JosiahJudgement

iTrader: (1)

I have a 1992, 3.1 camaro that's been parked for about 7 months. Before the car was parked it had a broken timing chain. So I replaced the ignition coil, the distributor cap, rotor, distributor, spark plugs, and timing chain. I set everything back up and the car was running great.. or so it seemed. This was back in January.
Then I noticed the car was eating through oil like it was nothing. I checked it out and noticed that the distributor had oil pushing up through the top under the cap. So I parked the car for a bit, and in March I pulled the distributor, changed out the O ring and put it all back together but I didn't have the time to set up the timing and get the car back in running order. So I just parked it up until recently.

Now, for the past few weeks, I've been working on getting the camaro back in proper running order. I have a timing light, got the timing set and the car was back to running and driving. But every time I would get the car running and the timing proper, I would come back to the car a few days later and the timing would seem to be off again. I would try to start the car and the engine turns over, but won't start. So I would loosen up the distributor, rotate it around a bit until I could get the car started and set the timing back. Tighten the distributor, turn off the car, unhook the battery, plug back in the computer wire and fire up. The car would run and drive great, but yet again - a few days later the car would be off again and not run until I played with the distributor some more. I've done this several, several, several times in the past few weeks.
Finally, it seemed to be doing good, I ran it up and down the road a few times this past week and the car had no problem from day to day. But I just went out this morning to move it - go get the inspection and tags renewed on it, and bam.. the car is out of loop again. It'll turn and turn over but it won't start. It's getting quite tiresome.


I've taken pictures of the distributor placement every time the car starts and runs.. and it appears to not have moved at all and the hold-down bolt is good and very tight. So I don't think the distributor is moving out of place. Every time I re-time it, the distributor cap always ends up being in the same place as it all ways goes.

Can anyone provide any input for what may be going wrong here or some things to look at?

UK Speedbird

Well I'd be looking at that broken timing chain, are you sure you're not becoming fixed on what you do to actually get it going as opposed to fixing the root cause which is still worng?

I'd double check that the timing is correct via the chain, valves etc. Could you get a correct base timing when the chain is a tooth out or so?
I'm saying that because if your moving the dizzy to get it started (and it works) but it refuses again next time you use it, maybe the computer is trying to find the right spot from cold but can't because the dizzy has been moved previous.... if that that makes any sense

Goes without saying that you should check for spark, ICM, pick up coil, compression etc as it may also be something completely unrelated to what you think it could be.

That was probably a load of garbage to you, but not being an expert and seeing how no one else has replied, I thought I'd comment as I've chased stuff around before only to find it was something totally opposite to what I expected, or something so simple I missed it because it couldn't possibly be that!

All the best, Speed.

Gumby

if it won't even try to start using starter fluid, your spark is bad.

JosiahJudgement

iTrader: (1)

I appreciate the replies! Definitely going to start looking at other areas. I'm guessing it may actually be fairly unrelated. Since the car has been sitting for awhile something could have gone bad by now or the fuel pump might near death. This weekend I'll start checking these other options and I'm positive I'll find the culprit. On an unrelated note, Speed, while still a good distance from you, my brother in law just moved over here to the States from the UK. He was in Glasgow though! I didn't see any thirdgens when I was across the waters that way but I would have gotten a kick out of it for sure!

Again, thanks for the advice Speed and Gumby!
I'll see if I get anywhere with some starting fluid - since that's simple, and go from there.

Gumby

its a simple way to test, as if it does try and run on it, then you know its a fuel problem.

UK Speedbird

Hi Josiah,

Yep you'd be very lucky to see any Third gens over here, the last firebird I saw in Sheffield was last (2012) fall! It was a red 87 Trans-Am in pretty poor condition Most cars are like that over here as people want to drive them for the brief British summer and then sell them on without really looking after them.
My car had five owners prior to myself when I bought it in 2002, and it had only been imported in late 1996!! As a result it was in very original but poor condition. But I've managed to almost totally restore her to which i'm pretty proud I think another factor why you won't see many American exotics over here is the price of fuel. I've just put my car away for winter and to brim my tank it cost me £80 or $127 to you!!!!

Anyway, just for your reference if you run a fuel pressure test on the pump(i've just run it on mine) pressures should be roughly:-

1) key on but engine not running...42psi

2) engine at Idle ......................... steady 38psi

3) engine revving.........................36-38psi

If you get lower pressures you wanna look for a blocked fuel filter or line, if if it's too high you could have a dodgy fuel pressure regulator or pump.


All the best, Speed.

JosiahJudgement

iTrader: (1)

Yes, the price of fuel was quite a bit different when I was over there. Sold by the liter I believe! And on top of that, I think that we measure liters differently than over there? I'm unsure, but my brother in law had mentioned it.
He was talking about trying to start up an import type service. Said there was a big market over in the UK for classic american cars.

Anyways, it's been a little bit since I updated here... been busy.
But looking at the car today.. trying to get my diagnostics plug to jump with a paperclip, I noticed that the 2 wire plug (white wires with orange shrink on them) that is for the VATS system is unplugged... could possibly be my issue - though I hadn't had any security light flashing or staying on issues. I cannot for the life of me find out where it plugs in to. I've looked at pictures on here and over at Austin Third Gen, but my plug doesn't seem to be located in the same place.



Here is the picture I've been using for reference - it appears you can see the diagnostics plug in, along with the purple and blue wires coming out the pinkish-purple plug. I have located both of those on my car, but no plug for the vats connector in sight. Maybe a different place for my year model? (1992, 3.1). My fuse box is right by those, and a mess of wires behind it. Looked for an hour and a half and couldn't find the plug!

If anyone can locate there's in a different spot or knows where it might be, I would appreciate it if you could tell me where or snap a photo.

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So I continued looking around and found some duct tape up in the shaft of the steering column and pulled it out. Checked out the wire colors coming from the tape and looked at some wiring diagrams and determined that they were the wires for the plug in I was looking for. Pulled off the tape and sure enough- the plug had been cut off and a resistor had been put in place - but it is broken. Perhaps still my problem then. But if I previous owner had installed it because of a malfunctioned resistor in the key, and now the resistor they setup in place is broken - is there a simple way to get my correct resist amount? I'm reading 4.8 on the broken resistor and 6 on the key.

Still could be multiple issues, but this is a good starting point for now.