On Friday, February 5, 2016 at 7:28:44 AM UTC-8, Bill Baxter wrote:
I have some Vivitar 283 flashes

After about 5 years and recently, I brought out the flashes to use...
... even if I push the
ready light button on the 283's, they won't fire. Sometimes the ready
light is flashing, sometimes steady but doesn't seem to matter.

It's possible that the discharge tubes have gone gassy; that would
cause the breakdown voltage to rise (and make triggering hard).
Some diagnostics are possible, if there's a neon sign
shop in your neighborhood... or if you have a Tesla coil
in your toolbox.