So my 86 Camaro 2.8 began starting hard about a month ago. It seemed to be worse the colder it got. It would start after a while of cranking but this morning I just couldn't get it started at all. I have changed the coil and the coolant temp sensor and the spark plugs and wires and distributor cap is all pretty new. I checked the fuel pressure this morning and it was around 50psi when the fuel pump was running and there was a hissing while the pump was running at the fuel rail. I didn't see any gas leaks though. When the fuel pump stops running it drops to about 42 psi. It has also been giving the service engine soon light while driving once it a while. It will come on for a couple minutes and then go off. It was code 13 "Oxygen sensor signal stays lean during warm engine cruise." I wasn't sure if that was related because I didn't think the oxygen sensor would effect starting. I looked at the spark plugs and the looked pretty normal. I am going to check spark when I get home and see if there are any new codes. It tried to fire a few times but mostly just cranked.
Another thing I noticed is the distributor parts are kind of rusty and the pickup coil is in bad shape, with the insulation coming off the coil. It has been like that for quite a while but maybe it is finally causing problems. Would that cause fluctuating problems starting though with the outside temp? Since the problem started it has always been much better warm.
My other thought was the cold start injector but I thought it would not cause it to not start at all. Any ideas? Thanks!

 

Mine started taking longer to crank with the stock ecm. Then I installed a MegaSquirt EFI and the hard start went away. Then the car started misfiring and making the tach jump. I havent replaced my ICM yet but we are 99% sure its the ICM. So you may want to take yours to autozone and have it tested. Safe bet you should replace the pickup coil too if it looks like its falling apart.

First question should have been, Do you have spark?

 

So it was a little tough being by myself but I took a spark plug out which smelled like gas. I set it up against a ground and turned it over. It didn't have any spark for the first couple times I cranked it then it sparked a couple times. So maybe I am getting intermittent spark?
So I haven't ever had to work on the icm, is it built in to the distributors? And if that's the case does the whole distributor have to be pulled to get it out to test it? I have changed a lot of stuff on my car but the distributor change looked intimidating, but I have to learn some time I guess!

 

Ok never mind. I got the icm off and will take it to have it tested tomorrow. If it is bad, I am still wondering if I should just buy a whole new distributor since the old one is so rusty and the pickup coil is so bad. See pic..

 

My honest opinion? At that point I'd just get a whole new distributor assembly, it would most likely be cheapest.

 

That's what I was thinking so I went ahead and order a duralast gold. It came with a new cap and rotor also. Now for the change.. I am reading up on it, but does anyone have any good articles on it? I have found a few on Google, I don't want to lose the timing. It sounds pretty doable. My main concern is finding the top of compression on cylinder 1 which is the first one on the left side correct? And I am trying to fully understand what they are talking about with the oil pump when you put it back in.

 

Afaik, you mark the shaft position so when you reinstall it you get it back where it was. Yes number one is the front left looking at the front of the motor. Thats about all i got for you unless someone else chimes in..

Edit, your replacing it so that doesnt really apply. Try to get the one your putting in in the same position as the one your taking out..

Did you get a dizzy gasket? I think it came with the oring correct?

 

I am not sure, it comes in tomorrow? It seemed like it included every thing but maybe I should find out. Where does it go?

 

The gasket goes between the dizzy bottom and the block/lower intake manifold(cant remember which), the oring should be on the shaft where it goes into the same place. Thats what i think, but like i said, i havent replaced mine yet so it may be slightly different.

Id call the place you ordered it from and see if they can check if it comes with a gasket. Im pretty sure the oring will already be on the shaft.

 

I called. They think it does come with it but if not they happen to have one in stock. Thanks for the help!

 

No problem, thats what the forum is for! Let me know if you have any issues.

 

Ok so I am trying to do some analyzing here. I took the icm to autozone and it passed. Then at home I tested the pickup coil with the ohm meter and the resistance was in range and I couldn't find a short to ground.
After reading about distributor replacement, I realized that it would make it easier to do if I either knew for sure that the distributors was the problem, or that the car was running fine before I started. That way after the replacement, if I couldn't get it to start, I would know that I did something wrong with the distributor and needed to adjust, instead of having two none working variables, not sure which one was causing the problem.
So anyway I put it back together and the second I turned the key it started right up. I did this twice. Two days ago I tried for about half and hour trying to get it to start and it refused, then later that day I tried again and it still would not start.
The only differences between today and two days ago is it is about 35* today and it was 10* when it would not start. I also found that the pickup coil plug bottom had disintegrate and the contacts were exposed to the housing. I taped it up good. That could be a problem, but it doesn't explain why it's starting has been so temp dependent these last few months, shorts know no temperature, if it is shorted, temp doesn't matter. I also found that the red and black wire coming from the alternator had touch the exhaust manifold and melted, though it didn't appear to be shorted yet.
So now I am not sure what to do. I don't know what else would make it so hard to start only when it's cold. And it is nerve racking to know know if it is just not going to start one morning when I need it. What else could make for such temp dependent starting?

 

I should mention also that I don't mean the engine is cooled off when it is hard to start. It seems to start having a real problem when it has sat under 25* which happens a lot here. What temp does the cold start injector actually kick in? Also, once it starts, it runs great and never stalls.

 

For some reason its shouting at me that something is shorting to ground possibly? Im not completely sure but i know for a fact resistance rises the colder it gets, lower the hotter it gets. Looking into the cold start injector might be a good idea, id also check all connections and wires by the dizzy. If the pickup coil connector was that bad, chances are its not the only bad connection.

At this point i would wait for someone else to give some input.