whytryz28

iTrader: (28)

Ok im serious about burning this car to the ground and pissing on its ashes...

Car was running fine couple days ago, then it started to sputter and it cleared up, I thought it was bad gas but I guess it wasnt.

Quick run down of new parts

-Opti (less then 3 months old)
-Coil (less then year)
-ICM (less then 3 months old)
-MSD wires ( less then year old)
-Plugs, 02 sensors, Walbro fuel pump w/ relay harness (less then year old)
-Battery good
-Alternator good
-FPR vacuum hose has no fuel in it so thats good

Now, when I start the car up its hard to start, then it fires up. It idles at around 500-600 for a couple seconds, then the volts start to fluctuate between 11v and 15v, then the cars idle gets retarded and it jumps to around 1200-1400 and sinks back down to 500 and jumps up again to 1200-1400 and eventually it dies.

Now I checked for vacuum leaks and cant find any. It threw a 36 DTC code and im getting things from, Bad Air sensor (its SD tuned from the factory so I dont have one) to Ignition circuit bad (I checked the opti harness and thats good)

I tried to be as detailed as possible so sorry for the long read. Any ideas?

wysemunky

iTrader: (2)

the fluctuating idle leads me towards the IAC valve. It may be dirty or something causing it to stick then unstick. thats my 2 cents anyway.

deelong4002

iTrader: (8)

Bad fuel pump possibly. My girlfriend's riviera became hard to start, unless i relieved the pressure off of the fuel rail.

Check your fuel pressure

whytryz28

iTrader: (28)

Would that cause the sputtering?

Ill check that.

I looked up the code and got this

36 ignition system circuit error: Distributor ignition system (faulty high resolution pulse or extra low resolution pulse detected)


wtf does that mean?

djjab57

iTrader: (17)

What brand opti ?

ss.slp.ls1

iTrader: (36)

Beat me to the question. If it's not a GM brand opti, you might have just wasted your time and money.

Also it could be a bad opti harness.

That right there will cause your car to run like ***!

whytryz28

iTrader: (28)

Yeah not a GM brand, I dont have funds to purchase stuff like that with schooling.

Im gonna see if its the harness, if not, the cars gotta sit. No way I can afford a GM opti anytime soon.

ss.slp.ls1

iTrader: (36)

You can buy my AC Delco opti that I have for sale.

fex77k

iTrader: (2)

Look no further than your opti on this one. If you can find a friends car you can always swap the TB and coil to verify them as well.

whytryz28

iTrader: (28)

lol, how much you asking? PM me please

ffffuuuuu

Im the only one of my friends who has a camaro lol

fex77k

iTrader: (2)

Someone already mentioned to check the opti harness, do this first as it sometimes is in sad shape.

whytryz28

iTrader: (28)

I checked the harness and it looks ok.

ss.slp.ls1

iTrader: (36)

No, check it with a digital multimeter, not your eyes.

whytryz28

iTrader: (28)

Got a write up?

ss.slp.ls1

iTrader: (36)

Disconnect both ends of the opti harness and use a multimeter to test for continuity at both ends of the harness for each of the four prongs.

whytryz28

iTrader: (28)

So just check before the harness, and at the male end of the harness that plugs into the opti?

All 4 should have continuity when the ignition is on?

EDIT: Found this on shbox



Disconnect the ICM connector. Leave coil connected.
Turn key to ON.
Check for dc voltage with a digital meter at harness terminal "A" to ground and and also "D" to ground. Note: Use a high impedance meter (at least 10 megohm) when dealing with the PCM.
Result should be 10v dc or more on both terminals. If you get no voltage, use the diagram and chase back toward the coil and the ignition fuse. Power for the ICM comes from the ignition fuse and through the coil, so any of that could be bad.
If you have good voltage, switch the meter to ac scale and connect test leads to terminal "B" and to ground. Observe meter while cranking the engine. You should see between 1 and 4 volts ac (those are the pulses that trigger the coil to fire).

If you don't see the proper ac voltage the problem could be the optispark, the harness to the optispark, the PCM or any of the wiring in between. Visually inspect all the connections you can get to for poor contact or corrosion.

whytryz28

iTrader: (28)

UPDATE:

Did the test as per the instructions above and I think this is the correct setting for the multimeter, if not please let me know lol


But yeah, i tested both terminal "A" and "D" with the ICM unplugged and key on and got
A- 4.74v
D- 0.002v

So it says to check the ignition fuse and coil. Im gonna take the coil off and get the ohms. Stock coil has around 8000 ohms (says on shbox website) what should an MSD coil have?

ss.slp.ls1

iTrader: (36)

Yeah, that is the correct setting for DC voltage to test termainals A & D. Did you have the red wire touching the termainal and the black wire touching a good ground?
If so, you have a wiring issue to your ICM somewhere.

whytryz28

iTrader: (28)

Yeah i had it grounded to the battery ground on the chassis. So where should I begin looking?

ss.slp.ls1

iTrader: (36)

Do you have all three grounds securely bolted to the coil?

You can see the three different eyelets in this picture on the right stud:

http://shbox.com/1/coil_loc.jpg

One of those grounds is a braded ground strap that bolts to the driver side of the chassis.