hello I have a 2000 3.8 L Camaro. The car will start after I run it for a while it will die, upon trying to start again it will just crank. If I let it set for a short time or sometimes overnight it will start right up and runs great until it dies again Which could be 5 miles or two days of driving. Has anyone else had this problem and could you share some ideas of what it was thank you.

 

test your fuel pressure. are you gettting a service engine light?

 

I have good fuel pressure and no check engine light. I have changed the crank shaft sensor and the icm checks good I’m wondering if I have a bad egm. It was at one time giving me a code for crank shaft sensor had it changed at my local shop. Then AJ started giving me a code that it was still bad however they checked it and it is showing good but still dying and no light.Thank you for your reply

 

have you tested fuel pressure when it wont run? test for spark at the plug as well when it wont run. i had a bad fuel pump in my truck once that was driving me nuts trying to figure it out. bad fuel pump will not cause a trouble code. just for piece of mind i would take the fuel filter off and check for water. dump in clear container from the pump/tank side. water will go to the bottom. also be able to see if filter is full of crud.

 

Can you get a way to scan your PCM? You want to have someone drive and one watch to see if exactly what happens when it stalls.

If you just see the RPMs instantly go to zero but everything else stays the same then you most likely still have and issue with the crank circuit. Its pretty rare for PCMs to fail but even more rare to have just a single circuit fail. With an PCM failure you are more likely to have the scanner just lose connection. Which could be a power or ground issue.

Keep in mind there is NO code for a bad crank sensor, the code is for the crank sensor circuit which includes all the wires and connectors. Since the car starts ok sometimes means the circuit works ok sometimes, there is NO WAY to test for an intermittent failure unless you test while its failing. There is not a lot going on in a crank sensor, its just a magnet, They can crack but that is not going to get better. If you have an intermittent crank sensor failure it is a loose connection, the only thing you have really proven is it is probably not a internal wire to magnet connection.



I have a couple of these, I have and old android table and I think I paid $2.99 for an app. It will even let me data log PCM information a so I can review it latter.

 

Thank you for the replies. Will check these things out this week end. Also will an email from a 1995 trans am 5.7 l work on a 94 3.8l I took the car to have the computer flash and they said they could not do it in the computer was no good. Could this be our problem thank you

 

Your 2000/3800 is drive by wire, you need a PCM from a drive by wire 3800 Camaro (1999-2002 only). I am not sure all years are interchangeable but the hardware/software for throttle control will not be in any PCM in a car without DBW.

Drive by wire means you have no throttle cable. The PCM tells a motor to turn and that opens the throttle plates. All V8's and pre 1999 3800 do not have DBW.

 

Probably not the cause but,,,,,a vacuum leak will also cause it to stall.