Hi All

I am a first time poster. Trying to help my daughter out with her 94 Camaro. She bought the car in February and it was a bit of a basket case but for the price of $1400 who is going to argue. I have done all of the repairs to date and so far it is coming along nicely. However there is one issue that is something beyond my old school mechanical skills. I build race engines with carbs, webers, some EFI and that is it. However her car has a bit more sophistication than that. The previous owner told us that someone disabled the factory security system. Not sure how it was done but I believe it may be the root cause of her problem. When she goes to start it sometimes it takes 5-6 attempts of turning it over before it starts up. Once it starts it is fine. Sometimes for the rest of the day. Any thoughts/comments on this issue are greatly appreciated. Solutions are greatly rewarded...

Mike

 

Does the security light illuminate when it doesn't start? Does it flash? Are there any codes? Here is a link that is very helpful with explainations and troubleshooting the security.

http://shbox.com/1/pass_key.html

Is the fuel pressure good?

 

Check your fuel pressure while its a no start.

 

Thanks folks.. Ill start with these suggestions.. I happen to have recently gotten an FI fuel pressure gauge for another car my kids killed.

 

If it was the security system, the engine wouldn't crank over at all.
Can you hear the fuel pump prime for a couple of seconds when turning the key on (not start position)?
If not, the problem could be your fuel pump relay or circuit.

 

Whats it do when she turns the key? Does it try to crank or just kinda do nothing at all?

 

I have both a 95 and a 99 and both cars have one thing in common...poorly designed fuse blocks.

My 2 cents is that if starting is intermittant....Pull all the fuses and relays out of the underhood electrical center and clean the fuse blocks with De-oxit or some other really good contact cleaner... then replace the ignition relay. it's 16 years old.

For 10 bucks and the 20 minutes of work you'll be putting into it, even if it doesn't fix your problem at least you'll know that you've covered that part of the circuit

Good luck,

Mike

 

For those that have asked.. The car turns over but does not start right away. She tells me this only does this when it is cold. Could it be a clogged fuel filter, bad fuel pump. I am finally going to look at it this morning. Right now actually I am heading outside to investigate.

 

So I went out with my FI pressure gauge and hooked it to the schraeder valve. Upon initial key turn you can hear a short whine from the tank area. The gauge went up to around 40 for a few seconds and then dropped back to 0. Once I turned the car over the gauge when back up to 38. I had to turn it over 2-3 times before it would start and then once it did the gauge stayed at a steady 38. Other thoughts on what could be wrong?

 

hmmm...if you're still having trouble...maybe you could talk to a mechanic. see what he says.