went to start up my camaro, its been sitting for months, changed the plugs, wires, oil, and battery. went to crank it, it cranked slow, and stopped. didnt turn over. i took the plugs out to check for spark, cranked it and it spun freely, at a normal speed. put the plugs back in, cranked it and same problem, slow crank, then stopped.

any ideas what could be wrong? i have no idea. im hoping it doesnt need a rebuild. it ran fine before i parked it.

 

Is the battery fully charged and holding a charge?

 

yeah. the battery is new.

 

Is it getting fire? Could be a lose coil wire maybe??

 

I had this same problem with my '81 trans am. Found it to be the battery, althought it was >4 months old. After charging the battery it ran, no slow crank up either. but if i went out the next day and tried it, slow start, then dead battery. Even if it is new, it still wouldnt hurt to take it to somewhere like autozone and have them test it, and charge it if needed. And, its free of charge too.

 

i believe something might have happened to the engine from sitting all this time. i used the battery from my other car, and it still cranked slow, jumped all the wiring out using jumper cables, same thing.took the starter to autozone to have it tested, it passed.

i tried turning the engine over by hand at the crank bolt, and it didnt move even a little. trying turning it at the flexplate still couldnt.

 

I would check and make sure you are at the proper voltage at the battery, and then start following your positive. Make sure you are getting high 12's low 13's and that the components are properly grounded. Have you tried bypassing and jumping the starter straight from battery? It's definitely worth a try first that way if the results are the same you know it's not wiring

 

well, the slow cranking problem turned out to be a bad starter, put the new one in but still wont start. sounds like it wants to start but doesnt, checked spark, and have fuel, good fuel pressure. so im assuming the spark plugs are probably fouled up.

 

Possibly, but at any rate it should crank up, just run bad if the plugs are fouled. Try shooting some starting fluid in it and see if she cranks up and will run.

 

had the same problem the other day. i changed the plugs and it started right up

 

Starting fluid. Use it.

 

alright, so put new plugs and wires in, still wont start. got some starting fluid, sprayed it straight down the intake plenum, still no start. the distributor cap and rotor looked like the contacts were bad, so i replaced them as well and the ignition coil too. while swapping cap, i verified i had the timing correct, lined it up to tdc and ran the wires again. used the starting fluid, still nothing. im still getting a sputter, and noticing a bit of smoke coming from the passenger side header. (y pipe is disconnected) this engine im using is an 85 lg4, and everything in it is still stock, except for the tpi.

not sure where to look now. my next guess would be a compression test?

 

If it's not starting with starting fluid sounds like a fire problem to me. It only takes a bit of spark to light off starting fluid. Did you change out your ignition module too?

 

compression test is a good idea,starting on the pass. side should have 100-150? psi on each cylinder though just to be sure pull the plugs out of the head on that side and put the plug back in the plug wire, have a buddy turn over the engine and look at the spark color (should be blue-not orange)Another possibility could be a pick-up coil,electronic control module(both in the distributor)or maybe even the distributor gear is sheared. I don't know your mechanical abilities but if you pull the distributor be sure to mark where the dist. was in context to the intake and where the rotor is pointing. hope this helps

p.s don't forget to leave out milk and cookies tonight

 

I'll check spark again, I was using an inline spark checker, and with the old coil and cap I had spark, on 2 plugs, so id assume since these are new I'd have spark now, but I'll double check. What is that module inside the dizzy for? I don't touch things that I don't know about, so I've left it alone.
Only reason I suspect compression might be an issue is this engine was sittin out in the weather and got some rain water down in it, I don't know how long it sat like that, but I'm worried now the rings might be shot. Although wouldn't I be getting oil fouled plugs?

 

The module inside is the ignition module if I recall. My buddies 89 GTA had some problems starting and we checked it and saw how badly corroded it was and replaced it. We just bought the whole dizzy but you can just replace it since it connects via 2 wires. Head to a junkyard and grab one from any sbc (I assume it would be the same).

Also about the starting fluid if there was spark it would start for atleast a second or give a sign of starting. If you spray and nothing, theres no spark. My 92 had a bad fuel pump and with starting fluid it would start or give signs of life sometimes when it was sprayed and other times it would just backfire through the intake.

So I repeat, Starting fluid sprayed>No signs of starting? Spark

Things to check for spark, Ignition module, Coil, Spark plugs, Wires and finally making sure timing is right. In no specific order.

Starting fluid sprayed and starts then dies? Fuel. Mostly likely the fuel pump. Worn/bad injectors would probably still run, rough but run none the less. Replace the filter while you are at it.

 

well it started up, with starting fluid. The problem? The distributor hold down clamp wasnt tight enough and it kept moving. tried with the tpi fuel system and it ran like crap, so ive got another issue with the fuel system.

 

Hi everyone. I have a 1988 camaro and it has a 305 tbi. I put a performer intake on it and got the timing close to where it was. The car ran for a day or to and then I went out to start it and it would crank but never would start. I saw fuel squirting out of the injectors and I even sprayed starter fluid in the throttle body and still nothing. Any suggestions on what might be wrong with my car? Thanks again

 

The dude that started this thread just had the same situation. Assume all answers given to him were directed at you.

Fuel, air, spark at the right time. Start there. Air's kinda a given, and you have fuel, look for spark at the right time.

 

This helped a lot. a very informative response. thanks.