My 89 camaro won't start. It cranks over but refuses to fire. One day it was working fine the next day nothing. I have checked for spark, fine on both sides. Checked for fuel at my carb and thats not a problem iether. My next guess was maybe i rounded off or split the cam. I pulled the valve covers and all rocker arms are working proper. I even tried adjusing the timing. I have many aftermarket parts on the car and it never really liked the cold but always ran. any fresh ideas?

 

Has your car ever dieseled before when you shut it off? My thinking is that your timing chain could have gone.

 

never. but was thinking the same thing. is it possible that i jumped my timing chain by so much that a couple degrees on the distributer would keep it from starting? if so is there any way of checking without pulling the timing cover off? i should be able to pull plug #1 and bar it over with a piece of soft rubber hose in that cylinder to see if it is hitting tdc and lining up on the balancer right?

 

To ensure that th etiming chain has not jumped do the following.

1. Set engine at TDC using the mark on the balancer and the timing tab, #1 or #6 cylinder is not importatant.

2. Mark the distributor Housing with two vertical lines. One directly under the #1 spark plug post and one directy under the #6 sparkplug post. be sure not to rotate distributor during this process.

3. Remove distrubutor cap. The end of the rotor should be just past either the the marks you made in step 2. (rotor rotates clockwise). If you jumped a tooth the rotor will be between two adjacent plug posts (IE not even close)

Note. If you want to make sure you are on TDC for number one, remove the spark plug and hold your thumb over the hole as you bring rotate the engine to line up the balancer. You will feel the compression against your thumb. If no pressure continue to rotate one more turn.

Hope this helps

 

Change the spark plugs.

Start with the simple stuff. Don't outsmart yourself. Hopefully you're not like me, in the way that I'm the only person I'm smart enough to outsmart, and even that only occasionally; you pretty much have to be smarter than me since just about everybody is; so I always start out with the stupid stuff, because if I don't, .... well, you can guess what I come out looking like in the end.