I have a 1982 Camaro Z28 Crossfire project car that I took out for a test drive after starting it for the first time in 26 years a couple days prior. This was the first time I had gotten the car to run and idle properly, and it felt like it was not low on power or having any issues. I was driving it around the neighborhood and when i started back up my hill it died, no backfiring or weird noises just shut completely off. I tried cranking it but no luck. I was having some problems with the ECM and had a new one coming the next day so I figured it was related to that but I put it in and it still is not starting. The car is getting fuel but there is no spark. Today I replaced the distributor rotor, cap, coil, and the ignition control module however there still is no spark. I have checked and it is getting over 12 volts to the distributor. I have run out of ideas of things to test. Any suggestions?

 

I guess you are learning the hard way that you cannot let a car sit for 26 years and then just drive it like it was yesterday that you parked it.
You have 26 years of routine maintenance to catch up on.

 

LOL

 

Well seeing as I can't go back in time and stop it from being parked and the fact that it was parked 8 years prior to me being born I would love to tell you about all the "routine maintenance" that has been done so far:
Changed the oil and filter
New battery
New air filters
Drained the coolant
Replaced the radiator lines
Refilled the cooling system
Replaced the spark plugs and wires
Dropped the rear end and replaced the fuel tank, sending unit, and fuel pump
Put the Rear end back in
Replaced the gear oil in the differential
Replaced the positive wire leading to the fuel sending unit/pump as it was bad
Replaced the sway bar end links
Rebuilt both TBI's
Replaced the belts
Removed the smog pump and plugged the holes as it was siezed
Replaced the brake fluid
Replaced the Power steering fluid
At this point the car ran but still needed some fine tuning:
Replaced the Idle air control valves
Replaced the Throttle position sensor
Replaced the tranny fluid, filter, and gasket
New tires
Lubed the throttle linkage
At this point the car idled and ran correctly there was an intermittent issue with the ECM not properly controlling Injector 1
When the injector was firing properly I drove the car once around the block and this is when it stalled on my hill.
New ECM
New distributor cap
New distributor rotor
New ignition coil
New ignition control module and attached harness

If anyone has had a similar issue and knows how it was solved or anyone has a suggestion to help get the ignition system working again please reply to this thread. I'm just trying to bring an old third gen back on the road where it belongs.
Thanks

 

wow that is one heck of a laundry list you ave done here. Looks like you have been putting some time into this. The only thing I can think of is the distributor itself. I see you replaced all the parts you can and you have power to it, but the dizzy itself has been known to go bad. I don't know if there is a test for the dizzy or if you just get a known working one and swap it out.
So you are about 18yrs old right? I think it is really cool that youngsters like you are into these cars and willing to put the time and effort it takes to "wake up" one of these sleeping beauties.How did you come across this car? Got any pics you can post?

 

 

Yes I am 18, the camaro was originally purchased by my 2nd cousin (Greg) back in 1982. My great grandmother used to give her grand kids $8,000 to purchase a car for college and Greg ordered the Camaro from the factory with from what I can tell most if not all the options for $12,000. He drove it for roughly 10 years but then he was having some issues with it running rough which he believed to be related to the TBI's and he traded it with my great uncle for another car (I forgot what it was) as he needed a reliable car for work. My great uncle parked it in his garage in New jersey and forgot about it for 26 years. When my dad went to New Jersey for my great uncle and aunts 65th wedding anniversary he happened to see the car in their garage and asked about it and after a couple weeks of talking I decided to purchase it and have it shipped out to Omaha. The paint is in rough shape but the interior is in decent shape (excluding the cracked dash). I don't have any pictures on my computer right now but I will post some soon when i can transfer them to my PC.

 

My two thoughts while reading this thread , considering the "laundry list" were these ;

#1 , IROCthe5.7L may well be right , the pickup coil in the distributor may be bad . A quick check with an Ohm meter will verify this one way or the other .

#2 IS the distributor actually turning when you crank the engine with the starter ? A broken timing chain or a bound up distributor shaft causing the distributor drive gear to strip is a distinct possibility when waking up a car that sat 26 years .

 

You should have included this in your first post. I'm glad you are bringing this car back to life the correct way.
I agree with the others, sounds like the pickup coil has failed. You already have replaced everything else.

Has anyone installed an alarm or ignition cutoff in the past that might be the source of your problem right now?

 

Sorry for the late response I have been at 1320 video's Ice Cream Cruise for the last 2 days.

Well after working on the car at the bottom of my hill with no luck my dad and I hooked the car up to our SUV to pull it up to the top of the hill and just for fun I tried to start it and it started right up and I drove it back into the garage. We did not touch a thing it just came to life I honestly have no explanation for it and it still confuses me but I'll take it.

Today I cleaned off the ground wires just in case since that was a popular suggestion and then we decided to take it for a test drive in preparation for taking it to the DMV tomorrow. My dad wanted to drive it this time so he drove it around the block about 3 times and then took it into the empty parking lot of the church attached to my neighborhood and when he was parked revved it up a little and a spark plug wire that wasn't routed quite properly fell under the throttle linkage and held it open which held the engine at about 4000 rpm for around 10 seconds. My dad shut the car off and we checked what was causing it and noticed it leaking oil. The crankcase pressure must have blown either the timing chain seal or the front main seal and it started spraying oil.

So the car is gonna be out of commission for a while and hopefully I can find the issue and replace the seal before I go to college in 10 days.

Also here is a link to the video of the car driving for the first time, in this video the car is running a lot worse than it is now and the high idle was due to a bad IAC valve so please don't judge lol. Also the gas flap has been put back on since that was recorded.

 

If it turns out to be the timing chain gasket/seal that is leaking, it's worth the extra time to replace the timing chain while you're in there just for a peace of mind. Hopefully the starting issue is gone now, but I hope when you replaced the ignition control module you put some dielectric grease under it. If not, make sure to do that ASAP!! They're known to burn out and the grease is one thing that at least slows the issue from happening again sooner rather than later.

 

Alright so I got the car running and driving again and I am having an issue with a high idle. As stated earlier in the thread I have replaced the idle air control valves and TPS but I don't know what i should do next. I know theres screws adjsuting the throttle but will that **** of the ecu and the throttle bodies look fully closed. What can I do to help the idle I have already checked for vac leaks and fixed all of them.

 

Have you tried cleaning the throttle body? A lot of times there is a carbon buildup behind the throttle plates that can cause the throttle plates to stick open a little and cause a high idle. Is the check engine light on?

 

Have you checked ALL your grounds (or heck, even added more)? A sudden -no start- to start condition makes me think there's something electrical going on.

 

Go Blue: Yes the throttle bodies were cleaned inside and out when I rebuilt them. I checked the butterfly valves and they are completely closed. I have not checked the codes recently but there is one and last time I checked it was low signal for the TPS. Again a lot has happened since then so idk if they have changed but I will definitely check them.

RedLeader289: Yes and I have cleaned the grounds since the car has began having spark again. Again I have no logical explanation for it but the car works so I'm not complaining.

Today I took the car for the state inspection required for all out of state cars. The car then had a VIN inspection and I got the Camaro titled for the first time in 26 years. The drive to the DMV/Sheriff office and my house is about 11 miles one way which exceeded my farthest distance covered with the car so far. Thankfully the car made it there and back, passed inspection, and is now registered. During the drive I noticed a slight noise from the power steering but it didn't seem to be leaking so I continued on. When we arrived home we took a couple photos and right after the car started steaming from under the hood. The heater core lines burst and started spraying coolant everywhere. These were the original lines as we neglected to change them until then so I am surprised they lasted this long lol. They were quite dry rotted and so I replaced them and went to take the car on another drive and when I pulled the car out I saw a size-able puddle which looked and smelled like power steering fluid so I pulled the car back in and investigated and one of the lines burst. I have ordered the lines and they should be here Monday so I should be able to take it for a ride before I head off to college. Hopefully all goes well as the power steering lines are the last rubber lines I need to replace on the car so hopefully nothing else will spew fluid. The car has been my summer project so hopefully I can get it to a point where I can take it down with me to college (about a 3-4 hour drive). I was hoping to try and take the car down with me to visit family this weekend but idk if it will make it yet and now I have to wait for parts. Anyways hopefully I'll be posting something positive soon as this car has broken literally every time we have driven it generally as we are getting home.

 

I feel your pain with something else breaking every time you turn around. Good luck in getting it all fixed and running and driving again. I just got to take mine out for the first time since i've owned it after 7 months. As for your high idle, after you replaced those last couple of sensors, did you try disconnecting the battery for a little bit to try and clear all of the air/fuel settings back to factory?