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VATS?? Ignition??? Fuel??? Video inside

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Old Jan 6, 2010 | 12:43 PM
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Default VATS?? Ignition??? Fuel??? Video inside

I've been having a STRANGE problem with my car. Sometimes it will fire right up then there is times it will fire right up and something kills it 1-2 seconds later. The only way to get the car running is to spray just a little starter fluid in the intake. It fires right up and is fine for ~5-10 more starts then it does it again...wont start without the assistance of starter fluid. The car has 58-60psi of fuel pressure when it dies. I've tried disabling VATS in my tune but from my understanding disabling VATS in HP tuners just disables 1 part of the system. I've tried a different key, changed coil packs out. It's got fuel theres no doubt about it. It reeks of fuel while its doing this. Heres a video of what it's doing

I'm also throwing a P1637 generator L-Terminal Circuit code

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7-gFnCLqf8o
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Old Jan 6, 2010 | 12:53 PM
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You need to stop starting that car like that. That cant be good. Kinda stuck on what it could be hmmm.
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Old Jan 6, 2010 | 01:13 PM
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Originally Posted by Greekey
You need to stop starting that car like that. That cant be good. Kinda stuck on what it could be hmmm.
LOL well here is another video I just made showing fuel pressure and datalogging

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YS9AgabTJAk
Attached Files
File Type: hpl
wont start.hpl (12.3 KB, 110 views)
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Old Jan 6, 2010 | 02:31 PM
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Fuel pump maybe?
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Old Jan 6, 2010 | 02:42 PM
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i dont think its the vats
i swapped an ls1 into my mustang and it would crank and run for a few seconds before the vats killed it
i deleted it with my hp tuners and have had no problems
when you say you have to use starting fluid to assist it is that just for startup or do you have to keep sprayin it to keep it running?
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Old Jan 6, 2010 | 04:04 PM
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Originally Posted by getsum27
i dont think its the vats
i swapped an ls1 into my mustang and it would crank and run for a few seconds before the vats killed it
i deleted it with my hp tuners and have had no problems
when you say you have to use starting fluid to assist it is that just for startup or do you have to keep sprayin it to keep it running?
A couple little sprays of starter fluid and the car fires up and runs on its own fine. I drove it around today for like an hour after I sprayed it. Went to 2-3 businesses to run errands it fired up everytime fine. Got it back to my house and it wouldnt stay running again when I re fired it. thats when I shot that video and datalog
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Old Jan 6, 2010 | 05:28 PM
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man that is CRAZY!!!
im very curious to find out what this is
first things first i would definately go back in to the hp tuners and check to make sure the vats says disabled..
after watching the video several times and paying attention to your gauges i noticed that the oil pressure drops to zero when your cranking and then jumps up after the car cranks...
best i can remember that should show oil pressure while the engine is cranking. Im not saying you have a problem with your motor or oil pressure im saying that i think your losing electrical power somewhere that is not only affecting that gauge that may be affecting ignition........
like i said first double and even triple check that the vats is disabled in hp tuners and if thats not it then check the power wire on the back of the alternator make sure its tight ive seen this wire cause weird problems before
if still no luck go check all the grounds to the engine and to the body
get back to me when all of these are checked
the more i think about it the more it seems like vats but let me know what you found with these ideas
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Old Jan 6, 2010 | 06:00 PM
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Originally Posted by getsum27
man that is CRAZY!!!
im very curious to find out what this is
first things first i would definately go back in to the hp tuners and check to make sure the vats says disabled..
after watching the video several times and paying attention to your gauges i noticed that the oil pressure drops to zero when your cranking and then jumps up after the car cranks...
best i can remember that should show oil pressure while the engine is cranking. Im not saying you have a problem with your motor or oil pressure im saying that i think your losing electrical power somewhere that is not only affecting that gauge that may be affecting ignition........
like i said first double and even triple check that the vats is disabled in hp tuners and if thats not it then check the power wire on the back of the alternator make sure its tight ive seen this wire cause weird problems before
if still no luck go check all the grounds to the engine and to the body
get back to me when all of these are checked
the more i think about it the more it seems like vats but let me know what you found with these ideas
Ya I am going to start looking at electrical tonight. I do think though if I remember it takes a couple seconds for the car to build oil pressure cranking though. I know when I had my fresh shortblock put in my car I cranked it with no p lugs in the car and it took about 10 seconds to build oil pressure
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Old Jan 6, 2010 | 06:08 PM
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may sound funny but try another key if u have it. My chip on my key went bad. i thought it was my vatts
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Old Jan 6, 2010 | 07:43 PM
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he said earlier that he has already tried another key
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Old Jan 6, 2010 | 07:54 PM
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It acts just like the security system, all the VATS systems I have dealt with do that, fire and run for a couple seconds then die. Have you tried holding the throttle down just a little in case your idle air control valve isnt letting enough air in to maintain idle, like have you tried to hold the pedal at like 20 percent and crank and see what happens? Dont pump the pedal or hold full throttle, just hold it down a little. You probably already know that but I still see people do it all the time on fuel injected cars
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Old Jan 8, 2010 | 02:41 PM
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any updates??????
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Old Jan 8, 2010 | 04:25 PM
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This exact same thing happened to me and it ended up being my ignition relay in the engine bay fuse box. I would change that and the fuel pump relay and get back to us.
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Old Jan 9, 2010 | 02:32 PM
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I meant to update this the other day but been busy. I did a little fishing on this Terminal L circuit code. I got to fishing around wires in the engine bay and found a purple wire that I had cut into that goes to the TPS that I wired up to go to my digital window switch the wire pulled out of the butt connector. I soldered it up and fixed it. I also had a low voltage TPS code. Now I had used starter fluid to get the car running to datalog in the garage and scan for codes. I've started it about 4 times since I fixed that wire and its starting find which is normal for about 10 starts. We have had below 0 temps and about 6 inches of more snow the last couple days so I haven't gotten a chance to really drive it or back it out of the garage to do some more testing.
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Old Jan 11, 2010 | 07:04 PM
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Finally got a chance to drive the car today for about half an hour since fixing that tps wire. I let it warm up in the driveway 3-4 times today, drove it for a half an hour came home and it still started up 2 more times for me. It's still not throwing that code again but I haven't been able to find out what that wire messed up would cause this certain issue. If I can't find a reason I am going to have to believe that the car may have a intermittent VATS issue

Fires right up
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_fSr4wyVPIc
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Old Jan 12, 2010 | 12:30 AM
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Great you got it going, next time try some of this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGMUGjlV5HU
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Old Jan 12, 2010 | 12:19 PM
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Originally Posted by O2Form
Great you got it going, next time try some of this. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PGMUGjlV5HU
lol...
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