I don’t get it, I can not get my camaro to start for the life of me. It cranks over hard, and has plenty of battery power. It doesn’t have a electric choke or a mechanical one, the coke is just zip tied in the full open position. My electric choke should get here sometime tomorrow from jegs, but it really hasn’t been a huge problem not having it so far. This engine isn’t new but was just put back into the car right before winter, there isn’t one thing on the motor that isn’t new.

Anyway I pulled all the plugs today, they were pretty wet. Cleaned them up and put them all back in. hop back into the car turn the key and all I get is cranking really hard, but it wont turn over. Pull my fuel line and I’m getting gas. Heck I even tried starter fluid. I guess when I get a 2nd pair of hands ill check to see if my plugs have a spark

 

was it running prior to winterizing the car?

What did you do to winterize the vehicle?

presence of spark and fuel must be verified

 

yea its been running all winter, tried to start it every month... it was a hard start with out the choke, but after a few try's it would start up.

i guess ill have to go out and check the spark, but if i don't have a spark where do i go from there? replace the distributor? plugs, wires are all new, even the distributor is pretty new for the most part...

 

Don't have to replace the whole dist. Pop the cap off and see how the rotor looks. The tip could be rusted, so just change that and like the cap.
If anything, try a full tune up. Rotor/cap/coil/plugs/FUEL FILTER(<try that)/etc.

 

i ended up pulling out a plug and having my father turn the car over to see if i was getting a spark. there was a good spark. then i took my fuel line off of my carb to see if gas was flowing good, and it was....

so i have a battery charged
fuel
and spark

when i took the plugs out today they where wet, but i cleaned them up. it acts like its flooded. sometimes it backfires threw the carb as well... not sure where to go from here. everything knight said to do is basically new.... ugh

 

Sure you got the spark wires in the right order? Order's on the top of the intake manifold and goes clockwise. If you can, get the #1 cyl to TDC on the compression stroke and make sure the rotor is pointing to the #1 wire/connector on the cap. If not, loosen and do not remove the dist, and turn it so that it lines up.

It's possible your timing is off. The above steps would set it to 0*BTDC and you can work from there.

 

still haven't gotten it ruining yet, just went out and got a msd cap and rotor put on it... still dint help the problem... ugh its 60 degrees out side i want to go for a cruise...

 

60degrees eh? You could go out and fix it....

 

I guess ill go try to learn something tomorrow, and work with the timing...
with that being said what is TDC?

p.s. lol i dint mean it was to cold to work on it, i meant it was nice out and i wanted to be out driving... i stopped working on it because i ran out of ideas on what could be going on, and decided to go back to the drawing board.. :P

 

mine is a lt1 and have good fuel pressure,but will start off startin fluid but not without, ran two weeks ago so i guess somethin went bad with ingectors,or pcm, any ideas?

 

yep start your own thread :P but if its starting off of starting fluid, something is wrong with you fuel. idk honestly id put in a new fuel filter along with a can of sea foam in the tank.

 

TDC= top dead center (when the piston is all the way up)

 

ok lol and now 0*BTDC. i googeled it and i understand for the most part what it is, but a further explanation would be helpful

 

oh hey thank you for those links very helpful...

 

No prob.
What part do you need a further explanation on? Be specific. Leave your question, I'm headed out for some poker so I'll post back.

 

BTDC just want to know what it''s an abbreviation for...

 

Before top dead center. That would mean 0*BTDC doesn't mean anything but 0*TDC.
6*BTDC would mean 6* before the piston reaches the top of the cylinder.

 

check your air and exhaust system for mouse nests? doesnt seem like you would suddenly have a timing issue. A completely blocked intake or exhaust wont start.

 

you know that very well could be the case w/ the mice. i hate to say it but i found a nest in the center console already. then i found one in the back hatch area never had a problem with mice, always have had a problem with stray cats. this year i dint catch one stray cat sleeping in the garage... you don't think they would have gotten down into the carb do you? i looked there all ready to see if there was a dead mouse or something but i really don't want to pull the whole thing off. thanks for the idea

 

all the new england firebirds i have stripped have tons of mice in them, even the ones from the city.
they like to get in the airboxes and cat converters. They dont usually get into the carb, but might be a nest right on top of it. thye are also usually found in the a/c evap box and under the console.

 

there isn't an air cleaner on it right now, just an open carb. i stuck a rod in my tail pipes and found nothing. not sure how to check the muffler for a nest, and there there isn't a cat just a strait pipe. might unbolt it and see if i can get it started with the exhaust unhooked from the y-pipe back...

 

took spark plug #1 off stuck my thumb over the hole and had my father turn the car over tell my thumb poped off. checked the BTDC and it was pretty close, close enough that it shouldn't have prevented the car from starting...

took the new cap and rotor back and got a replacement (checked to see if i had spark today, and i had nothing) also got a new coil. replaced it all and it almost started... its like its not getting gas, but when i use starting fluid it dosn't start either... where do i go from here???

 

Hmm. Stumped here. Next step, try a compression test? You can rent the tool from autozone.

 

Have you done a sanity check on the fuel system? Pick up a $2 can of starting fluid. If it starts with it, you've narrowed down the problem. How much does the fuel line fill a jug? I assume you have replaced the inline filter and the one on the inlet to the carb?

Also, when was the last time you filled it up? That's long enough for gas- especially E10 to go bad. Seems we get more than our fair share of ethanol in the midwest.

Did you test your ICU and coil?

 

^
He says starting fluid didn't work. He also says he get's spark at the plug. ICU should mean ICM.
What's coming out the tailpipe?

 

nothing is coming out of the tail pipe sometimes ill get a backfire, but most of the time it back fires out of the carb...

one thing i should add is if i take the fuel line off i get plenty of gas, but when i put it back on i cant see the carb spraying any gas into the engine... that being said it should still start when i put gas and starting fluid in it right?

anyone in iowa want to come over and help?

 

carb fuel filter? I think theres one at the inlet. You said you dont have spark either right? maybe it has a computer malfunction? check engine light?

 

i have a good spark... checked the carb fuel filter all is good, and there is no computer system...

 

what kind of carb set up do you have?

 

holley street avenger 570cfm

 

problems found, i had someone who knows a little more knowledgeable then me look at it. Turns out i dint have the timing quite right. The throttle on the carb wasn't working right either (well it was working but the "plunger" was stuck) and it wasn't shooting gas into the carb...

always hate when people don't write and tell what they did to fix the problem so just thought id update this tread so if someone eles had the same problem it would help them...