I am not sure what kind of problem i have. At first i thought it was the battery or lines, maybe starter?
When i crank the engine i can hear it trying to turn over, but it won't catch on the first try. Ever. It'll crank, and then if i try again it will crank for awhile and then catch. Then it wouldn't even crank. I changed out the battery cables and retimed it and it went back to the old problem, don't know if this was related or just another part that wore out. I thought at first it might be the starter, i had to replace one before on my 88 IROC. This by the way is an 85 Z28, with a crate 350 TPI. Could this be bad injectors? I don't know much about the TPI. Any thoughts would be appreciated cause nothing is worse than sitting in a parking lot while me girlfriend laughs at me spending 5 minutes starting my car.

 

is this one of them "it'll crank but not turn over" threads? if so they really confuse me. it's really hard foir me to understand what you're trying to say. does the starter engage when you turn the key? if no battery, connections, lines, starter are all placers to look. if the starter does engage but it won't start i'd check for spark with a spark checker, not a plug laid on the engine. if you have spark i'd check fuel preasure and volumn.

 

Yeah, we need better description of what it's doing...

Here's a few questions that should help narrow it down:

Does the engine turn over when you crank it, or is the starter just sitting there spinning?

Does the SES light come on at all, and if so, what codes is it throwing?

Have you checked the spark plugs?

When was the fuel filter last replaced?

How much fuel is in the tank?

Does it have fuel pressure?

Go through these one at a time, in a similar order to this. I tried to put them in order from simplest to check to hardest while still keeping in mind where the problems are more likely to be at

 

Could be the ignition module if there is no spark

 

which one is it?


1.) the engine does not turn over at all. (starter heard spinning)

2.) the engine turns over but does not start?

 

Okay.

It will try and turn over. But it won't actually catch and start. I can hear the starter going. Then if i do this 3 or 4 times it will finnally catch and turn over. I checked the plugs and they are ok. I don't know when the last fuel filter was replaced, so i will go ahead and change it anyways. I just bought the car a couple of weeks ago. It has fuel, generally never lower than a 1/4 tank cause i am paranoid about running out of gas. As far as the pressure, how would i check that? That is hy i thought maybe it would be the injectors. Although the engine on has 3,000 miles on it, so i don't know how likely it would be for those to clog up. Also, where on the engine could i check to see what year it was. Cause i pan on changing the starter just in case, but i have no idea what year he bought the engine.

 

Ok. If the starter turns the motor every time, then that's not the problem. If the starter just whirs without the engine itself turning then the problem is either a bad starter gear or bad ring gear/flywheel

edit: have you checked all the fuses? Even the ones that don't seem possibly related?

 

After it starts, and runs for while. If you turn it off and try and start it like 5-10 minutes later, does it fire right up?