Ignition Gremlin got you down? Read This.
02-23-2009, 05:43 PM
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Ignition Gremlin got you down? Read This. Before saying anything i will say this:
I'm not a master mechanic, nor do i think i am..lol. I am just your normal 24 year old gearhead, who has a project for a daily driver. Growing up i was always around a garage, drag strip or the street...traffic light to traffic light, and picked up as much knowledge as i could. I get to learn something new and off the wall every week. Like the issue im about to explain, maybe it will save you or a friend some time and heartache. Some of you may know this or have even experienced it. Myself, it had me STUMPED!!!
My 3rd Gen Camaro was running fine. Its a 1992 RS, 305 TBI. Untill one morning i turned the ignition over and got nothing but dead silence. The lights worked, the radio...but no clicking, no nothing. My Volt meter was fine, but i decided to jump start it anyway and she fired right up. I had the battery and alternator checked, and they were both fine.
After running some errands, the car once again failed to start...again..dead silence. After hooking up some jumper cables she turned right over.
The next morning, expecting to have to jump start it, she fired right up..now i was REALLY confused..lol...my next best educated guess was that i may be having starter issues. That day after getting out of a meeting, I got stranded in a parking garage, and i spent an hour and a half with my buddy, trying to get it started. At this point i was convinced that i had a loose wire on the cylinoid. HELL...my Haynes manual even suggested it. The car is so low, there was no way we were getting to it without a jack. We gave up after it wouldnt even start with cables, like it did before. In a last ditch effort, i turned the ignition over and BAM..fired right up.
I then took the car to my mechanic...his answer???
Not the Battery, not the alternator, no need to adjust the parking saftey switch, and no...not even the starter or cylinoid!!!!
IT WAS MY SECURITY SYSTEM!!!!
How it went bad im not really sure. My mechanics quick and cheap solution is to by-pass the security system. Being 24 years old and not really in a position to drop hundreds and hundreds of bucks at a dealership, so they can replace the ignition, key and i guess reprogram the security system, i was all ears at his suggestion.
The ignition key has a chip, when u hook a ohm meter up to both sides of the chip it reads 0.5 ohms. The way i understand it is that the ignition isnt reading the right resistance on the key anymore. So when u go to turn it over and get dead silence like i did...you tend to keep turning the key....NOW THE COMPUTER THINKS SOMEONE IS TRYING TO STEAL THE CAR. So the Theft Security locks the ignition system down.
You can by-pass this by finding a black conector underneath the dash below the steering colum. The conector has two orange wires on the right as your looking at it, that lead up to the ignition. And then two grey wires on the left that lead thru the system to the computer im guessing. My mechanic fixed a 4th Gen. Camaro with the same issue by cutting out the conector. Here is where the .5 ohm reading off the key comes into play. You go to radio shack and buy a .5 ohm resistor. Its a bulb with two long pins on both sides of it. After cutting out the black conector, u wrap both orange wires around one end of the resistor, and the do the same with the grey wires on the other side. Dont forget the electrical tape...lol. And the Security System has now been by-passed. I have yet to do this because no radio shack here carried any 0.5 resistors.
In the mean time to start my car..lol...read carefully...i insert the key into the ignition....turn it over once...the car will not start... a second later i then turn it over once again and thats when the Security Light in the dashboard cluster lights up...a second later i turn the key over and she will start right up. NOW..if you do this too fast..the system will lock down again and you will have to wait about 5 to 10 minutes so the system can reset itself.
I KNOW IT SOUNDS RETARDED..and im not great with electrical systems so the way i explained it may be confusing as hell. BUT if your car is having these symptoms and you are just STUMPED like i was, and would never guess that it was caused by the security system..lol..like i didnt...dont go dropping a few hundred bucks..or even a couple grand replacing starters and ignitions..unless you really want to..lol. Your Security System might just be acting up, and something simple as a resistor can fix it. LOL..now if someone wants to jack your ride, well there will be no Security System to stop them...but if they want it THAT bad, they will figure it out if they already know what they are doing. This is just a quick fix, i myself plan on saving the money to have it fixed back to normal, but we all know how the times are..money is tight, so its a way to atleast get your car running.
THANKS for reading my SUUUUPER long post..lol...i hope this can get someone out of a jam a bit faster and cheaper.
Chris.
I'm not a master mechanic, nor do i think i am..lol. I am just your normal 24 year old gearhead, who has a project for a daily driver. Growing up i was always around a garage, drag strip or the street...traffic light to traffic light, and picked up as much knowledge as i could. I get to learn something new and off the wall every week. Like the issue im about to explain, maybe it will save you or a friend some time and heartache. Some of you may know this or have even experienced it. Myself, it had me STUMPED!!!
My 3rd Gen Camaro was running fine. Its a 1992 RS, 305 TBI. Untill one morning i turned the ignition over and got nothing but dead silence. The lights worked, the radio...but no clicking, no nothing. My Volt meter was fine, but i decided to jump start it anyway and she fired right up. I had the battery and alternator checked, and they were both fine.
After running some errands, the car once again failed to start...again..dead silence. After hooking up some jumper cables she turned right over.
The next morning, expecting to have to jump start it, she fired right up..now i was REALLY confused..lol...my next best educated guess was that i may be having starter issues. That day after getting out of a meeting, I got stranded in a parking garage, and i spent an hour and a half with my buddy, trying to get it started. At this point i was convinced that i had a loose wire on the cylinoid. HELL...my Haynes manual even suggested it. The car is so low, there was no way we were getting to it without a jack. We gave up after it wouldnt even start with cables, like it did before. In a last ditch effort, i turned the ignition over and BAM..fired right up.
I then took the car to my mechanic...his answer???
Not the Battery, not the alternator, no need to adjust the parking saftey switch, and no...not even the starter or cylinoid!!!!
IT WAS MY SECURITY SYSTEM!!!!
How it went bad im not really sure. My mechanics quick and cheap solution is to by-pass the security system. Being 24 years old and not really in a position to drop hundreds and hundreds of bucks at a dealership, so they can replace the ignition, key and i guess reprogram the security system, i was all ears at his suggestion.
The ignition key has a chip, when u hook a ohm meter up to both sides of the chip it reads 0.5 ohms. The way i understand it is that the ignition isnt reading the right resistance on the key anymore. So when u go to turn it over and get dead silence like i did...you tend to keep turning the key....NOW THE COMPUTER THINKS SOMEONE IS TRYING TO STEAL THE CAR. So the Theft Security locks the ignition system down.
You can by-pass this by finding a black conector underneath the dash below the steering colum. The conector has two orange wires on the right as your looking at it, that lead up to the ignition. And then two grey wires on the left that lead thru the system to the computer im guessing. My mechanic fixed a 4th Gen. Camaro with the same issue by cutting out the conector. Here is where the .5 ohm reading off the key comes into play. You go to radio shack and buy a .5 ohm resistor. Its a bulb with two long pins on both sides of it. After cutting out the black conector, u wrap both orange wires around one end of the resistor, and the do the same with the grey wires on the other side. Dont forget the electrical tape...lol. And the Security System has now been by-passed. I have yet to do this because no radio shack here carried any 0.5 resistors.
In the mean time to start my car..lol...read carefully...i insert the key into the ignition....turn it over once...the car will not start... a second later i then turn it over once again and thats when the Security Light in the dashboard cluster lights up...a second later i turn the key over and she will start right up. NOW..if you do this too fast..the system will lock down again and you will have to wait about 5 to 10 minutes so the system can reset itself.
I KNOW IT SOUNDS RETARDED..and im not great with electrical systems so the way i explained it may be confusing as hell. BUT if your car is having these symptoms and you are just STUMPED like i was, and would never guess that it was caused by the security system..lol..like i didnt...dont go dropping a few hundred bucks..or even a couple grand replacing starters and ignitions..unless you really want to..lol. Your Security System might just be acting up, and something simple as a resistor can fix it. LOL..now if someone wants to jack your ride, well there will be no Security System to stop them...but if they want it THAT bad, they will figure it out if they already know what they are doing. This is just a quick fix, i myself plan on saving the money to have it fixed back to normal, but we all know how the times are..money is tight, so its a way to atleast get your car running.
THANKS for reading my SUUUUPER long post..lol...i hope this can get someone out of a jam a bit faster and cheaper.
Chris.
02-24-2009, 02:13 AM
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First off..thanks for reading...once i start typing i tend to go into detail and make a simple post waay too long. BUT...honestly Darth Cypher, i cant speak for 4th Gens, i am still fairly new to the Camaro scene, my old rides were a 1969 C10 Pick Up and a 1977 GMC Royal Sierra..lol..no computers. However, my mechanic did say that he had this issue on a 95 Camaro once. And the first thing i thought was..."wow...on a 4th Gen?"
He is an old school mechanic who works more on instinct and experience rather than what a computer screen will tell him. Both new and old school guys have their pros and cons. I myself try to learn from both.
I will try and find a thread you may have posted to see what your car is doing...but if you get this first, then tell me whats going on. If i dont know the answer id like to research it and find out. Like ive said before, we all learn something new and off the wall every day.
Chris
He is an old school mechanic who works more on instinct and experience rather than what a computer screen will tell him. Both new and old school guys have their pros and cons. I myself try to learn from both.
I will try and find a thread you may have posted to see what your car is doing...but if you get this first, then tell me whats going on. If i dont know the answer id like to research it and find out. Like ive said before, we all learn something new and off the wall every day.
Chris
