eban808

Saying that im pissed off with my car is an understatment

I have a 91 305 TBI Camaro

While cleaining my rims today I decided to wipe of the engine bay which was extremely dirty. While cleaning I covered the alternator with a rag and I took off the throttle body snorkel and covered the base with another rag.

All I did was spray Simple Green to a rag and scrubbed the driver side valve cover, the inner fender, and a few other parts on the drivers side of the bay. I decided to reverse my car a bit so I could work on the other half of the bay.

When I turned the key the car turned for a second then choked. From then engine my engine wouldnt start. I looked around the engine and made sure all the wires were connected and that I didnt knock anything loose, but it still wouldnt start.

I noticed that the engine didn't sound as powerful as it did when turning and seemed really weak. I looked again and found the belt (serpentine belt?) was really worn out and it looked like it's about to break.

Im sure it's not the fuel pump because I can hear the pump priming when I turn the car on. I also notice when I turn the key to the on position my car doesn't make any noise. Whenever I left my car on I could hear a humming from the engine (I dont know if it was the fan or alternator?) but it doesn't do that any more.

Lastly I went to check the oil. When I pulled the dip stick out a very small amount of smoke came out. I checked the oil level and its lower than it should be, but there's oil in there.


Im sorry if I wrote a confusing description of my situation, but Im still in the learning process of how my car works. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

What bothers me most is I drove my car from down the street to my house and it ran fine. It was a 20 second drive, but now it wont start.

TZFBird

First of all, the 'smoke' out of the dipstick tube is steam. Unless you take an hour long drive you will get that every time. If you really want to get freaked out, open the cap on the valve cover and watch it swirl around in there.

You said you covered the distributor cap and filter housing. What you didn't say is that you removed the rags. My first thought is that a rag got sucked in around the filter, but there is a damper in the tube going to the housing. So unless you got your rag stuck in there, that is the only way to block off enough air that the engine will not start.

Here are 3 steps you can try.

1) Remove lid to air filter and try starting it. If you have someone around have them watch the fuel injectors to make sure you have what appears to be a solid cone of fuel coming from each injector.

2) Pull a spark plug wire off and make sure you are getting a strong spark. Have someone hold the wire(only touch the wire) close to a bolt( I use one of them on the upper strut support). If you do not have anyone around and don't mind a good zap(actually a lot of them repeatedly until you release the key), just hold the boot and use the other hand to reach in and start the car. You'll know for sure that there is spark. Be sure to concentrate and constatly be thinking of releasing the key. All your muscles from hand to hand are going to try to contract more than once every second until you let go. Or maybe I just have some bad plug boots that allow the spark to leak through. I found this all out the hard way.

3) By this point you have checked for air, spark, and fuel. Assuming no change in timing(distributor was not moved somehow) If you are still not starting, I would make sure your IAC is working. Do a search for that and make sure it's not all gummed up with carbon. I've had mine stick shut on me and it will not start. That provides the small amount of air required for idle and starting. If it is stuck shut and not allowed to open you will not get the air required.

Aside from that basic engine pyramid of requirements you should run.

eban808

Thanks for the reply and tips. I did remove all the rags before starting the car.

My bro just came home for break so i'll have him help me look it through. My car wouldnt start about 4 months ago and we took it to a shop, and $150 later it turned out my fuel pump relay wires were disconnected.

Im hoping maybe I somehow knocked the wires loose and its a matter of fixing that. Only problem is I dont know where exactly that wire is. The mechanic told me its on the drivers side and i think inside the fender? I found a diagram tonight showing the relay on the driver side firewall in a bracket. Will check it tommorow when theres light out.

Im not sure what the IAC is but i'll do a search on that, thanks

Tommorow Im gonna put in oil to see if that'll help too. I'll post how it goes

evilemokid94

iTrader: (6)

IAC = Idle Air Control

mikeirocz1

iTrader: (1)

So does the car turn over, just wont start? If the fuel pump relay is out then you won't be able to hear the pump kick on when you turn the key on. As far as the location, it is on the driverside firewall on a bracket mounted to the firewall close to the brake booster. It should have 2 relay's on it, one for the fuel pump and one for the cooling fan's. You can swap the relay's out just to see if it will start. I would also check all of your fuses on the inside of the car.