Had to debate whether to post in here or the cooling board but here goes -
This one has me pretty boggled. The only thing I can imagine is that something happened with my heater core and stray coolant fried my ecm. I currently have no way to prove this theory though.

I was on my way out of town when the Iroc (89 350) started overheating. I used the heater to keep the temp down until I got there. Decided that the culprit must be either the air dam or thermostat (plenty of troubleshooting and previously replaced parts) so I replaced the thermostat while I was there. Started back home and all was well until about 10 min into the trip it starts overheating again. I decide to go ahead and crawl home with the heater and order an air dam first thing.

Well a good 45 min into the trip home, (temp at 220) I hear a pretty bad noise. I barely heard it and in no way could tell someone what it sounded like but I just know that it was bad. I look down at the gauges and the tach is at 0 (music was loud, knew the car had died now haha) and the battery gauge was going pretty nuts for a few seconds. Get the car off the street and into a parking lot and decide to check for any codes. As I’m watching the usual blinking, a nice stream of white smoke and the definite smell of charred electronics comes from the engine bay. I check it again and find that the smoke is coming from right behind and below the distributor and coil. Once I turned the heater off, it stopped smoking. Tried to crank it and it basically sounded like it was trying to crank on crack….or speed, cranking about twice as fast as it normally would.

Once the car was towed home, I let it sit for about a week. Tried to crank it again and it sounded just fine but still wouldn’t start. I checked both wires going to the icm at the dizzy and they both look fine. There is no sign of coolant anywhere in the interior and none on the ecm. It currently has no codes, (took the ecm EVERYWHERE hoping someone could test it but that absolutely bombed but at least it does show the code 12) it still won’t start even with starting fluid, and the oil looks just fine. Any takers?

 

Have you checked for spark at the spark plugs or distributor. Check for fuel too. When you do post your results.

 

Just a suggestion... have you checked your timing gear?

usually when a 4-banger or equivalent throws one of their timing belts they crank like you described.. like on crack. (and often bang their pistons into the valves)..

what i'm thinking is that something may have happened to your timing gear. (assuming your pistons/crank/rods are still intact), valves stuck open or seriously out of timing is the only way you can crank the engine faster than normal.

as for the overheating and general odd behavior.. good luck

just a suggestion

--afterthought..
is it possible to seize your hydraulic lifters if the engine gets too hot? might explain the fast and then normal cranking.

 

Plenty of thing could have happened.
If it was me, I'd start with simple things like spark, fuel, ignition. Smoke and smell of burnt electronics coming from behind the engine could have been easily the ESC (Electronic Spark Control) module. $35 and you're back on the road.

Or it could have been something more serious, it's for you to find out.

Good luck and I keep my fingers crossed for ya that it's just a simple thing!
Lou

 

Ha you rock BabyLou. Thats the lead I was looking for. Thanks for the input guys. lll check the esc module asap. Depending on how that goes im also gonna check for spark and the ign. module.

Camarogeddon - Ill keep those in mind but I really hope its not that serious.

 

BTW, I didn't mean that it must be the distributor. It's just one possible cause. It might be the coil, it might be the wiring, it could be many more things.

You need to find out which you don't have: spark, air or fuel.

Your ECM is under the dash so it's not what got smoked (since you saw the smoke coming from under the hood). I would be looking at the wiring and components at the back of the engine where you said it happened.

Hope this helps.
Lou

 

Yea I just went out there and realized that the giant tube that I overlooked before, where the smoke was coming from, is basically Every wire the engine has to offer. Im gonna have fun fishing back there through that thing for burnt wires
I still dont get how the heater ties in though

 

Darn, melted harness is usually a mess.

The heater blower is powered from the inside of the car through wires that go through the firewall (behind the engine) into the black plastic box on passenger side. Is that the harness that melted? Maybe a shorted wire or even the el. motor?

Lou

 

I haven't even had time to check that harness but yea, I'm betting that's the one where I'm gonna find my fried wires. Classes start tomorrow so I don't know when I'm gonna get to it but I'll post my findings. Definitely thanks for the insight BabyLou. Sounds about right.