2000 Camaro SS SLP
~125k miles


So, this issue just really arose in the last few days, and I have no idea where to even start. Saturday, I got my car washed, and then Sunday morning when I went to go to work is when I noticed this happening the first time.

When I get in the car, if I turn the ignition only 1 spot, everything lights up just as you would expect. However, when I engage the clutch and turn the key to full start it completely dies. No clicks from the starter, no nothing. Its just dead.

Then, I get out and open the hood to see if the terminals were loose or something simple and obvious. I touched both the pos and neg sides to make sure they were firmly screwed in, and they were.

For ***** and giggles, I try to turn the car over again. BOOM. Fires right up and everything seems fine.

Sunday - Had the issue in the morning, but no issues leaving work.
Monday - Had the issue in the morning, but no issues later in the day (did some running around)
Tuesday - Had the issue in the morning, and again when starting it to leave work.

But here's where it gets even weirder... After starting my car this afternoon to come home from work, I don't even make it out of the parking lot when all of a sudden my entire dash lights up like the car just stalled out (and it almost did even though I was in 1st driving down an isle), but doesn't. Same things happens about 5 minutes later down the street. I made the rest of my 25ish minute drive and it didn't do it again, but suddenly my idle is 1500-2k RPM when its usually 700-900 (ish). It would hold the 1500-2k idle speed anytime I would return to neutral or engage the clutch, and it was occasionally holding a 2k RPM idle while driving in gear without my foot being on the gas at all.

All the while, the battery gauge shows over 13 volts, although I've had it mentioned to me at my last oil change that the battery was reading low. Don't know why as it's only ~6 months old.

I have absolutely no idea what could cause this (maybe the car wash somehow) or how me touching the battery seemed to make it work just fine. I don't even know if the idle and lack of power are connected, but I have to think they are since 2 problems showing at once seems unlikely.

Full Disclosure: I have a pretty novice understanding of cars, although am able to do very simple repairs and maintenance. I do have an excellent mechanic, but I like to fix anything within my own means if I can, to save the money.

 

Just an update from this morning's drive to work:. The car fired right up on the first try (although I'm now carry my portable jumper in the backseat just in case). While driving in, I had the entire dash light up, go off, and light up again rapidly. This happened probably 5-6 times within a few seconds where they would flash on, off, on, off, on, off. Same as before, just like the car would stall, but without actually stalling.

The RPM issue is apparently intermittent. It did it a few times on the drive in (holding 1500-2k RPM) until I would come to a full stop at which point it would take 20-30 seconds to slow down to where it belongs.

Any thoughts are greatly appreciated.