Hi all,

On my way home tonight I hit a large bump and I think it jarred something loose. Right before my car shut off, the security warning came on and then the engine died. I still have lights, but when I turn the key, the starter does not turn on and the usual "service engine soon" light does not come on on the instrument cluster. I have checked the wires going to the computer and everything looks fine, I have a feeling it is the VATS system but I'm not sure where to find that or if that could even be a culprit. Please help me I will be doing research all night as I need this up and running ASAP.

Thanks in advance!

 

id start with the basics first. do you have spark? are you getting fuel?

 

I was before the engine shut off. How would I check either of these without being able to crank the starter? I'm pretty confident that its something electrical maybe an open circuit or bad ground somewhere because nothing turns on when I turn the key except my headlights.

 

Sounds like ignition switch.

 

Another thing to add is that I hit a few smaller bumps on the way home and the security light would come on and my stereo would shut off (I didn't notice if my amps shut off too but me head unit did) and then it would come back on and the security light would go away. I will go through everything tomorrow morning hopefully and make sure all the grounds are good and nothing is disconnected.

 

Double check all your grounds.

 

Well the good news is that she's back up and running. It turns out that the connector that goes through the firewall wasn't making good connection with the fusebox. I'm still kind of curious why my headlights still worked though unless they are not part of this connector. We were able to get the car started by wiggling this around a little.

The only problem I'm having now is an issue I've been having for years and haven't really been able to solve. Every once in a while the engine will more or less die under heavy throttle. For example, trying to merge onto the highway today, I put my foot in it and nothing happened, the RPM's died and the engine shuts off but will usually come back on after a few seconds. Sometimes I will have to pull over and shut the car off and when I turn it back on I'm okay, but not always. I do not have an error code scanner with me and I don't remember the errors I was previously getting but I will update you when I get access to one. If anyone has any suggestions feel free to let me know.

 

Let me speak from SOME experience. It sounds like you have a typical HACKED wiring harness. I have an '82 and an '84. Over the years, these cars are "Modified by their owners. Sounds to me like you have some serious electrical issues. I recommend taking a weekend to carefully look over all of your wires. Check your fuse block and under the hood. Over the years the heat from the engine and time break down the insulation in your wires. I JUST bought my '84 and have found some really shoddy wiring. My '82 was AMAZING. I took that weekend that I suggested to you and managed to remove a rat's nest of wires from under the hood. The funny thing is that the wires were completely unnecessary. On my '82, the Horn was wired to one of those buttons that you can get from a parts store. The funny thing is that it took me 10 Minutes to wire it back up properly. Autozone's website has wiring diagrams that you can print out. You should get one of those and do some slow methodical checking. I'm assuming that you have a '92 from your name. those would have more wiring than mine do. Nobody likes electrical (I Think), but it's something that is important and should be done. Neglected wiring can cause FIRES and that would be catastrophic. Trust me, it's no fun to have a car fire. I had one on a 1985 Crown Vic and it was scary. Luckily, the fire department was close and I was able to save the car. Sold it a while back. It probably has a Neon orange paint job and 24s on it now (Yuck). There are a lot of people that don't respect this style of camaro, but I love them and they are worth saving. I'm no wiring expert, but I think that I can safely say that there are many members here that are willing to help you through this process (Me included). Calm down and take it slow. It's the only way.