fire120ball

My daily driver that my mom bought brand spanking. 99 Camaro had been acting funny for months. When I would turn the ignition key ON the computer would reset, but it would still run. The gauges would completely tac out(all together), and the trip odometer would also reset.

The other day the car just didn't start, after a long day, and a tow across town. I checked the fuses, all good, checked the grounds. all good. Checked the starter relay posts, and only half of the posts were getting a ground. So we used a jumper (wire) to see if it was just the ground. The car started....

Ran for about 5-7 seconds and killed itself. Prior to this happening my car never had any codes pop to my knowledge. Never got a SES light. This happened about 3 years ago when it was my moms still and she didn't drive it for 6-10 months. I threw a new battery and it was fine. Now I have charged the battery, I have also used a different battery. No luck

So my question, where does the starter relay get the ground? Do you think it's the computer? I need this thing for my daily life, I am willing to try anything. I'm in college I can't afford a mechanic.

Thanks guys!!
Chris

fastassls1maro

iTrader: (22)

If its just not turning over it could be a few things. The starter has a solenoid attached to it, it has a larger gauge wire that goes directly to the positive side of the battery and a smaller wire that comes from the starter relay. The starter grounds itself through the block since its bolted to it. If you have a voltmeter you want to check and make sure there is 12v on the starter solenoid with the wire coming from the battery. If it does next you will need to have a friend try and crank the car over and you should see 12v on the smaller wire on the solenoid. If it doesnt it could be a bad starter relay, ignition switch, or possibly vats. If both wires have 12v i would suspect you have a bad starter.

fire120ball

The relay itself is not getting ground, if I use a separate wire, ground it to the car, and "Jump" it to the ground of the relay. The starter will turn over, and the car will start. Then run for about 5 seconds and shut itself off

fastassls1maro

iTrader: (22)

are you talking about jumping a ground wire to the starter or the relay in the fuse box? Do NOT jump a ground wire to any part of the starter it can cause serious damage.

fire120ball

To the relay

fastassls1maro

iTrader: (22)

OK.... I would get it checked and see if it has any anti theft codes in it causing it to not start and not stay running.

lt1pwr1

iTrader: (1)

Is the security light flashing or on? VATS will disable two things: Starter signal and injector drive. The fact that you can jump it with a ground wire, but it is still dying after a few seconds really leads to a security issue.

BCM controls all of this through VATS. BCM will send starter ground if it see's no security issue. Same time, BCM will send the fuel enable signal to the PCM if it sees no issue.

You are bypassing the ground signal by jumping the relay. However, it is stalling after a few seconds because you haven't dealt with the fuel enable signal to the PCM.

fire120ball

The security light is flashing I just realized.

So what should I do? Thanks for all the help guys !!

fire120ball

So I bypassed the Vats system with a resistor and it fixed the problem. I seem to believe there was a short in the column somewhere. Thanks for all the help guys !!

Chris

"MAC"

iTrader: (1)

WOW good info, not to hijack your thread but sometimes when my car alarm goes off i just start the car and it stops the alarm but it stays running. Does this mean that my security system is bad?