John1995

so kind of a long story so bear with me so i bought a 95 corvette about 4 weeks ago, the only problem i noticed with the car was a very rough idle, there was no hesitation and was smooth as a kitten on the highway. drove it around for about two weeks with no problems other than the idle and last week i drove it for like 20 minutes, got home and a few hours later it would not start. it cranked over fine but sounded like it had no fuel. so.....i replaced the fuel filter and nothing changed, replaced the fuel pump no change, has fuel pressure, spark, brand new batt. the reason i have a new battery is because after a few tries to get it started it sounded like the battery was dead. it will not even turn over now which i dont understand. all it does now it make a loud clicking sound, like the second i turn the key the whole system cuts out. i checked to make sure it wasnt the vats system by measuring the ohms at the wire coming out of the ignition lock and it matches the key perfectly. checked all the fuses and all the relays click. any insight would be grate im losing my mind

PatternDayTrader

Agreed.

You might try slapping some jumper cables on it just to see what happens.

Once you get it to crank over again, if it wont start then come back.

John1995

sorry for the late response, the battery is fully charged all connections are good(cleaned them all). just replaced the starter, yesterday it almost fired up when i banged on the old starter. wont even turn over today. has fuel,and spark but wont turn over. im thinking of trying to find the stupid starter relay under the dash(someone just kill me plz) when i checked the ignition wire i couldnt get the whole panel off, it was stuck on the side by the door, any sugestions on how to remove? im at a loss for what to check next :-( how do i test a relay?

John1995

lights are bright, the security light only comes on when the door is open, it doesnt come on when i turn the key, all the other lights come on and go off like they should so i dont know.

John1995

replaced the started and it wont even turn over. anyone know what components are afftected by heat?, it actually turns over a little bit in the early morning, its been like 85-90 degrees the last few days. could the icm cause a no crank? im so out of ideas

antfarmer2

When you had the battery out did you clean the jump block behind it? Since your back there look at the orange ish wires they are fuseable links.

John1995

so last night i did a voltage drop test on the starter while my dad cranked it and it went from 12.5 volts to 6.5 which is bad right? how would i directly supply 12 volts to the starter and bypass the cables? i read somewhere to put a jumper cable to the positive end of the solenoid and ground it on the engine block and it will engage the starter. what position would i put the key in? anyone do this before?

antfarmer2

The run position. If you want it to start. Be careful you will jump and hit something.

PatternDayTrader

I think what your trying to say is that you only have about 6.5 volts available at the starter motor when the key is in the crank position ??? This is not good and you should load test your battery....


If your dead set on bypassing the battery cable, then connect one end to the positive terminal at the starter, and the other end to the positive terminal at the battery, then go hit the key. This will bypass the positive cable. Keep in mind this is kind of dangerous, so if you can access the starter positive terminal easily, then I would connect a multimeter lead there and your other lead to the battery positive terminal (essentially one lead is connected to each end of the positive cable) and hit the key. Any reading over a few hundredths of a volt will mean there's an issue with the cable. You can bypass the negative cable by connecting the jumper cable from an engine ground (such as the alternator bracket) and the negative terminal on the battery. Alternatively, you can do the same thing with your test leads and you should not get a reading over a few hundredths of a volt, unless there's is a problem with the ground circuit, such as a bad cable.

PatternDayTrader

Ok so I just re-read this .... DO NOT DO THIS NO MATTER WHAT.

John1995

i'm returning the battery i just bought, maybe it was a dead one idk probably sat around forever. i want to completely rule that out. i'm gonna be pissed if thats all it is.

John1995

so today i was messing with the shifter and the starter spins when its between park and reverse. it does not crank the engine but spins and grinds like its not close enough or something. not sure if it could be the nss? why would it do that in-between park and reverse? i know know though that i have full power to the starter it just not engaging, since i did that it spins in just park too. maybe i shifted something in the trans, hopefully didn't mess something up. i just read about using shims to adjust the clearance between the starter and flex-plate maybe thats all the problem is now idk, any thoughts are much apperciated.

PatternDayTrader

I hope you mean when you have the key in the crank position ??? You may need to adjust the neutral safety switch and it sounds like you just have a messed up starter (solenoid) now.

John1995

i jiggled the shifter around while turning the key(all the way) and when it went between park and reverse it made the starter spin, dont know what it did but it moved something around and now just sounds like the starter needs adjusted. before it would only click when in park or neutral now it cranks the starter. its a new starter.

PatternDayTrader

Ok just making sure since earlier we were sort of discussing jumper wires and so on ...

Ok so shimming a starter is almost never needed anymore, on the occasions it is needed, what is happening is the gear teeth on the starter engage the teeth on the flywheel in such a way that the points on the starter gear teeth hit the valleys in the flywheel teeth with much to much force. So it squeals like crazy and sounds weird in general, and sometimes drags on disengagement. BUT IT WILL STILL CRANK THE ENGINE OVER.

This is not what you seem to be suffering from. If I understand you correctly, your saying you hear the starter spinning but its not engaging the flywheel and turning over the engine. Instead its just spinning. This sounds like a defective starter.

John1995

alright so after taking a break from fixing it for sanity purposes i thought i try and tackle this again, i started going through everything all over again. i have a good battery, good grounds(tested with multimeter), checked all the fuses twice, pulled the lower dash off and replaced the starter relay, dropped the steering wheel and replaced the ignition switch, tested the keys resistance coming out of the wire under the steering wheel, had the starter tested and its perfect(only makes a loud banging sound when i attempt to start), the only thing that seems wrong is the voltage when trying to crank. the voltage at the power cable on the starter is steady at 12 volts but drops off rapidly all the way down to around 4 volts when cranking. anyone know what would cause the voltage to drop like that????????

John1995

i did a voltge drop test on my truck for a comparison and the voltage actually went up and did not drop at all while cranking. id like to replace the positive cable but it seems like a pain to even trace the wire. any tips on replacing the battery cable?

Pa'svette

John,
There was a GM service bulletin a while back that may have something to do with your low voltage. If I remember right the wire to the park/neutral switch,in the console, can rub the shifter and short out.

John1995

wish i had all data to look up all the tsbs but i don't have it till September when i go back to school. i just read in a similar topic a guy wasnt getting enough power to his injectors so he took the positive cable and hooked it directly to the battery, bypassing the fuse box i guess? how would i do that? and would there still be power to the fuse box? im picking up a service manual today so maybe that will shed some more light on this problem. thank you all for the replies btw

RICHARD TILL

You`re getting false results when you test. ANY battery will show a voltage drop while cranking an engine until it starts. NEVER EVER will it increase. Was your battery load tested or just checked for voltage? I`ve had two batteries lately that would charge up to over 12 volts with dead cells. Both acted like yours except for the banging noise. There is no need to just throw parts at it or run jumpers. Get a good meter and Google the test procedure on every suspected part. Your first priority should be to replace, adjust or repair the neutral safety switch. Second would be to start with a good load tested battery. Go from there and post results. Pinpoint the banging noise.