as the topic says ive had a fun time trying to start my car. it was working fine then all of a sudden yesterday i went to start it and it didnt wanna turn over, all you hear was the in tank fuel pump making that loud buzzing sound. so today as i was adjusting the idle speed and set the ignition timing, i went to unhook the four wire harness from the dist. and i accidentally unhook the harness to the coil instead. the engine died, and now its doing the buzzing again when i try and start it. i have no clue what to do.......

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1987 LG4 Camaro z28
Mods- 80 series flowmaster, k&n filtercharger, open air element, cat pipe delete, 180* stat, edelbrock performer intake, msd blaster coil, ascd big block hood, panasonic cd player, rockford everything else.


[This message has been edited by z28onTweenkies (edited December 03, 2001).]

 

and another thing, when i put the key in the ignition everything works just fine, stereo and whatnot. when i go to turn the key over the music still plays but the antenna starts going down, the fuel pump buzzes but the starter never engauges. the temperature gauges goes to the top like normal, and everything inside the car seems fine...

 

anyone at all?

 

The fuel pump is engaged when the ECM senses oil pressure. The fuel pump also has a 'prime' mode. It engages (because the ECM tells it to) when you first turn the key so that the FI has enough fuel for starting the engine. It lasts about 10 sec. That's what you are hearing.

As far as the rest of the problem goes, I would say that you should check the starter. The solenoid on it could be going out. It could be locking up and causing a small short somewhere.

But first just check the battery. You should always check the easy (and cheap) fixes first. I myself tend to overlook the obvious sometimes. It's cost me a lot of money over the years.

After re-reading your post, it seems like it's more likely the battery.


AJ

 

i thought about the battery. ill probably end up getting a new one, but this problem has now yeilded a code 41. ill look into a starter selenoid. also, what i meant to say was that im hearing the pump prime as im turning the key over to start the car, and it only whines as long as i hold the starter.

[This message has been edited by z28onTweenkies (edited December 03, 2001).]

 

The code 41 is a "cylinder select error" for my '89 IROC, but says either the wrong memcal is installed, or it is incorrectly installed....pull the cover from the ECM and make sure it's pressed in all the way. If it is, then the "book" says it's either the wrong one(not likely unless you've made a change lately) or it's bad.

Fuel pump running could be the oil pressure switch stuck, the oil pressure switch provides an alternate/parallel path for voltage to the FP.

As mentioned before, the ECM should prme the pump for a few seconds, then keep it turned on when it gets ignition refernce pulses...so the ECM can control the pump...this and the code 41 may be all be related to the ECM/memcal problem as well.

Other goofy things to look at when more than one thing is wrong at a time would be the ECM grounds...they'll cause a lot of gremlins to run through the car...all the ECM grounds should be on the rear of the heads, inbetween the head and the firewall.

So thinking about it, I'd first drop the ECM down and make sure all the connectors on on...unplug and replug them in, then pull the little rectangular cover off and unplg and reinsert the PROM and all associated things (been awhile since i had my cover off) that you can see. Then check the grounds for a good, clean tight connection.