I've had a 2002 chevy camaro for a couple years low mileage. Recently, the car starting giving me intermittent starting problems one day it would starting and the next it wouldn't. I took it to a mechanic and he changed the fuel pump. Same problems now he is saying he has to do some test. Anyone have the same intermittent starting problems any ideas would be helpful. Thanks.

 

Are you going to try to fix it yourself, or do you just want a reality check on your mechanic?

Realistically you are describing a pretty vague problem and there is no real way to fix it without diagnosis. There is no magic bullet. So, "do a test" is the correct thing to do here. I am kind of surprised your mechanic fired off the parts cannon without a bunch of testing the first time.

With the information so far I can only give some generic advice.

A gasoline engine needs four things to run: air, fuel, spark, compression. Air and compression are unlikely to be intermittent. Fuel and spark you have to check.

Does it crank? Your other thread says yes. So, we are looking at crank/no start. This means the starting circuit is OK.
Do you have spark?
Do you have fuel?

Once you figure out whether you are chasing spark or you are chasing fuel, there are more steps you can take.

On a side note, what engine do you have? There were two available that year.

 

scan for codes and see if anything comes up.

 

The car is a 2002 Chevy Camaro V6 base model low no changes have been done. I've taken the car to my regular mechanic for maintenance and other work. The problem is that there are no codes or rough idle or rough running.
Only when I try to start the car the car would crank and sometimes it would start, idle and then it would die down and then other times when the car finally starts I can drive it but I don't know for how long until it will leave me stranded.
The last part changed was the fuel pump the mechanic says to bring it back to him so he could do some test to figure out the problem. It's a shame the car has low miles and now its to the point where it is being called a project car.

 

need to test fuel pressure when problem is happening. also test fuel pressure regulator. its possible he got a bum fuel pump. im assuming he changed fuel filter, ask if any water was in the filter he removed and if any gunk was in it. has the car sat for long time, fuel can go bad and gunk up injectors and filter/screen in the injectors. may want to have injectors cleaned and flow tested for piece of mind. I have new injectors tested and even new ones needed adjusted to get even flow between the different injectors. also picked up rebuilt injectors already tested from injector shop for good price. fuel is one of the only things that can cause issues without code which is probly why your guy is looking at pump so closely.

 

Ok, that's something. You have the 3.8, then.

Codes happen when some sensor reads something out of the ordinary. Not all systems have sensors. If you have a loose wire or a bad ground there will be no code.

However, a good shop scanner does more than read codes. It can tell if your FP is running, it can command the FP to run, you can use it to test relays.

OK, we are getting somewhere. When you say "die down", does it just cut off, or is it like it runs out of gas, running slower and crappier till it dies?

I am surprised he didn't do a bunch of testing before he changed it. Personally, if I were to fire the parts cannon, I'd change the FP relay before the pump - they are only like $30 and way easier to replace.

2002 was 23 years ago. Old cars is old cars.