My car has been driving just fine, I go to work, and when I leave for the day, it idles for 2 seconds and dies. Now it won't turn over. I have plenty of battery, I can hear the gas pump prime, the SES and INFL lights come on when I turn the key, and the starter cranks, but it won't turn over. Doesn't even sputter, just the cranking. I don't have any of my tools here (in college, tools at parents'), so I can't tell if I have fuel pressure or not. I'm pretty sure I have spark, since it did idle for a few seconds. None of the fuses are blown, and the ECM responds to the trouble code check, but no codes are flashed. Anybody have any ideas what/where to check first? I really don't want to pay GM to fix a minor problem, but I need my car! Thanks.

 

Sounds like a similar problem I had back when I had TPI. How old are the injectors you have in there? Those can spontaneously go...it happened to me. I diagnosed that they were bad and replaced them. Car ran great after that. Also...I know it's a stupid question but did you check the gas gauge?

 

This sounds just like something that happened to me years ago with an HEI equipped car. It started after sitting all day at work, idled for a couple of seconds and died. Mine turned out to be the pickup coil that fits around the distributor shaft underneath the rotor. I think it has a 2-wire connector coming off the pickup, at least that's what I'm familiar with. It should be something like that.
So, first before disturbing anything, check to see if you actually do have spark at the plugs, and if not, pull the cap off and reach in and gently pull on the wires that go between the pickup coil and whatever connector there is. If one of the wires is fried, it will be loose. If that doesn't seem to be the problem, it could also be the ignition module that the pickup coil connects to. Over the years I have had one of each fail. And in my experience, neither of these parts gives any warning of failure.
If it turns out to be the pickup coil, you should be able to push the roll pin out of the gear end of the distributor shaft and pull the shaft out of the top. Be careful to put everything back where it came from after replacing the coil.
It sounds from your post that everything else is in order, so this seems most likely in my mind. Good Luck.

 

My injectors were put in with the rest of the engine over xmas break, and they were new when I got them. The coil was too, but the distrib was pulled from a yard. I have a friend coming over with a timing light right now to see of I have spark. Thanks for the suggestions guys.


As for the gas guage - missing that is something I would do, but not this time. I have about 3/4 of a tank left.

 

Ok, no spark with the timing light. The coil connection to the battery is getting 12V, so it's somewhere between the coil and the plugs. I'm going to do the Helm's coil test tomorrow, but I have a feeling that I'm going to be ordering that distrib I've been putting off. Thanks again guys.

 

I would take the ignition module out and have it tested...

 

I put my money on the ignition module too. I would get an AC Delco module if you find out it is bad. I've had very odd results with aftermarket modules. Some work fine, some work occasionally and some have all kinds of problems. No rhime or reason as to brand, just any aftermarkets.

 

I don't have my helm's book here - does anyone know the procedure for testing the ignition module? I have it pulled from the distrib and sitting on my desk, ready for testing. Also, the two wires that connect from the module to under the rotor are firmly attached and look ok.

 

hope this works

 

hope this works

 

Thanks for the scanned page!

Ok, seems like the pickup coil is defective. It fails test 1. Anything for the module itself?

 

as far as the module goes. you can take it to just about any local auto parts store and get it tested for free. my car did about the same thing. I drove it to work run great. the n went out at lunch time to leave no start i checked the firing none so i go buy a module. still no start so i call a buddy of mine and had it towed to his shop( i hated seeing my ride on the back of the truck) got to checking mine killed the pick-up coil too wait it gets better while in the midst of all that itstill wouldn't start now no fuel is spraying from the injector well to much aaval the fuel pump died at the same time. when i looked at a wiring diagram the fuel pump and realy is tied into the pick-up coil and module. so when the pump shorted out it killed everything in the dist too.

 

SC2camaro, it's called a period. It breaks up sentances so people can keep track of what you are saying

Thanks for the advice - I read it right after I found a local shop that would test it for free - nice timing on my part there. One module later and I'm driving to work this morning. I got the coil too, just to be safe, but I don't really want to pull the distrib out when I'm going to put in an MSD or Accel sooner or later anyway. Thanks to all for the fast advice, I would have hated to shell out $100+ to GM for something this easy.

 

Hahah this one time I made a post about what was wrong with my car and stuff but everyone had a hard time understanding everything i wrote because i didnt use any punctuation so everyone in this one thread made fun of me because of the problems with my car and then the problems i had using any punctuation even all my english teachers had the same problem with me and then my principle was like man you should really learn to use punctuation its like the coolest thing to do since taking a dump in public urinals and like then just flushing and flushing and turning your turd into mush in the public urinal for everyone who comes into the public bathroom to see the mess you made in the urinal with your dirty poopy.

Yes, ignition modules suck my bum. I also tried aftermarket ones and they did funny things to my car alsol. I wonder WTF the deal was?

 

lol .(period)



I'm glad to hear that you got your problem solved.

 

Yeah same thing happened to my V6 about 6 months ago. Thing ran like a champ then BANG, wouldnt start the next day. Found out it was the Ignition Module, which kept dying and dying till I found the pickup coil was bad. I went to Pep Boys, bought one of their distributors (I know your cursing me but...) the thing is installed and works great! Even came with a replacement ignition module installed. So what I'm saying is...if your ignition modules keep blowing, dont keep replacing them, replace the whole distributor. This happens because of moisture buildup under the cap. Its almost bound to happen to these cars because of a design flaw, just make sure there is no rust under there if any of you are changing your caps/rotors. The swap is easy, I'm a 17 year old high school student and I swapped out the distributor during a 20 degree day, thats how easy it is. Just make sure to get it properly timed when you get it going.

 

I am planning on putting in a better distributor eventually. I just didn't want to pull the distributor at my apt. I dropped the hold-down bolt on my V6 down the hole on accident when I was doing the swap. I didn't care much then, since the motor was going bye-bye anyway, but I really wouldn't want to do that here and now. I figure I can live with the replacement module until I get the distributor. How long did yours last, anyway?