I have an 87 305 tpi IROC camaro that won't turn over/start. Tapped the starter and checked the wires...good. Fuses and relays, both in the dash and under the hood...good. Changed out the ignition switch. Checked the ground wires and battery...good.

My car used to backfire and have the check engine light come on from time to time, and that was after the mechanic "changed out 2 faulty injectors and spark plugs" bc it was doing this before. When I took out the aftermarket alarm in the car and unplugged my ECM to paint my dash/interior the car wouldn't start anymore. When I towed my car to the mechanic it cranked right up, sounded great. Drove it home, cranked it all the rest of the day to make sure it did work and it worked fine. Next day I go to crank it, same problem, no start/no turnover in engine. Could it be a bad ECM, or does it sound like something else is wrong?

 

do you have the chip in the key? if so then its a very common problem... (mine did it, i fixed it by having 2 keylock cylinders, one hooked up to the vats and tucked up under the dash, and one in the steering colum that turns the ignition)

 

no vats in a 1987. Do you have power when trying to start? In orther words, turn headlights on and try to start, do headlight go out? If so battery problem. I've seen boken posts inside battery that acts like that. if that is OK probably starter relay is bad on the starter. Would not be the ECM.

 

Correct there are no VATS in 87. Thought that would be the original problem at first, pulled off the whole damn steering column only to find no wires going to the ignition cylinder.

The power varies from time to time, sometimes it will get power (ie gauges come on, fuel pump primes, etc) and sometimes nothing will come on and the car is completely dead. As of now I am not even getting power to the gauges or anything like that, cars completely dead. Changed out the terminals in battery, and when the car was getting power I tapped on the starter a bunch to try to get it to crank and still nothing. Haven't checked out the solenoid yet, going to try and do so today, but Im starting to think its not the starter based on the lack of power im getting to the dash/lights. If that doesn't work I'm going to try buying a new battery and see what happens, even though AutoZone says the battery is good

 

I have seen broken post inside the battery. have you checked that you have 12 volt there? wiggle the cable. Does the power come on? Also could be the connector that goes thru firewall. You need to start following the voltage and see where it stops.

 

Got the power on to the car, you were right about the terminals, they didnt have a solid connection and once I changed the terminals out power came back on. I also got the car to crank finally. Wasn't electrical at all, in fact it was the ignition switch wasn't pushing all the way in and it wasn't engaging the starter. Pushed it all the way back with a screwdriver and it fired right up. I knew it would be something stupid that I overlooked, always is. I guess it shows how green I am with cars lol Well thanks for the help guys, I really appreciate it

 

Glad you got it going. Just proves that no matter how complicated cars get you still need to be sure of the basics.