Hiya guys-

Just as the title says, I believe the wet weather has done some havoc to my ignition- but not sure. I say this 'cause It's been raining non-stop here for the last 2 days. Ran great all day yesterday while driving in the rain. But this morning, I started it up for the 1st time today and it dies after a few seconds. Which has *never happened* since I owned the car. Started it up again, and it ran for nearly a minute, though it idled like crap- chugging until it just died again. Started it a 3rd time, it turned over and died instantly. I let it sit, then start it- it would run for about 3 seconds and die. Afterwards it would just die as soon as it started. Car is stock, no upgrades have been done.

I have searched, and read up on some posts for the last hour and a half.
So far, thanks to you knowledgeable 3rd Gener's out there, I've found some likely problems:

Moisture in distributor- I'm guessing the most likely problem. I'm about to get a new cap and rotor, along with new plug wires. They haven't been changed since I bought it back in the summer.

Clogged fuel filter- It looks like its been changed- with Fram as a replacement.

Idle air control- I looked at it, its dirty- so could it of just up and quit???

Fuel pump gone out- I can hear it humming in the back. Could be a relay or such?

Sorry if its a long post, I'm just trying to be accurate as much as i can. Its my daily driver, and I need my prized possesion on the road again.

 

Just an update. . .

The rain stopped long enough for me to change the cap, rotor and plug wires. . . it started up after the 3rd try but ran bad- very high idle. Couldn't even give it gas. tapped on the accelator and nothing. Shut it off and went to re-start it, but it would just start and die again. Did this about 5-6 times.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

That used to happen to me, I had to replace the entire distributor.

 

Thanks for the reply!

I've been reading some more. . . could some ignition module of gone out?

 

it very well could be the ignition, but to help rule something out...what humming of the fuel pump do you hear...when you turn the key in the "on" position it's supposed to turn on to "prime" the fuel system...it's a problem if you DON"T hear it...from what i've heard it will shut off once it's fully primed after 3-5 seconds...sounds more like the ignition system and i'm personally leaning towards the distributor like mentioned above.

 

Thanks guys, I'll try the ignition coil next. And probably gonna have to get a idle air control valve- I think I messed it up earlier in the day, by pushing it in and out. If this these don't work, gonne have to start calling the shops around here. I don't have the tools or the experience to handle anything thats more complex than this.

not like I'm giving up, just not worth risking more damage and the $$$ needed to fix this problem.

 

Welp, got the Camaro back on the road this morning. After some spraying of starter fluid, it would start, but would idle horrbily like yesterday. Then sprayed some STP throttle body & intake cleaner in and around the intake manifold while it was running, a few minutes later while it was warming up all of sudden *snap of a finger* it sounded normal once again- like it just fixed itself. Thanks to my dad, who came over to help me out.

Also noticed a wire had become disconnected, on the passengers side, and the cooling fan wouldn't switch on at 230F like it should. Once connected, the fan came on at the specified temp. Perhaps that also might of been the problem.

I've drove it around for a few hours and it runs good like a 17 year old car could. Couldn't be happier.

I'll probably go out again in a few hours and make sure it starts up. Thanks for the input guys. Saved some big $$$. . . Was about to start calling the auto shops. . .

 

any time, any time anything like this happens, always go at your engine compartment with a fine tooth comb, make sure everything is pluged in, and if it isn't figure out what it is before something happens so that you know something isn't supposed to be plugged into anything. I wish you luck, and i hope that it fixed it for good.

 

Yeah, good lesson learned there. . . I got off easy. . . I just glanced around, looking for something utterly catastrophic. My dad probably spent a good half hour if not longer- looking, checking connections, probing. . . excatly what you said- and caught something I missed. A small wire connection "hidden" underneath the main line of wires.

But I think it is fixed. . . but to be on the safe side, will go out and start it up later.

 

This may be in bad form. . . to revive an old post, but the problem wasn't fixed. . .

About a week after my last post -and the car running perfectly well, it died on me. Drove to work back and forth all week without a problem. . . and a few other places too. But Friday morning it acted up- running like hell. Acting like it did before.

I got in that morning- and it started up fine. Let it warm up. . . and as soon as I rounded the corner out of my neighborhood, it started to run horrible. Reving itself with a chugging sound. I should of turned her around and back into the driveway, but had to get to work. . . I made it, but barely. . . . also noticing that speedometer wasn't working. It just sat below the 5 m.p.h mark, flickering. And once I got to work and shut it off, I tried to re-start it. and just like before- it' start up and died immediately. And while trying to get it going during my lunch break, I had only managed to get it running (like crap) and completely over heat - red lining at 260F- within 15 minutes. The cooling fan never kicked on.

Soooooooo, to make a long story short, had it towed from work to a shop, and after the weekend, found out it was the ECM. It had gone bad. Funny though, when I bought it, the previous owner said it had a new one put in. . . hmmmmm. . .

And after about 3 days and about $535, I got my car back. It's running good. However more work needed. The mechanic who serviced my car said its running too cold and I need a new thermostat. It seems to be stuck open. And after seeing where its at. . . what a pain in the a** job that's gonna be.

Sorry if its a long post, just figured that this may be helpful in diagnosing a problem in the future. It *seems* though, the problem is fixed. I hope. . .