Well, my camaro has been sitting at home in the garage for abotu 2 years now and it has not run since. I just planned on waiting till im out of college to start an entire rebuild, but my brother wants a car for high school and I caved in and said he can drive it for high school...

Now, what would you guys recommend to get this car running again? Its a 1992 z28, 305 TPI has about 158,000 miles, so its prob gonna be some work. But I have no experience working on engines and I figure this is a good place to start cause I have nothing to loose really.

Any suggestions on what should be done first and some typical problems i'll run into? Help me get this beauty back on the road!

Thanks all, I appreciate any help

 

Is there 2 year old gas in the tank?

 

I'd start off first by putting in fresh oil and fresh gas.

Fresh oil is always a good idea, especially if its been sitting. After 2 years, your gas is probably in really poor shape. I'd drain whatever is there and dump it, and put in fresh gas, as well as maybe some fuel system cleaner to get out all the stale gas and anything it might leave behind.

 

There shouldnt be much gas in the tank, I remember trying to use up as much gas as possible the last time I drove it. Maybe 1-2 gallons tops. I will definetly drain the oil and would it be necessary to change transmission fluid while Im at it? I was also planning on changing the coolant as well. What kind of cleaners would you suggest to use? And with the small amount of gas I have in the tank, would I be able to get away with not getting rid of it all, or should I get it all out of there?

 

IMO, you should leave a little gas in there, so you dont stir up the gunk at the bottom of your tank. I'd just fill it with good gas and throw in some good injector cleaner. And as mentioned above, now may be a good time for a new fuel filter.

 

I started a car after 5 years with this:

Changed every fluid-coolant brakes rearend ect, plugs wires, checked vacuum hoses, put in some additive in oil (can't remember it was supposed to stop drying gaskets) fuel filter hrm....I cranked and didn't have juice of course so I jumped it, let it idle through about 1/4 tank of gas and slowly drove it around the block a few times and shifted every gear at 3grand....it took about a week for it to start acting normal, it was really carboned up it seemed...once it got used to normal duty I only had to fix an exhaust leak and buy new tires.

My old car went 90k after this to and it already had 115 on it so I'd say I got really lucky or did a good job.

 

If you change the oil, and filter, before you start it be sure to fill the filter with new oil so you minimize the time the cylinders run dry.

 

I'd also reccomend disconnecting the coil and cranking it over a bit, just to build up some oil pressure before firing it. Should only take a few seconds to build a little pressure.

 

I did that with my new engine, i cranked the bugger for 30 seconds and it never registered any pressure, but 3 seconds of running and it had 60psi

 

Thats just because more engine speed makes for higher pressure (at least, it should)

The factory guage is a POS, and prolly won't read anything at just cranking speed. My mechanical guage reads around 5psi oil pressure at cranking speed, and immediately jumps way up when the engine starts.

 

Crank it for a minute,
without fuel/spark,
hope to see oil pressure.

 

I am too possessive of a personality to share my TransAm with anybody let alone a high schooler. I would think about that. High Schoolers + fast car = pavement pelt, & smashed third gen.

But if he's responsible enough and you trust him with the car, hey, its yours to do with as you please.

 

He knows that I love the car and hopefully he wont wreck it... and he isnt allowed to drive in the rain or snow so that should take awa some worries...


Im going to get this car running next week and hopefully it will work. Thanks all

 

Too bad 3rdgen gens never came with a 'valet mode' for the computer, like some newer Porsches and stuff

 

Speaking of this, my choke relay broke a few weeks ago, forcing the choke to stay on all the time. Until i had time to fix it i just wired the choke open, but then i noticed the secondaries wouldnt open when i was driving. Very funny to drive around with only the 2 tiny primaries. Felt like a 4 banger.

 

Once you have PROM burning equipment it's pretty easy to do. Just set the revlimiter and speed limiter to settings of your choice!

 

Ok, so yesterday I changed the oil, and checked out the transmission fluid and the coolant and it all seemed ok. For now, I just want to make sure the car can start and run and idle well then i'll clean up everything and make things new...

Next I jump started the car. Kept the cables on for like 5 mins and tried to turn her on and it turned over and over while making clicking sounds... waited another minute or two and got her fired up! was great to hear the flowmaster exhaust, anyways.. it sounded great, idled well reved up normal. So I took off the cables and let it idle for like 10-15 minutes. Nothing was on(radio lights, etc..) Then i turned on the headlights and the car died. Battery was completely dead. Put the cables back on and tried to jump start her and nothing, jsut kept turning over and making clicking noises.

I stopped for the night, and I tried to do it again this afternoon and still the same thing, it turns over and keeps clicking. Can Someone help me figure out what to do? Is the battery completely shot? Or maybe is the alternater not charging the battery? Any help would be appreciated.

Thanks all

 

Check the voltage of the battery after leaving it on a charger overnight using a multi-meter with the car off. It should be at least 12V. If it is lower than 11.5V I would suspect that it is bad. I say 11.5V because it has sat for so long. Usually if I have a battery that is used daily and it has had sufficient time on a charger, the terminals are clean, and the alternator is good, and it is still lower than 12V, I trash it.

If it is over 12 volts, and you can get the car started again, check the voltage while its running. If it isn't at LEAST 12.5 volts I would suspect the alternator, or battery terminals. Clean the terminals before replacing the alternator. Ideally I like to see 13.5 volts while idling.

Hope this helps, its a start.

EDIT: Clean the terminals before checking the alternator. I just wanted to clarify that.

 

I dont have a charger to be able to charge the battery overnight. What did you use to clean the battery terminals? Which terminals are you talking about? the ones where you jump the battery? or the terminals which have the wires connected for the car?

Also, I was thinking of just taking the alternator to autozone or somewhere to have it tested. I am assuming they can test it there or at pepboys. If thats not the problem, I was just going to get a new battery knowing that the alternator works so the new battery wont die.

 

I'd take your alternator and battery to the parts store to have them test it. They can do it, have done it many times for me

If I were a betting man, I'd say that you're looking at atleast a new battery. And 50/50 with the alternator. Be prepared to fork over some change

Lucky for you the battery and alternator are some of the easiest things to take out. No contortion or jacking of the car or anything.

BTW, I admire that you're giving up the car to your younger brother. I'm doing the same for my brother sorta. I'm building a 2nd gen Camaro for him. I hope to be able to paint it black w/ green clear coat, and have it running before his senior year (next year).

 

Yea, he's happy about it...

Is it difficult to take out the alternator? I have a helm inc. shop manual and im looking at these diagrams to remove hte alternator.. seems like alot of little bolts and brackets. But im worried about not being able to get the belt back on right. Is there an easy approach to swapping an alternator or any tricks in getting the belt on right?

Also, what should I use to try and clean the connections? I want to try and clean stuff up and give it one last shot before I go ahead and take everything out. It started once so I know everything else is working ok for now.

 

Your have a serpentine belt on the camaro. It's harder than the V-Belt like in my car, but it should be the same principle.

If you look at the alternator, there should be two different brackets holding it on (IIRC, I havent looked at the serpentine setup in a while), just take those bolts out completely. Somewhere when you remove the bolts the alternator should flop down, and then the belt is free to go. That is how you adjust belts too btw.

If you have a shop manual then you shouldnt have a hard time at all. Once you do it once you can do it with your eyes closed, it's really that easy.

Just make sure to take your battery out before the alternator, and you'll be good to go.

 

Still check your connections. Changing the Bat. and alternator won't do a thing for you if your terminals are corroded. I am talking about the connectors that bolt onto the side of the battery. In my experience, with GMs, 7 out of 10 times that the car won't start was because of corroded terminals. If there is any green or yellowish-white powder on them. You need to clean them.

Get a plastic 40 oz cup and put a cup of baking soda in it and fill it with hot tap water and mix it up. Stick the terminals into the solution and let them sit for about ten minutes then scrub them a little with a wire brush, then put them back in the solution for another ten minutes. Keep repeating this until they are clean. Might take a half hour, and it may sound crazy, but it does work, and its cheap and easy. Try it before you do anything else.

 

on my dad's 69 vette it wasnt started for 15 years. so we just drained the fluids from coolant,oil, and gas. Bamm the car started right up,but now the engine needs to be rebuilt,all the gaskets are leaking.

 

UMMM, all the serpantine cars I have owned have a belt tensioner. You slip a socket on it, and pull with a ratchet, takes the tension off the belt. Then you can slip the belt off, and remove the alternator.

 

Ok, i have been trying to take the alternator off and I got two bolts off the front, one short one on the top left and one long one on the bottom right, and then one more bolt off the back bracket on the driver side as well as the battery cable. Is there any other bolts holding it down? I cant see anything else to take off.

I tried to mess with the tensioner, and I got a socket on there, but do you actually loosen the nut or do u just pull on the tensioner? Cause I cant get it loose enough to allow me to get it off the alternator.

 

take the socket away.

grab a 1/2" drive ratchet or breaker bar.

look next to the AC compressor.. theres a small square on this cast piece... stick the breaker bar in there....

pull the handle towards the passenger side of the car.


you should be able to figure it out from there.

 

Yup, it was cake... kinda felt stupid after i did it

Well, the alternator is fine, but the battery was completely gone and autozone said it was gone too cause it didnt charge or the machine said it was dead, so did sears, so I went and got a new one. Hopefully tomorrow I can get this thing going, too dark out now to do anything.


Thanks for the help, I'll keep you guys posted on how shes doin and whats next in reviving her.

 

Yea, kinda scared me when I saw you where taking the tensioner apart or whatnot = trouble. But you figured it out.

Yea after I had a couple battery problems I found one of those $50 dollar battery checkers (also check charging systems) are kind of nice. Definetely worth the money if you have alot of older cars or do some mechanical work on the side.

 

Alright, she finally fired up after turning over 3-4 times. Started to idle at like 1100-1200 rpms and I let it idle for a while, until it got to just under the red marks on the temperature guage and it was then idling at about 800 rpm. I drove it around in my court and the temp dropped down to 240 or a little lower and stayed around there.

My question is, when do the fans turn on? I was trying to see if the fans would go on if I let it ldle for a bit but they didnt go on even when the temp guage was close to the red dashes.

I also turned it off and waited for like 15 minutes and tried to start it up hot and it was fine. So next is changing spark plugs and spark plug wires. What spark plugs should I get, I was prob going to go to autozone and get wires from them too. What gap should I use? And looking at where the plugs wires run to, it seems like its going to be a PITA to get new spark plugs in, is it really that hard or do it just look hard?

 

I'd suspect the fan. Maybe wire it directly to see if they run. If they do then its probably temp sensor.

Typically there are two sensors. One that goes to the cpu and controls the fan. And a "safety" once it gets up to 2xx degrees. This one is easy to find because I don't think it has a relay (large hot wires going to this sensor) and the power to run the fans actually goes through the sensor.

If all of this checks out... Have to look at some other issues. But I would check those first. (Possibly Thermostat?!)

ALthough I'm confused, after starting the car up the second time did it not get hot? If so then just keep an eye on the temp gauge for awhile.

SPark plugs - hmmm never changed them on my RS. REal PITA on my 84' 350 w/ headers though Someone else?

 

spark plugs are easy, just make sure to do them after the car is cold, because touching headers/manifolds is innevitable.

Just jack the car up and support it with jack stands, then commense getting out as many as you can easily from the top, the rest should come out easily from the bottom

 

You should get the regular ACDelco, works real great with our cars and they are not very expensive!

 

before u drive it again change the oil and filter this time add 1 qt of tranny fluid. run it again for about 50 miles change the oil with just reg 20w50 and your good on that part. also if u want take to wires plug one end to your bat and the other to the fan if it works then u know its the wires and not the mtr.

 

20W50... wouldnt 10-w30 be good enough? i use valvolines maxlife on my truck and I figure I use the same on the camaro

 

its a trade secret i use 10w 30 or 5w 30 to get max hp and trq but to make my engine last i use 20w50 dont tell anybody