88 camaro rs no start
 

I posted this in the 3rd gen tech forum, but I figured someone here could help just as well:

Ok, so I've been working on my dad's camaro for a while now. It's an 88 rs with a 5.0 engine, and it sat for 8+years. Needless to say it didn't start. Testing found a bad fuel pump, and further inspection found a completely rusted tank, rotted rubber line on fuel pump outlet, rusted pickup screen, and the list goes on and on. After cleaning the tank and putting new fuel pump, screen, fuel filter, etc on it, it would crank and run (although rough). Then I found one of my injectors not firing. It was getting a signal, so I took apart the TBI and cleaned it, and it ran like a champ (it actually ran REALLY strong!). So my dad drove it about two weeks, and it started giving trouble. It died a couple times, but would eventually crank back up. Now, it won't start at all.

The fuel pump is still running and making pressure, however I'm not getting a signal to my injectors (I still have a strong 12.6 V, but no ground signal when cranking). I apparently do not have spark either, because it won't fire on starting fluid either (as it did before). All my fuses are good, including ecm and inj fuses.

My guess is I either have a bad cam or crank sensor, although I'm not sure what sensors are on this engine or where they are located. Also, what's the trick to read flash codes off ecm?

If anybody has some information or has had a similar problem any help would be great!

Brian

best advice I can give, go to advanced auto parts ad make friends with somebody that works there. they'll give you the codes for counting the blinks and tell you what connection to bridge.


also, check the grounds coming off the engine. there's a good chance that could be a problem. there should be 3 or 4 of em between the engie ad transmission. I had a similar problem (not with a camaro... actually with a civic) now go give it a try, I'm interested to see what it ends up being.

Turns out my ecm was not getting a reference signal from the distributor, thus the no fuel or spark. I pulled the distributor cap to check the magnetic pick up sensor and found heaps of corrosion on the two pins under the cap. I looked all around town for new connectors but couldn't find any, but made some spade connectors work.