OK, here's the deal. For about a year now, i've been noticing a slight problem when starting the car. As soon as I turn the ignition, I get nothing, than I just give a little more ummf and than it starts. This past weekend, I went to crank it over to let it run for a bit and I got nothing, so I put a charge on the battery and it fired right up. Than it died as I tried to give it some gas, than almost started up right away again. But after that, I just got clik clik clik clik, like the starter was shot. Could this be my ignition switch that has failed me or just need new battery cables? I just replaced the starter, brand new. brand new battery. Also had alternater tested<----PASS. NOW, I have absolutely NO power. I have a tester light where when I touch the power cable within a couple inches of the battery connection, it lights up, than I move down about 2 feet and touch both wires and get absolutely nothing. **edit** (I just retested the battery cable as far as I possible could, apparently I didn't have a good enough ground. I do get power as far possible as I can reach.)

I am very highly leaning toward ignition switch. Please let me know what u think.

FYI, it's a 91' rs, vert, V6 3.1

Plz help

A very anxious camaro man.

Thank you

Mike

 

click click click means insuficient power [re charge battery] not dead starter. as for not running, if it is a Fuel injection you should check your relays, and fuses under the hood, and pull up your rear hatch carpet behind the rear seats and check the wires to see if the fuel pump in the tank is working and if there is power going to it.
As for your cable problem... maybe you need some new cables... it could be corrossion or something.

First i would do the cables, then with power, if it doesnt fire up check relays and fuel pump.

I hate to break it to you but if you bought a new starter because it went click click click you wasted your money. When my battery dies my starter clicks too, all it wants is more power.

I hope something in this helps

Speed

 

Corrosion on the terminals will increase resistance causing "click, click, click...", like speedmachine said, not enough power getting to the starter. Clean off all the ground connections and the battery cables connections. The test light coming on just shows you've got power, not how much current flow.

If your ignition switch was bad (you were thinking VATS problem right?)then I would expect not even clicking, security light would be on all the time too.

 

thx for the input guys, was human error. It did need a new starter, battery was also fried<--- had it tested. the problem was the main battery line connected to the starter, forgot to reconnect. As far as money goes for buying a new starter whether need or not, I could care less. Now the problem is keeping it running. Crank it over and it tends to start than just dies out. ???? any idea? Could it be because of "bad" gas? I was able to start it a few times over the winter and let it run about 20 minutes. Maybe fouled plugs? Sensors?

 

check the fuel filter. Its real cheap replace it anyways. under the rear seat on the under side of the car on the drivers side. if not that i would guess weak Fuel Pump.

 

what about bad fuel? could that be a possibility also? Will get to the filter tomorrow

 

i guess it could but i have never found any gas that my car wouldnt run on even a can of winter old gas from my dad. it ran like crap but it ran. Sounds to me that the fuel is trickleing through the filter as the pump primes then when you start the car it uses more fuel than can get through the filter.

 

alright, that'll be quick and ez.

One more thing that I just thought of was my oil pressure guage. It seems to just sky rocket and goes beyond the actual pressure. at Idle, oil pressure is right around 60ish, give it a bit of gas and the needle just maxes out. Any Idea?

Is this normal?

 

I dont have a Oil gauge so i will let someone else answer that one.

 

thx alot for the input, it's much appreciated

 

fuel filter was not the problem. Engine will fire up for about 5 seconds, if I put it in gear it will run a bit longer, than it just dies. any ideas?


FUEL PUMP??

 

mine is doing the same thing. have tried a bunch of things and it stays the same. mine will either start and stall or run crappy and die when you hit the gas or run smooth and bog out or die when you hit the gas

 

yeah, that's exactly what mine does. have no clue wtf is goin on.

I'm starting to lean towards my fuel pump, in that case I'm gonna have to push it 3 blocks to my mechanic

 

well ill give the list of what i have done and that hasn't fixed it.
fuel pump, fuel filter, coil, plugs, wires, throttle position sensor, idle air control valve, map sensor, knock sensor, ignition control module, pick up coil, ecu, and im lost as s__t. at this point i have gone through and i have fuel pressure at the shrader valve behind the intake, plenty of spark, and i know its getting air so it has everything it should need to run. try any of what i did on yours but i dont know if it will work. before you do the pump let it sit for a few hours and before you try to start it push on that valve behind your intake plentum(its right in front of your distributor and looks like a valve for a tire). it should squirt pretty good. if it has pressure you shouldn't need a pump. just a stupid story but when i changed my pump, once the tank was out i noticed someone did it before and cut a hole in the floor of the trunk to eliminate dropping the tank out, so check that before you bring it to a shop. if you figure out what it is please let me know.
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oh ya, have you driven the car and had it die whil on the gas at higher rpm

 

Have you cleaned the air passages in the intake? did you clean the IAC passages when you got the new IAC valve? mabe try unpluging the EGR vacume line mabe the EGR controler is stuck open. plug that line with your finger after you pull it off cause it is just a test. Check the vacume in the rest of the system, check all the vac lines. mine used to do what your talking about when i gots the car but it went away as soon as i took and hooked up all the vac lines like the hood diagram said to.

 

i did take the intake apart and it seemed pretty clean. my egr has a plate under it between it and the manifold so would the vaccume there matter. ill try it anyway and let know what happens

 

any luck yet

 

no, for me I think it may be my throttle position sensor. I let the car sit for a day. I got home from work today and it started right up. As soon as I gave it some gas, at about 4k rpm it died. Fired up again right away, same thing happened. I'm actually kind of stumped

 

If ya can get it to start try letting it warm up first. have you checked to see if your timing is right? the ECU controled parts shouldnt prevent it from starting cause it should run on the stored info. TPS wont do it i had it unpluged and my car started and ran. heck at some point i have had every sensor on my car unpluged and it still ran. anything sensor related should throw a code. Mine used to do the start and it would die for the first 2 or 3 trys and then it would start and stay running but would die if ya touched the gas before it was past 160* almost like it had no choke or equivilent. not shure what i did to fix it but i was just doing general tuneup stuff and it went away.

 

mine wont stay running long enough to warm up

 

Have you checked for a vac leak? mabe a rodent got in there and chewed a line open. if ya have a big vac leak it will start sputter and die. check for any chewed lines. if ya let the car set for a period of time you may have gotten a rat in there that is chewing wires and stuff. if it ran ok before and then it dont and ya didnt change anything that is probably it. check inside the pass side fender. you will have to move the plastic wheel well cover a bit but just see if there is any thing in there that could have messed with the ECU wiring. go over all of the engine wireing carefully to see if ya have any broken/chewed/loose wires. if its still in that black shrink wrap still i wouldnt wory bout that section of wire but anywhere it is exposed i would look at very closely. Have you checked the Intake or Exhaust for obstructions? I have seen all of these things cause Start then sputter and die problems.

 

been trying and testing all that and haven't noticed anything. im jjust bringing it to the shop monday morning. i have been going through it fow a couple weeks and my head is empty. i know it has fuel press spark and air so it should suck squish bang and blow. right now it just sucks. thanks for the help and when(or if) they figure it out ill post back for wi91rsconv to help you out

 

unhook the exhaust at the y pipe and see if it runs. Had an old farmall that did kinda what your describing and it was a bird had filled the whole 2' high exhaust pipe with stuff.

 

I had the same problem with my car. it was the throttle sensor.what I did was lossen the sensor bolts and when the car fires up, i would adjust it.adjusting it the right way would reqiure a voltmeter but did not have one so i did that way. It has worked since. just make sure you got fuel,power to wires first, right. i will write again if i remember anything else

 

I would check the fuel pressure with a gauge. Might be getting fuel but not enought pressure to keep running. I've also had vehicles start and idle fine but rev the engine and it would stall around 3500-4000rpm, drop to idle and idle fine, fuel pump could be weak or obstructed in the tank.

 

good news/badnews shop found out problem not cheap. the shop found out that 4 of 6 injectors are bad and not giving the right signal. injectors are 160 each , but a little research from me found summit racing has stock replacement accel injectors for 195 for all six so either try that or take the rs to a shop to get yours checked but its probally that

 

yay got the car back from the shop with the new injectors. runs like a champ try that and you should be ok

 

yep, just got mine back. 2 of the 6 injectors were shorted out. Guy said there's a fail safe in the computer that shuts down the injectors or some bs like that. Runs like a champ now though. better than when I got it 3 years ago. They said part of it could have been because I didn't put any kind of stabilizer in it which probably helped speed up the problem, but oh well. Will have to remember next time. btw. they had my car in the shop for 2 days, don't have the receipt on me, but they change the cap and rotor also, new gasket kit for the whole top of the engine and couple other things, total came to $525. Very reasonable if you ask me. goddam wish I was ASE certified than I wouldn't be payin this much outta my ****.

 

bein certified doesnt mean much if you dont have the computers to test the parts. im a mechanic and was lost because of that. i dont work as a grease monkey anymore though. my bill was 361 for 5 hrs labor and a set of plugs and then the injectors for 200 from summit so looks like you got a better deal

 

well, that's what I was gettin at with the certification, it'd make it a point to get the diagnostic tools needed. And btw, u needed 2 more injectors than me, so otherwise u got the better deal

 

oh you only changed the two. i bought the six pack from summit for 200 and changed all six. though you changed them all too