My camaro has been acting up for a while but nothing too major, until yesterday. On monday, my fans gave up and needless to say the car overheated. So I went and bought a new relay for the fans and turned the car on, and went for a test drive. About three minutes into the drive a loud pop came from under the car and the car went dead. I parked it and cranked but nothing, it does crank good but it wont start. What could be the problem, could this of been a result of it overheating?
thanks
Alex.

 

what kind of fuel system, efi tbi carb?

 

my bad its a TBI

 

just a guess, but maybe an ignition module. I had one go and it was as if someone turned off the ignition, no pop or bang though.

 

Thanks Ill have to go check that out tommorow. How can I go about checking the ignition module?

 

when everything else checked out ok I replaced it, I'm no sure of how you go about checking it.

 

Oh alright thanx for the help.

 

I had a brand new Accel ignition module go on me this year while driving down the freeway.

I had the advantage of having just replaced the cap, rotor, sparkplug wires, ignition module, and coil. So, once I determined there was no spark from the coil, I was able to swap the old coil back in - still nothing. Swapped the new for the old ignition module - and it fired right up.

By the way, the 'old' ignition module was a replacment from about 2-3 years previously when the original left me stranded at work. Each time that blasted module fails, I waste more time and money in tows than it does to carry a spare and have the couple of tools needed to replace it. If/when you replace it, don't forget to use the heat sink compound before screwing it down in the distributor.

Oh yeah, take a guess at what's in my trunk?

 

So I havent had time to check the ignition module, but everything seems to be getting worse! Today I went out to try and start the Camaro again, I disconnected my injectors, since it seemed I was flooding the engine. I went ahead and cranked it again, but this time fuel just poored in!!! I dont understand, how could fuel be flowing while the injectors were disconnected. Any help would be appriciated. thanx

 

well, I'm not exactly sure how a tbi works, (i'm a carb man) but since tbi constanly flows fuel into the engine and the injectors never cut off completely, the wires might just control a regulator inside the injector, if thats the case you would need to disconnect the fuel pump.

any ideas guys?

 

Would their be a fuse I can disconnect for the fuel pump, or would I have to actually disconnect the fuel pump?

 

there may be a fuse, but as I said, I don't know very much about fuel injection.

I would check your entire ignition system, maybe consider an overall rebuild, cap rotor coil and wires, my experience say your problem is a spark prob, not nessicarily a fuel system prob.

my 2 cents, good luck-

Eric

 

Thanks man I really appreciate the help.

 

Sounds like you're dealing w/ multiple problems.

The injectors are only open when they receive a signal from the ecu. So, there are only two possibilities in my mind:

1) An injector is stuck open - not impossible, but unlikely.
2) A gasket, o-ring, or regulator in the TBI has failed - more likely.

For about $30-40 you can get a TBI rebuild kit and a couple hours work, you can literally replace every gasket and o-ring in the whole unit, incl the regulator diaphragm.

The fuel system does have a constant flow, but whatever the injectors don't meter into the engine goes back to the tank via the return fuel line.

 

If the injector was stuck open, could that cause a backfire? Or would it just bog the engine?

 

I should add ... with the injectors disconnected there shouldn't be any fuel going into the engine. There are fuses for the injectors and fuel pump, but I don't suspect that's the problem you're having.

 

If an injector was stuck open, it would constantly flow fuel into the engine. It's just not likely that an injector would get stuck. Again, not impossible - just not likely. If you have other injectors to swap, go for it. But, you'll probably need a rebuild kit to replace the o-rings and injector pod gaskets anyway.

There are o-rings at the top and base of the injectors, as well as a number of gaskets that are more likely to dry up, crack, and start leaking fuel.

I realize I didn't really answer your question ... if it started, the engine would run terrible b/c the mixture would be extremely rich. You'll have black sooty smoke coming out of the exhaust and if you leave it running too long, the catalytic convertor and intermediate exhaust pipe will probably get hot - I'm talking glowing 'cherry red' hot.

Backfiring is typically related to ignition timing. In a newly rebuilt engine is could also be due to incorrect valve/cam timing.