I recently purchased a 1985 Camaro Coupe in really rough condition, viewed from the eyes anyway, when she starts, she runs great, but lately i haven't been able to get her to fire up. I discovered the Fuel pump relay was bad, and replaced it, shortly after that the new relay fried, which is when i found a short on the connector.

So here I am 15 miles from home with no money and a car that wont start. I had some wire, a two way toggle switch, and wiring diagrams of the entire electrical system. I decided to bypass the relay and install a switch, which is where I ran into my new problem, the positive line leading to the connector would not turn on the fuel pump, so being creative, i took the lead to the fuel pump, and connected it directly to the battery with a set of jumper cables; it worked. I set about wiring up a fuel pump switch so i could turn it on and off as needed. It worked until i got home.... now I do not know why it will not start, does anyone have any suggestions? (minus buying a new connector and relay, as i dont have the money) I used some standard 22 gauge wire, 2 for each contact (battery and fuel pump) and a double pull double throw two way toggle switch.

Oh the really cool thing, when I removed the short in the relay, and fixed another short on another relay I found, the check engine light went off... ?

This car sat for 2 years, fired right up after about 2 mins of cranking with stale gas, and sounded great.

 

id also like to add, I put about 300 miles on it to find this short, and it ran great for those 300 miles.

 

so i have noticed when i let the car sit for about 15 minutes, and try to start it up (turning on the car first, then the fuel pump, then cranking) it will act like its going to start for a moment and then just continue cranking. I am in the process of checking wires and looking for shorts else where on the vehicle.

 

Does this car have the original distributer? That could possible be the problem as a buddy of mines 94 distirbuter just got replaced in his trans am. Can't you just but all the wires back to normal and fix the short?

 

i will be replacing the connector and getting a new relay when i have some money. as far as i know, this is all stock down to the tires, i do not know what has been replaced in its 24 years.

 

looks like i have a few ideas why shes being troublesome, then again it still stumps me too. New fuel filter! the one i pulled off was NASTY, had a bunch of brown crap in it, im glad to have that thing off it. i also beefed up the wires from the battery to the fuel pump positive lead, the little 22 gauge double wires couldnt carry enough current, so i set it up with some beefy 10 gauge wire, works like a charm. i still am having some issues getting her started sometimes, it acts like its flooding, but can a fuel injected engine even get flooded? i need to figure this out..

also if someone could pop their hood, and tell me which order the wires to the fuel pump relay from the key to the end, were lookin at 5 wires, tan green black orange and another orange/white i think, its mounted on your firewall drivers side.

one more thing id like to mention, it sounds like i got an exhaust leak but i cant see, smell, or feel said leak, but it sure sounds like one! its on the passenger side neer the headder i think.

Thanks ill keep posted on the progress.

 

Is the hard starting related to the fuel pump or is the fuel pump re-wired correctly now?

 

fuel pump has adequate power, it just is always running, without the relay it cant be told when to shut off, so it runs constantly. so weather or not i have pressure in the lines, when i turn the key on the fuel pump will be on, i hear that the fuel pump will shut off when the car is not running but is in the on position when the fuel pressure is at the right PSI.

 

Congrats on your first Camaro, just got mine a few weeks ago and have been fixing it up (sat a long time).

As for your fuel pump, you definitely want to look into restoring the wiring back to factory as soon as possible. Rigging mine in a similar way worked for a bit but just caused issue after issue. Poke around with a meter to try and find the short if it isn't located already and look into a new connector (or salvage, can get them for under $1 if they guy at the register is cool [mine was $.05]). If you are careful, you can pull the leads from the old connector and slip them into a new one without having to splice anything. After that, make sure to check your fuses, with shorts comes blown fuses.

As for flooding with a fuel injected or even carburated car, it shouldn't be an issue just from the pump being on. The carburetor itself does the metering on carbed and the injectors themselves with FI.

EDIT: Might also look into running an injector cleaner or similar since the vehicle has sat up. If the fuel filter was that bad, stuff might've gotten past it.

 

im thinking about that too, its strange though, it will not want to start back up once i shut it off after driving it for a while (no more than 10 miles) and if i let it sit for about an hour or two, crank it for about 20 or 30 seconds itll fire right up. I found that the relay for the fan was bad, so i used alligator clips to turn it on, funny thing is i disconnected the positive end of the clip, connected it to a bolt (so its running a negative to negative) and when i turn the key on it works.... when i disconnect the clip it shuts off.. wtf? anyway, i found another camaro and got to look inside. it appears its Orange Red Green Black Tan, thank god i didnt plug it in, i have it tan orange green black orange (i have two orange's instead of a red) 17.99 fuel pump relay from Napa Auto Parts... can get expencive if i keep blowing them. I also found out why the orange lead is dead, theres a fuse next to the battery that is enclosed in a little case, orange and red wires. blown fuse inside :P. Ima fix my baby and report back on how she goes!

Edit: Great site for third gen wiring diagrams http://www.geocities.com/vtcamaro/Wire-Diagrams.html

 

For troubleshooting purposes, hit a scrapyard for relays. First off, they're a LOT cheaper and second you can mess around with the cars to get a feel for the work you're doing without fear of breaking things (try not to intentionally damage parts of course). If you don't already have one, pick up a shop manual (Haynes/Chiltons work just fine) to help you keep track of what leads to what on the wiring harness. Finally, make sure it's the relay that is actually bad, can easilly test them with a 12v connection across the coil leads and continuity test along the actual switch contacts.

 

we do have a good salvage yard here with a few camaros and firebirds, theres even a perfedt IROC-Z shell sittin there!! can you believe it? sad lil camaro.. i need to replace a lot of parts on my camaro, little things like interior parts, fenders, engine runs great but theres a few things id like to replace. also i notice shes a little sluggish to get going, anyone know the average time it should take a stock 2.8 to go from first to second flooring it from a flat straightawat? come on i know someone has done it!

 

Depends on how fast I shift, I can probably just start in second gear. :P

I am weird though, I want to get an automatic put in, manuals just aren't my thing.

 

i think its fixed >.> i want to add another switch though for the fan, because the fan relay is bad too, i guess all i needed to do was replace a blown fuse... wierd how a blown fuse fixes so many things! the switch on the fuel pump works now with the fuse installed. tis awesome. i tried to wire up the relay again but it didnt work.... i did it exactly like the other camaro i looked at, it has the same engine and everything so shouldnt it be the same? huh.. either that or napa sold me a bad part... im gonna return it and get my 17 bucks back, tell them the one i had already wasnt shorted out i just had a bad fuse i didnt know about :P think they will go for it? haha

 

Probably not going to be able to get a refund on the relay, but you can get a replacement. I used to work for NAPA and like a lot of auto parts places, they do not offer outright refunds on electrical componants. It may sound really weird and arbitrary, but it prevents people from buying a ton of parts to fix something and returning what they didn't use (or used and determined they didn't use).

 

figured as much :P oh well.. least my car is running

 

Don't forget to drive the sh** out of it!

 

wierdest thing happened today. Car was running fine, i drove around lookin for a job, and went to my brothers house for lunch. as I was leaving, i did my normal routine to start my car (pop the hood, clip the positive lead to the negitive lead for the fan and turned on the fuel pump inside) i put the key in the ignition, and turned it to the on position... uh oh... no power?! the fan and fuel pump were running, but no lights, no power anywhere else. used a multimeter tester to check battery, and a few other connections, everything was good, no blown fuses, everything seemed in order, so out of ideas i sat in the passenger side, and the roof light comes on...? i put the key in the ignition and the light goes off.. i bounce for a moment thinking the vibration of me sitting in the car did it, and it comes back on, and my dash lights up, i start her up and it runs fine, drive to auto zone and they have no damn clue, not feeling like going to napa i just headed home. i can only think that it was a loose wire.. but driving would have cause it to come loose again at some point one would think, and it would die on me. so what the hell!? anyone know why this may have happened?

Note: Battery is new, and was not dead or low.

 

the issue above still happens, it seems if i just bounce aroun in my seat itll start workin every time, i have no clue what it could be... it hasnt shut off on me while running though. minor annoyance? or potentially big problem...

 

I will be gone for a few weeks while i move and have no internets.. i hope my camaro dont break down cus you guys are the only people i got to help me fix it. see you guys when i get back!