hello everyone, im new to the forum! ive got a 92 camaro RS 305TBI, heres my problem.

i was on my way out of my neighborhood last night and while turning the corner the engine just shut off and would not restart. now i was below a 1/4 tank of gas at the time, so after i tried starting it a few times, i walked home and grabbed 3 gallons of gas and some starting fluid, got back and and filled her up and sprayed some ether and dumped a bit of fuel down the throttle body, still couldnt even get it to fire, however my next step was to find out if there was even fuel coming out of the injectors, the only way i could think to do that was put some paper under the injectors and see if anything came out on them, i cranked for 15 secs and there was nothing on the paper, so heres my thoughts, im thinking fuel pump or fuel pump relay, im gonna go through fuses in the morning also, what i worrying me about replacing those componets is that when i even forced fuel down the TB it didint fire. does anyone have any thoughts? or ideas? your input is very much appreciated

 

BUMP

 

could deffinately be the fuel pump and or relay. need to check the fuel pressure and see what you got. Also normally you can hear the pump in the tank buzzing lightly...can you?

 

havent listened for the buzzing, and where would i hook up a pressure gauge on that? the filter? theres no fitting that ive seen

 

the fitting is a spot. or the inlet for the tbi unit itself. a lot of people go onto the hoses that jump from the drivers inner fender over to the engine.

 

i checked for the buzzing today, and it did come on, so its not the relay, could it till be the fuel pump? i guess i have to check for pressure

is there a fuse for the injectors?

 

allright i have an update, turns out that the injectors are spraying, and their spraying good, and the car started this morning while i tested for that with someone else cranking it, so it started and i put it out in the driveway, and i went to put my battery charger in the house and it died, so i went and cranked and it cranked longer than normal, but it started again, i took it around the block and while slowing down or coming to idle it stalls, it starts back up but as i mentioned, takes longer than usual, could it be the fuel pump cutting out? does that ever happen? im also thinking ignition coil, cap and rotor and wires and plugs, however, the spark plugs are 3 weeks old, the cap and rotor are a month and a half old, but the coil, and wires are about 10 months old, i realize that anything could be bad, or could it be the ignition module? it has been stalling at idle at stoplights lately, but always started right back up, has anyone had this problem before? my only mods are headers, ignition system upgrade, just better than stock, an exhaust, and however 10 degrees advanced timing, because it runs really good on it, and doesnt knock or ping

 

ok, i thought i had fixed the problem but i have not, does anyone have any idea on this, what i have done so far is
1- replace fuel pump relay
2- replace fuel filter
3- replaced oil pressure sensor
4- replaced fuel pump
5- shake my head in shame

heres the problem, it wont start every time, when it does start, the injectors spray for maybe 30 secs and then stop and the car shuts off, one time, when i did get it running i reved it up and held it for a few secs and let off and it seemed to run fine, so i shut it off and start it again and it seemed to be fine again so i shut it off and got ready to take a ride, it wouldnt start again

i dont know what to do, ive never had a problem this bad, i gotta get this thing fixed asap!, anyone! any ideas?

 

You could try some injector cleaner. Your injectors might be gummed up and sticking, and that is why they are working 1/2 the time. May also be an entirely different problem, but you did ask for ideas . I like Lucas brand myself, but there are many out there to choose from.

 

thank you for the reply at least, and yes, lucas and seafoam lol, but yeah i run it alot, when they do spray its like a perfect cone of fuel, and they both cut out at the same time, i dont understand it, i pulled the line going to the tbi and cranked and it had awesome fuel flow, as expected, so i know its gotta be an electrical problem, but i dont understand why they fire and just cut out, as i said the first time it died i was actually driving it, around the corner and it just cut out and wouldnt restart, sometimes they spray, sometimes they dont.

 

I'd check to see if your loosing spark too, as the ecm uses signals from the distributor to fire the injectors.

 

well i was able to get it to fire and start with starting fluid, but the injectors would cut out and i cant get it started again, but when i just checked i didnt have spark

 

it seems a lot of people on here have had this problem, and theres lots of ideas of what they could be, i keep running into ignition module, VATS, and ECM as the problem, however every thread just stops on the subject, none of them say it was the problem or not, they are all dead ends. and could someone explain VATS?

 

very possible it could be a bad ignition control module. Most of those threads ends and then the owners fix and dont post up what they did. Id change the ignition module. see how she does. Also check the grounds on the back of the heads for a loose connnection.

 

well everyone, i am here to say that it seems to be fixed and it was the ignition control module, luckily i work in a parts store so i didnt take too big of a hit, but for future reference, this was the first thing i took up to my store to get tested, and it checked out good, then i started reading on here about a few people who it checked out good for also but turned out to be bad, so i bit the bullet and bought a new one, but that was the problem and the first thing you should check if the injectors dont fire, thank you for anyone who tried to help!

 

I don't think VATS is your problem, but I'll explain it to you anyway.

If you don't have a spare key, get one, TODAY!!!

OK - the key has the pellet in it - that pellet is a resistor. When inserted into the key cylinder, tiny spring-loaded contacts touch the pellet. When key turned on, power is sent out of the VATS module, though the wire, through the pellet, back to the VATS module. The module measures the resistance, if it's correct, the the module does two things ... 1) grounds a wire for the starter enable relay, so that the starter can turn, and 2) sends a pulse wave to the ECM that tells the ECM to fire the injectors.

99 times out of 100, the contacts in the key cylinder get worn, the springs collapse or fall out, etc. and the key pellet stops making good contact with the VATS wiring, so the resistance is not being read. Most folks yank out the VATS wires under the dash and solder in the right resistor to bypass the bad key cylinder (it's a cheap easy bandaid fix as opposed to buying and replacing the key cylinder).

The 100th scenerio is a malfunction in the actual VATS module, and regardless of getting the right resistance, it won't send the proper signal to the ECM. Folks with this issue buy a $20-$50 VATS bypass box that is preprogrammed to send this signal to the ECM, and thus bypass the VATS module itself with basically a new VATS module (ie signal generator).

There are 15 resistor possibilities. The tech articles are here:

www.thirdgen.org/vats
www.thirdgen.org/vats_passkey_system

So, since your starter will turn with key, and your injectors fire (usually), I don't think you have a VATS issue but something else wrong.

 

Yup its always my first option but some ppl here says it doesn't control injectors.

Thanks for posting up your fix.

It wouldn't hurt to carry a spare module too. I know I do!

 

the funny thing is i was thinking about upgrading the module to an accel or a mallory or something the past 3 weeks, so ill probably will do that and keep this new one in the car.

well and from what ive read up, the injectors use a signal from the distributor to fire, so it makes sense to me

 

Oh I know that. I'm just saying others on here don't. I stay away from accel. Mallory or GM is all I'd run