Car = 92 vette

The longer the car sits the harder it is to start. It's been sitting for a few days and now it won't start at all.

1. Fuel pressure fine
2. New fuel pump
3. New wires
4. New plugs
5. No codes

I'm lost here and i have to get this piece of **** started!!!!!!

 

you need to give more details on the "won't start" part of the statement:
1. cranks or no crank
2. can you hear the fuel pump energize
3. do you have spark
4. did you test your battery and what are the volts.

we are not mind readers here!!!!!!

 

1. cranks...doesn't catch
2. Yes, and fuel pressure is fine
3. As far as i know. When it runs it runs fine. It's just the longer it sits the harder it is to start
4. 11.9 volts right now after trying to get it started a few times

 

Have you checked the power to the coil, then the spark from the coil, then from the OptiSpark to any of the plugs?

 

I just checked, the spark is hitting the plugs.

 

Had a Blazer with that symptom. It was a piece of crud (likely carbon) in the EGR valve causing a vacuum leak. Sometimes it would run OK once started. Sometimes not. It likely had lots of carbon and the problem became worse/better/went away depending on crud presence (or absence) and how big the chunk in the EGR valve was.
A crutch to get it started was to 'bump' the starter from full off to start to full off to start two or three times. That caused an extra spurt of gas (each time the key was cycled off-to-on). Of course that Blazer was a TBI. I'm not sure your '93 gives extra gas each time the key cycles off/on but it's worth a try.
Trouble shoot the EGR by manually applying vacuum and visually checking for full travel (it's probably tough to see).
Any other vacuum leak could produce similar symptoms (like the IAC valve).
Good luck.

 

No luck

 

You have spark and you have fuel pressure.

Is the air passages clean and open?

1. Try and hold the accelerator pedal to the floor when cranking.
2. Try and spray gas or starting fluid in the TB when cranking.
3. Check for refrence pulses from the distrubitor to the injectors. Use a noid light/test light on the injector connectors when cranking. They should all light up when cranking.
4. Check the injector fuses.

Maybe others will have better suggestions.

 

Saw the C4 Gen thread. I've started my Corvettes with less volts than 11.9. Not a bad idea to charge the battery though.

Also check the engine grounds if the other suggestions fail.

Does fuel pressure hold when cranking?

 

If it's sat for any length of time, you may have water in the fuel; particularly if was less than full. Will it start if you spray some starter fluid in the plenum? You can check for water by draining about a pint into a clear jar. Let it sit and it should stratify out. Sometimes a gas dryer will cure it. Buy the good stuff at a Marine Supply Store.

If you have good fuel and spark, check the MAP signal with the key on on or scan it.

 

you can also check the "fuse links" may have one thats gone...behind the battery

 

Nothing blocking the air

1. Done = No luck
2. Done = No luck (didn't even give me a stumble like it wanted to start)
3. Done = Noid light blinks
4. Done = Nothing blown



Damn, this is really starting to **** me off. The minute i get this car running again it's going on ebay.

I have to go to bed now, but i'll try to run some more tests when i wake up if it's not ****ty outside. Not having a garage sucks.

Edit: Oh, i forgot to mention i charged the battery also

 

You have spark, but you haven't checked the timing which you can do while cranking. And you haven't looked to see if you have a strong spark, it should jump easily a half inch gap. You have fuel pressure but you didn't check to see if the pressure holds up, ignition off. If it drops rapidly you likely have a leaky injector causing a too rich condition to start, and holding the accelerator to the floor which turns off the injectors won't help. You can also pull a few spark plugs after cranking and see if they are wet with gasoline, another sign that you have leaky injectors. You should also check for spark at each plug while cranking, or remove each plug wire and measure the resistance. They should measure about 5000 ohms per foot. At night with the underhood lights off, have someone crank and you watch for sparks along each plug wire. No plug wires should be touching metal and the wire looms should be in good condition as they keep the plug wires from touching metal. Sparks along the plug wires prevent spark at the plug gap and no cylinder firing. You can also put your timing light pickup at the spark plug on each plug and crank the engine. Each plug should flash. If all of these tests don't reveal anything, unplug your MAF and try a crank, if it starts, you have a defective MAF. Also, 11.9 volts indicates a discharged battery. Dash voltmeters read low when the engine is not running. Charge your battery all the way up, low voltage during cranking makes for low intensity spark. Batteries are discharged at 12.0 volts and below (battery terminal voltage no load) and fully charged at 12.9 volts and above.

 

I said i recharged the battery and the fuel pressure is fine. It doesn't leak back. I also stated i have a 92 vette which doesn't have a MAF to unplug.

Thanks for the help anyway. Another blow to the cause is last night i came down with the flu. Great timing. I'm probably not going to be able to work on it until my day's off (monday-tuesday)

 

Ok, above somewhere you said you sprayed starting fluid in the T/B and it cranked without anything happening. That means either timing is way out or no spark to the plugs. Since you said it was a progressively getting hard to start situation that would seem to indicate no spark in the cylinders. Weak coil would be most likely for that one, coil wire shorting would be another strong possibility. You could have spark to the plugs, but not enough for the spark to actually jump the gap and fire off the cylinders. Quick easy, slightly painful way to check, ground yourself and grab a plug wire while someone turns over the motor (not generally recommended for any one with IQ over that of the common squirrel).

 

Good advice!

 

I don’t think a bad opti would cause a no-start condition as you described with no codes. Fuel pressure sound good and injectors probably are OK. Coil sounds basically OK.

With the 92 type of ECM, I would check the injector pulse with a noid lamp. This could cause this condition.

As said, I would also check for enough spark. Check for a ½ to 1 inch spark out of the coil to ground. If that is OK, make sure the coil wire is OK and it is not arking at the top of the opti to the water pump hence reducing the amount of spark. The spark at the plugs need to be a good ark to start the engine. Even one or two bad plug wires will not cause your condition.

 

Alright guys, I'll give the spark a better test tomorrow morning and see if it's powerful enough.

 

Well, this is interesting.

Due to being sick i haven't felt like working on the car, but today is my day off so i went outside to start the painful process of getting this bitch started.

I go outside and hook my battery charger back up to it to make sure i'm dealing with a full battery. The charger said "FUL" as soon as i put it on, so i knew that was ok. For some reason i felt like turning the key.

It started right up.

I let it run for about ten minutes and turned if off and tried to start it again. Nothing but click-click-click-click.

I noticed that the negative post on the battery was a little loose so i screwed it back in and it started right up.

Being that the only thing i really did to the car other than tests was charge the battery i was thinking maybe the post was just loose enough to not send a full strength charge to the engine? I wasn't getting the click-click-click before like you get when it's really loose so maybe it was just loose enough to try to start it but without the ***** to do it.

The only thing i know right now is that this car is for sale.

 

With the electrical current involved in starting a car, 'a little loose on the negative cable connection' could mean everything.

Years ago, I had a roomate with an old Chev Suburban. Wouldn't start. He's an electrical contractor! And told me that he'd 'checked everything.' He was certain that he needed a new wiring harness.

I crawled under the car, and doule-checked the B+ connection to the starter. I could wiggle-rotate that connection with my bare hands. 2 minutes later, and a turn of a 1/2" wrench, that car started right up and has run since with no problems.