Someone PLEASE Solve My No Start Problem
Backstory: In 2008 (yes, 2008), I did a cam (ms3) and valvetrain swap in my 1998 Z28. I also added LT Pacesetters, a custom exhaust, LS2 timing chain, and Frost m/o tune. I was itching to mod the car and that's what was in the budget at the time.
Long story short I had plans to do heads, intake, etc, but you know how life goes. At the time I was borrowing garage space and needed to keep the car to where I could move it if I needed to. I bought it in 2001. I had finally got a beater DD in '07 and was cool with building the Camaro slowly as long as I could keep it together enough that it was driveable.
After Mods:
It drove and ran fine for having the big cam and m/o tune with no torque converter. I put 400-500 miles on it around town and ran into tranny problems. I believe I lost the 3/4 clutch pack.
Later in 2008 I went away to college and left the Camaro in storage. About once a month for 3 years I or my dad would go start it, drive around the block, add fresh gas, and park it. It fired every single time no problems.
Now:
Finally in 2012 I was back in town and bought a house with my own garage so it was time to bring my baby home. I went to grab it and it cranked but wouldn't start. I checked the fuel pressure and had almost none. A couple sprays of starting fluid and it would fire right up then die. Easy fix, just throw a new pump in, right?
I put a pump in and had 55lbs at the rail and it cranked but wouldn't start. Checked spark and it was good. Thought maybe my budget fuel pump was **** so I hit it with a spray of starting fluid and got nothing. I had a friend put a Snap-On live data scanner on it and he said everything seemed good besides my TPS voltage was low.
Throwing Parts at it:
Well like a good dumbass I just figured it had been sitting so long maybe it just needed freshened up.
I added the following items:
-Battery
-Starter
-Fuel Filter
-TPS
-CPS
-Spark Plugs
Finally:
After all that it still wont even start on starting fluid. It did however, backfire so hard it shot the soft plug (EGR!/AIR!) out of the throttle body. This worries me. I also changed the oil and filter in fear of washing down the cyliners with fuel/fluid. It seems like it now cranks slow. I'm frustrated and clueless. I'm hoping someone can shoot me some ideas, or just shoot me.
Sorry all my troubleshooting I did last year is slowly coming back to me. I haven't even taken the car cover off since Spring of '13.
Last edited by 1998Z28LOADED; May 6, 2014 at 04:35 PM.
What in the world could it be?
Would the cam sensor be to blame, even with still having spark?
PCM bad?
VATS issue?
I'm lost and can't afford to take it to the dealership and dump money into getting it to start when I'm still needing a tranny rebuild/upgrade. For now I'd just like to be able to pull it in and out of the garage so I can work on other stuff.
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It was a wiring issue somewhere from ignition switch on steering column and the pcm. Never found it, just made a jumper wire cause I didn't want to tear apart the dash and she started right up. Had spark, fuel pressure, etc. but noid lights never showed anything from injectors.
ignition switch...look into that. im thinking critters got into your wiring while they made a home in your car somewhere
Mine sits for at least 6 months every winter, I don't start it at all, and it always fires after about 3 cranks on the first start of the year. I do keep Stabil in the gas at all times though (car is rarely used).
I think something like the below post is more probable:
It was a wiring issue somewhere from ignition switch on steering column and the pcm. Never found it, just made a jumper wire cause I didn't want to tear apart the dash and she started right up. Had spark, fuel pressure, etc. but noid lights never showed anything from injectors.
ignition switch...look into that. im thinking critters got into your wiring while they made a home in your car somewhere
It was a wiring issue somewhere from ignition switch on steering column and the pcm. Never found it, just made a jumper wire cause I didn't want to tear apart the dash and she started right up. Had spark, fuel pressure, etc. but noid lights never showed anything from injectors.
ignition switch...look into that. im thinking critters got into your wiring while they made a home in your car somewhere
Yes the tach wiggles a bit while cranking.
Last edited by 1998Z28LOADED; May 13, 2014 at 11:51 AM.
throwing parts at the car is not always going to solve an issue just grab a beer and start wiggling wires and **** for a couple hours, hey in my case it worked for me!








