91 v6 camaro has got a problem (surprise!)

the problem is somewhere in the starting circuit. occasionally something will overheat and the car will not start. the lights go on, the fan spins, the ignition clicks, but nothing cranks. however, after about a half hour of letting the engine cool, the engine will start up no problem. its not the battery, its not the ignintion switch, and i pulled the starter/solenoid and rebuilt/regreased and checked for any frail wires, structures anything. the problem isnt in the starter or the solenoid. originally i thought it would be an overheating solenoid. could it be the neutral safety switch overheating? i don't seem to have any way of testing it when it is hot. suggestions?

(note: only when starter won't start, rear hatch won't unlock. electrical gremlins?)

 

do you have a stock shifter of b&m?
try to replace neutral safe relay i had to do that with mine (b&m shifter) now that i think about i dont even think there is a relay for the neutral/saft. Whel the thing i replaced fix the prob and it was a relay that was next to the shifter.

 

It's prob your ignition module... https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...help-asap.html
Found on the sites search engine


P.S. Welcome to thirdgen...

 

saftey neutral switch deff. cause mine does the same thing if u stop quick and put it into park it doees it. u have to unplug it wait a sec then plug it back in itll fix it or shift thru all of the gears and back into park and then try starting it again.

 

Classic VATS issue. You'll get this if the resistance changes due to heat on the steering column (sun?), or a dirty key.

Could be "heat soak", but thats commonly misdiagnosed.

Poor battery or starter connections (corrosion). bad gronds.

Don't overlook vats, same thing happened to me.

 

I agree with firstfirebird on this one.

 

oops, this was a mistake

 

no its not an ignition problem. i thought that a hot idle problem was due to the ignition module awhile ago, and a threw another on. it turned out not to be the problem. i have two good modules lying around and they haven't caused anything. also, its hard to imagine the vats system overheating, and i ran a resistance check and that confirmed my theory. i have yet to test the above advice of running through the gears- and as luck would have it there's a massive coolant leak- the coolant outlet just below the throttle snapped (i assume the aluminum corroded over time, oddly enough it's extemely brittle and amost concrete-like..hmm..) so i have other fish to fry, as you can imagine.

 

thats why you always use distilled water and enough antifreeze. the past owner probably ran straight water for a long time.

my starting problem started out like this sometime last year, and has developed into my problems today. now i have a burnt starter relay, and after shimming the starter out an extra .020 of an inch (bringing me to .060) the clicking calmed down ALOT. At first it only did it when really warm, then a couple times a day but never in the morning, then all the time. So I shimmed the starter, it seems to have helped. Once I get my relay in I'll know just how much it helped and I'll report back. I might still have to bring it out another .020 if it still clicks once in a while.

if i let it roll back a little and pop the clutch, it fires up every time. which tells me it MUST be starter to flywheel engagement problems.

just thought that would help. i'd try shimming the starter out before you end up killing that relay from having to turn the ignition over so many times like i did.