skymarauder

Alright here it is. Got a 98 Camaro Z28, had it since sept 1st. Got it, changed the oil, air filter. Car has 106 on body, 78k on gm replaced motor (75k on replacement motor), 3k on new gm replaced trans (A4 0 miles). Had 7 DTCs, replaced the cats, have 1 DTC, Something about egr flow. Now onto the problem:

Sunday night i had less then an eight of a tank of fuel, went to fill up full at Dominicks (92 Octance premium), started the car right up and went home. About an hour later i get out to go to mcdonalds and the car starts after 3 five second cranks. after im done at mcds the car starts after 3 long cranks again. Monday morning i have to go to work so i start the car, once again, it goes on after 3 longs cranks.

now the problem

Around noon i go to start the car to move to a different job site, and it wont start. mustve given it a good 10 cranks at least, and nothing. i do a wiggle test on everything i can see, i take out each fuse and visually inspect them all. Car still wont start. Around 8pm later that night i come prepared with tools and ****. First thing i do is take off the air assembly and sprayed some starting fluid into the throttle body. after working with the gas pedal for 2 seconds i managed to get it goin! i held down the gas pedal to 3000 rpm for about a minute, dropped the pedal to 1500rpm for another minute, and then let off completely where the car was at high idle (800rpm). after i let off completely, the car died in 15 seconds. tried the starting fluid again but i mustve put too much in cuz the car was knocking as i was cranking. tried a third time with the starting fluid and the battery was getting low. tried a 4th time with a jump but nothing. left it that night.

tuesday i got a tow truck to drop it off by my house. checked the fuel pressure, read 55psi while cranking.

wednesday i tried a bunch of ideas. i tried to take the fuel filter off, but was unsuccessful, too much rust! i did however get a jar full of gasoline from the fule feed line by starting the key on a couple times and letting the pump pour gas into the jar. let that sit overnight to see if there was water in it (if there was, one would go on top one would go on bottom)

thursday (today) i got the filter off, and replaced it with a brand new one, checked the gasonline in the jar but it remained constant from top to bottom (all yellowish). managed to get a spark plug off and check if i had spark, due to the small length of the wire, i either couldnt get a good ground of there was no spark. the plug was not wet but it did have a smell to it, cant really describe the smell. the dipstick did not reak of gasoline either. so i put everything together, got my dads van and connected some jumper cables, poured some starting fluid into the throttle body and i went to crank it, but nothing happened, jsut a little jolt but nothing except cranking. tried about 4 times with the fluid but nothing happened, just cranking and cranking.

Friday - have some plans to check the injectors with a noid light, and check the plugs for a spark with a better ground.


SOooooooooooooooooooooo, ANY IDEAS???

ACW

A possible cause of "Engine Cranks, but Does Not Start" is a problem with the starter motor.

Here's a list of some more possibilities (yeah, you've already done some)


"Hard Start

Definition: Engine cranks OK, but does not start for a long time. Does eventually run, or may start but immediately dies.

Check the PCM grounds for being clean, tight and in the proper locations.

Check the Engine Coolant Temperature (ECT) sensor for being shifted in value. Connect a scan tool. Compare the Engine Coolant Temperature against the Intake Air Temperature (IAT) on a cold engine. The ECT and IAT sensor values should be within ± 3°C (5°F) of each other. If the ECT sensor is out of range with the IAT sensor, check the resistance of the ECT sensor. Replace the ECT sensor if the resistance is not within the specification. If the sensor is within the specification, repair ECT signal circuit for high resistance.

Check the Mass Air Flow sensor installation. A MAF sensor that is incorrectly installed may cause a hard start. Important: The embossed arrows on the MAF sensor indicate the direction of the intake air flow. The arrows must point toward the engine. Install the MAF in the proper direction.

Check the fuel pump relay operation. The fuel pump should turn ON for 2 seconds when you turn on the ignition.

A faulty in-tank fuel pump check valve allows the fuel in the lines to drain back to the tank after the engine stops.

Check both injector fuses for being open. An open injector fuse causes four injectors and four ignition coils not to operate. Replace the fuse. Inspect the injector circuits and the ignition coil circuits for an intermittent short to ground.

Check for a low fuel pressure condition.

Check for a restricted fuel filter.

Check for a contaminated fuel condition.

Check for proper ignition voltage output with spark tester J 26792 .

Remove the spark plugs and check for the following:
Wet plugs
Cracks
Wear
Improper gap
Burned electrodes
Heavy deposits
Determine the cause of the fouling before replacing the spark plugs if the spark plugs are gas or oil fouled.

Check for bare or shorted ignition wires.

Check for loose ignition coil grounds.

Check the spark plugs for proper heat range.

Excessive oil in the combustion chamber-Leaking valve seals.

Low cylinder compression.

Combustion chambers for excessive carbon buildup. Clean the chambers using Top engine cleaner. Follow the instructions on the can. "

waterbug1999

iTrader: (3)

Sounds like you started having problems after you put gas in.. You changed out the fuel filter.. Have you dumped some gas treatment in the tank?? Sounds like bad gas.. Hell dump 2 bottles in.. Dont think it would hurt.

I had a problem with the Temp sensor. But, it should still start on a cold start if that was the problem. You run into problems when it gets hot if it was that.

Good luck bud.

skymarauder

i will try the gas treatment idea today, because it all happened within an hour so i am still oblivious as to that being the source of problem. is there any way to check the gas if it is good other then the jar idea???

lsp408

well, 98 still got metal tank right??? so maybe need to drain and clean tank.
check for any SES light for any DTC. if there is any, try to fix those first. also check fuse
maybe even check injectors to see if they are working,
i think our car use fuel pump relay for crank referance so check that too

Seagraves#85

iTrader: (4)

Its a Relay! Here follow this thread:
https://ls1tech.com/forums/general-maintenance-repairs/363482-3-4-cranks-before-start.html

You may have to replace both of your relays (igntion & starter)

skymarauder

ill try that but where do i get those relays anyways? and how can i check them?

skymarauder

-have 1 dtc about egr flow
-where can i rent or borrow a noid light or how much are they?
-what do u mean by fuel pump relay and crank reference?? can u explain please

Seagraves#85

iTrader: (4)

First try and swapping the iginition and the starter relays, they are under the hood in one of the fuse panels. The ignition relay "relays" more power for longer periods of time so they tend to gou out first.
When you swap the relay and the car starts I would suggest that you go to your dealer and get 2 new relays they are pretty cheap. I hope this helps and good luck!

skymarauder

problem fixed, THANK YOU SEAGRAVES!!!!! it was the damn ignition relay!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 10 dollar fix, YESSS!! thanks everyone for the help

Seagraves#85

iTrader: (4)

blownz281

okay i kinda have the same problem- my car just cranks... please read !


only thing i did to my car this winter was install a 58mm Holley TB. i guted all the HVAC stuff also. car sat for bout 8 months and ran great last summer. now car just cranks and wants to start but won't. you can hear air blow out of the BOV and hear exhaust coming out from the back of the car. battery is good,fuses are good,full tank of gas and had stable added to it. new fuel pump.fuel filter is new.perfect fuel pressure and no bleed off issues and perfect when cranking the car to try to start it. inejctors/FPR or not leaking,perfect spark on my Delteq coils. motor is getting air/vacuum since it coughs out of the BOV/exhaust. new starter,
and plugs and wires are new. opti has maybe 500miles on it and has never seen water,plus i siliconed the crap out of the outside of it to make sure there was no way any thing could get inside of it. still so strange how i install a holley 58mm tb now car won't start up and just cranks? also i have not touched any grounds for the motor. today i went out and pumped the gas and held the pedal and it wanted to start but my starter wouldn't stop spinning so i need my NEW starter replaced already- AUTOZONE