I'll apologize in advance for the length of this post.

I have always been a fan of the 3rd gen Camaro's but until recently never have owned one. Up until this point my daily driver has been a 75 Mach I Mustang.

Well I jumped in and bought a 1984 Berlinetta that needed some work, digital dash, paint etc. Turns out there are some tuning problems and I thought I would toss the symptoms out here first before rushing in blind and maybe get a few ideas as to the problem.

Car: 1984 Berlinetta 305, 4BBL, auto ( Car is totally stock as far as I can tell)

Problem #1 Car is somewhat hard to start in the morning, it runs quite rough for the first 5 min or so, idle settles down and then after about another 5 min it will start stalling.
If I leave it sit for 15 - 20 min it starts up just fine and runs great

Problem #2 After driving to where I need to go, I let it sit for 4 hours, I come out car starts just fine and runs fine, I stop for another hour or so go out to start it and the first crank turns over really slowly like the battery is about to die, then it turns over normally but I have to pump the gas to get it to start

Any suggestions/ideas before I rip it apart ?

Thanks in advance

 

bad battery maybe, starter solenoid could be the cranking prob. if youve got headers , sounds like heat soak. as far as the carb goes someone on here should be able to help you, im not a crapquajet expert, when they start doin that, i get a holley.

 

My cars hard to start in the cold too. Little foot work and it starts up. Id tune it up firstly. Set of plugs, wires, air filter, oil change, check battery and alternator, check the choke on the carb too to make sure its functioning properly, vacuum lines, etc. I had to adjust it to stay open 24/7 to not foul the plugs. I might get a holley though soon. 650. Those are some things to think about. I dont know much about starters so I couldnt tell you. Then again I dont know much at all. LOL

Nate

 

Step 1: Make sure the ignition is up to snuff. A basic tune-up as mentioned as a minimum (plugs, wires, cap, rotor). You may also have a coil and/or control module problem - they often go hand-in-hand. Include setting the timing as part of the tune-up.

Then, attack the carb. Most likely, you have a choke that isn't operating properly. A rebuild is probably in order, which depends upon your mechanical ability whether you want to tackle that yourself. And, vacuum lines - leakers are killers.

Your starter may be weak. Slow turn-over when warm is from the windings getting hot and resistance increasing. Higher resistance = lower current, lower current = less torque. Less torque = engine turning over more slowly. Could also be the contacts in the solenoid, dirty/worn = higher resistance (you know the rest), but I haven't replaced a solenoid-only in a long time - I just go for the whole starter.

 

Well after a tune-up and a new carb the Berlinetta is running fine, I still need to figure out the Digital Dash problems, which is the reason for this post.

Replacing the carb was an eye opener, it's not computer controlled, and the distribitor is a vaccum advance unit so I figure the motor has been replaced at some point ( I can't get at/or see the block casting numbers to verify this).

Anyway on to the current dilemma, while I was under the dash to trace the harness for the guage cluster, I realized that the module for the digital dash was where it should be but instead of an ecm I have a gaping hole, and no sight of a harness for one ( this is going by my haynes manual)

So based on this these here are the questions finally

Would this have any bearing on my guages not working ?

If there is no ecm in my car could it be factory that way or was it pulled out.

Thanks in advance and again I apologize for my long windedness

 

What country was the car originally sold in, US or Canada?

 

I am in Canada and this is what the VIN decodes as:

Made in: United States
Manufacturer: General Motors
Make: Chevrolet
Restraint System: Manual belts
Carline Series: Berlinetta
Body Type: 2 door coupe
Engine Code: 305 ci V8 LG4 (1982-1984)
7 is the CHECK DIGIT.
Model Year: 1984
Assembly Plant: Van Nuys
Production Sequence:2H2968

Now as Far as I know this has always been a Canadian Car but with what I have been finding anything is possible.

 

Most likely the car was built for Canadian export, in which case it probably didn't come with an ECM.

But in any case, the ECM is not required to run the digital dash.

That digital dash is notoriously unreliable and failure-prone. Alot of people, even when they were relatively new, got sick of spending gigabux at the dealer to repair it over and over after the warranty ran out, and just ripped it out and put in a std dash. Not saying you should do that, only that you should expect it to be a more or less constant source of aggravation, even if you do manage to get it to work right.

What does it do?

 

The Short one word answer to that is Nothing The lights for the fuel,temp,charging, oil pressure guages work and the seat belt and check engine lights come on but other than that it is completely dead. I cracked it open and found one burnt out solder trace that was bypassed with a wire and that wire was fried. I replaced that in hopes that it was the problem but that didn't work.

I have a few more problems as well, none of the interior lights work, Radio flashes on and off and after my foray under the dash my rear defroster button now dims my headlights and changes the speed of the heater motor but doesn't turn on the rear defrost

The electrical gremlins are running rampant on this car I am afraid, the previous owner had installed a stereo in the car, subs in the back, and by the time I got it all the speakers were out so the dash has been apart by persons other than me so who knows what they did.

 

the digital dash DOES have a control unit (like an ecm).mine is american so i have a regular ecm, and the dash control unit sits piggyback to this.i have seen them on ebay. i dont beleive theres a way to make the dash work without the unit. ive never had a prob. with my digidash. and most people who have usually just need a 3.00 diode to make it work, learned that from a buddy whose went out and he asked the auto electronics teacher at his comm. college, who has fixed a few.