My best friend has a '89 rs and wants to sell it. The only problem is that it doesn't want to cranck sometime. It seems to only do it when it gets hot. Ex. We drove to his buddy's house a good 30 miles away we get there everything is fine. When we go to leave the thing won't cranck. We were only there for like 20 mins. It wouldn't turn over or anything. It was like someone just unpluged the battery. We sit there for an hour and then it just cranked up and ran fine. I want to buy it from him but don't know if I should with this problem.

 

Its hard to say but it could be the starter is getting hot or a relay. If its a good deal then i would by it. If it ran good when you got it running it is not the engine and probaly someting miner. Thats just my 2 cents any way.

 

In my limited experiences with SBC's and from what Ive learned from this site, starters for these engines go pretty frequently. Their proximity to the exhaust makes em real hot and they draw more power and all sorts of bad stuff happens to them. ID suggest buying a mini, high torque starter. I paid 150 for mine at NAPA. Very pricy, but worth every penny.

 

depends on a few things. Is it a 5 speed? AKA manual tranny? If so, have him look at the clutch swith, could be that just as easy as the starter. How many miles on the car? Like scott said, could be the starter. Thats a somewhat easy fix, just gotta make sure all your wires go on correctly and are tight. On the new starter that is. But i to suggest a mini starter. Keeps it all away from the extreme heat of the exhaust. maybe invest in a heat shield while he is at it, you can find those for 20 bucks or less a lot of times. He could even fab one up out of some 1/8" steel or something if he knows how to do that.

 

I have the same problem with my car. I can't get it to crank at all. But mine does it hot or cold. And it doesn't do it all the time, just whenever it feels like it.

Things I've been told have been possibly the security system. Does it come with keyless entry?

Also the starter, try taking a screwdriver and touching the remote and negative and see if the start cranks then. If it cranks, your starter should be fine. (make sure its in neutral if its manual)

Umm... try your ignition switch, it could be breaking or not aligned properly.

I still haven't been able to figure mine out, but I haven't got around to doing all those things.

The easiest though would be to start with your neutral safety switch. If you have any luck figuring it out, let me know. I could use some help too.

 

check you dash and see if the security light goes on and stays on. If it does you may want to look into the resistor in you key could be going bad. I happened to me. And all I did was replace my key and worked fine since.

 

I talked to him last night and he is pretty sure that he has put a new starter on since this problem has started happening. He had an aftermarket alarm system and it started messing up. So he took it off I am thinking it is that or maybe the ignition went bad.

 

Could be but it could be someting easy thats what it sounds like a 40-150 bucks kind of thing