hi. first off ill let you know what kind of car im dealing with here. its a 1986 camaro, 2.8 fuel injected engine. it runs very well WHEN IT RUNS. this has been an on going problem for months now. about a week ago the car just got a major tune up but it still wont start at times. you can go out there in the morning, turn the key and the starter will fire over and over, but the engine wont start up or even attempt to turn over. and sometimes if you wait a matter of minutes, it will start up perfectly, yet other times it can take hours before it will start up. sometimes this happens in the morning, sometimes in mid afternoon after some driving, sometimes in the evening after not driving at all. we never know when it might decide to "play dead". then on other mornings, it will start up perfectly and perform normal. for some reason its not getting any spark, completely dead, just the starter going and going, no signs of life other than the starter. id like to get this taken care of ASAP and would rather not waste hundreds of dollars fixing stuff that doesnt need to be fixed, or even worse...have an over priced electric specialist rape me for all i have. (seems like an electric problem to me forsure, and please, dont guess "fuel pump" because i know thats not the problem.) any suggestions/coments/idea's would be greatly appreciated. thanks

 

I had the same problem with my car, and I found that I had some faulty wiring in the steering column. It would drain the battery, but only some of the time. I pulled the horn relay, and that seemed to solve my problem. The car starts every time no matter how hot it is or how long its been since I las started it. Electrical problems are irritating. Good luck.

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1984 Z28 Camaro
Mods: 350 ci built by Ultimate Performance Inc, 4 bbl Quadrajet rebuilt by Holley, 700R4 Rebuilt by Level 10, Hyptertech chip Stage 2, K+N air filter, Edelbrock TES exhaust manifold, Flowmaster Muffler, 3.73 Richmond gears, Auburn Posi Limited Slip Differential, KYB Shocks and Struts, Edelbrock Panhard Bar, Trailing Arms, and Strut Tower Brace, TRW Springs, 245/50/R16 Embassy Tires(Yeah, I have no more money.)
Future Mods: Paint!

 

hey uhm, did ya read the entire post or....? the starter will go and go and go, so there is definately no dead battery or weak alternator or anything simple like that. anybody else have any ideas?.......PLEASE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

Try running thru your ign. system. May be linked to ignition module, coil, etc. since problem is so sparatic.

 

yeah thats basically what my boss told me at work today, something about getting a meter from radio shack and testing that stuff out or somethin, but i have no clue where to start and so on. woohoo.

 

ok everyone, i did some thinking. now of course this is an ignition problem of some sort......and i was considering that the problem might have something to do with a coil or solid state ignition modual..... BUT if the problem was within either of those....the car would definately have died while running at least once. but the car has NEVER died while already running. it just wont start sometimes. so my new assumtion is that it must be a ****ty computer system/ecu... if that is the problem, then i may as well just get rid of the car then right??? cause that computer crap is expensive. does anybody have any helpfull knowledge? does SOMEBODY on here at all have ANY technical thirdgen camaro knowledge at all?!?!?!?!?????? please help.

 

If it is your ecm, the price I was quoted for a new G.M. unit was $250.00. Not cheap, but not so much that I would throw away the car. There are a number of fail safe devices built into the car's electrical system to protect the engine. #1 oil pressure. You have a switch screwed into your oil filter head casting that is part of the oil pressure sender, if you have a guage.
This switch shuts down the fuel pump if you loose oil pressure. The ecm should bypass it for a few seconds on start up. Your fuel pump relay is on the firewall in the engine compartment in front of the driver. You could have an intermittant failure there.
Also G.M. changed the relay design in the early nineties. The new relays are much better. You can tell the difference because the old style relay plugs had their pins in a straight line. They were very susceptible
to corrosion. The new style have the pins in a more square pattern. You can pick up the new style at any do it yourself wrecking yard out of any early nineties G.M. vehicle.
You will need to get the plug as well as the relay. You have three relays together on the firewall. One is for the a/c, one is for fuel pump, and one is the fan relay.
My 89 RS had 2 of the old style relays and one new style. You have a 20 amp fuse in a covered fuse holder in front of your battery. This fuse is for the fuel pump circuit. If it blows, you'll get cranking and spark, but no fuel pressure. Yours is not blown, but check it to make sure the fuse is tight in the socket, and that there is no corrosion in there. This is all I can think of right now, but maybe some of it will help. Good luck!

 

almost what happened to me 4 weeks ago, but I finally made it.
go here:
https://www.thirdgen.org/messgboard/...ML/002044.html

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91 Firebird 3.1
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