98s had the VATS system.

 

I wish I could help ya Derek, but I know very little about the "electrical" side of things on my '99 Chevy van.
I will tell you though, make sure you change the fuel filter located on the fuel tank as soon as you get it running. This is one thing most people forget about, and as it gradually clogs up, it makes your electric fuel pump work harder, and it eventually burns it out.
Trust me, you don't want to pay to replace it.

 

Thanks guys... I have the entire dash disassembled, ignition lock removed (which was busted-up), etc... Bought the online manual to try and figure this thing out... I hate fixing electrical problems especially when they are made more complex by integrated computers... To add fuel to the fire, the car has / had an aftermarket security system which was by-passed when the truck was stolen... I think they probably got the thing running and then the system locked-out the ignition so they dumped-it...

Anyway, I found the starter relay in the power distro box under the hood and jumped the leads and the car started, so I know it's not the starter or solenoid... It's gotta be the Anti-Theft System...

Thanks for the tip on the fuel pump... And the schematic on how to disable the VAT...

 

Derek,

You are quite welcome. As to the alarm that was bypassed. Usually the alarm cuts into a large yellow wire near the column to lock out the ignition if the alarm is triggered. Simply reconnect this and yank out the aftermarket alarm system. Get back to the stock wiring and you should be good to go.

Replacement ignition locks can be purchased from GM to fix a broken one.

We were having a similar dilemma with our hot rod project as it's electrical system is from a 2002 Camaro and was missing the steering column wiring, including the ignition key.

We've decided to do one of two things...

1. Put in a Corvette ignition key with the proper VATS resistor key. The Corvette one is in the dash and should work similar to the original Morris Minor ignition switch.

2. Wire in our own resistor to the VATS circuit and use the original Minor ignition key system.

I'm leaning toward the Corvette ignition switch solution as it's a GM part and wired to handle the current load of a modern vehicle.

Let me know if you need any other help. *HUGS*

 

I think there was more to this aftermarket alarm system, it had remote keyless entry, remote start, etc... I have already removed the system which had a couple of dozen jumper wires attached to the OEM wiring harness under the dash (which by the way looked very professionally installed) Not knowing this wiring, I hope they were all part of the aftermarket system... Because they are all in the trash now...

Now I'm taking a beer break...

 

Might not be much help with the wiring, but I wish I was there to help out with the beer break.