'86 Cranks, but doesn't fire........
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 2,631
Likes: 2
From: Clever, MO aka SOMO
'86 Cranks, but doesn't fire........
I've been trying to help my nephew with his starting problem on his '86 vert.
Sometimes cold, sometimes hot his car will just crank and crank, but not fire.
He can go in the house for any length of time, then try again at a later time.....and it fires right up on the first turn of the starter. It's driving him nuts. There doesn't seem to be any real pattern as to when this happens. Maybe a couple of times a month, but most times he has no problem for several weeks or months. The car runs great otherwise, decent mileage, good temperatures, etc. I've scanned it with my AutoXray, with no trouble codes showing. Recent Calif. smog was excellent too. I've been trying to find a loose wire connection in the ignition system, but nothing so far. I'm not totally up to date on the VATS system, but thought it wouldn't even crank if there was a VATS problem.
Any suggestions, would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Sometimes cold, sometimes hot his car will just crank and crank, but not fire.
He can go in the house for any length of time, then try again at a later time.....and it fires right up on the first turn of the starter. It's driving him nuts. There doesn't seem to be any real pattern as to when this happens. Maybe a couple of times a month, but most times he has no problem for several weeks or months. The car runs great otherwise, decent mileage, good temperatures, etc. I've scanned it with my AutoXray, with no trouble codes showing. Recent Calif. smog was excellent too. I've been trying to find a loose wire connection in the ignition system, but nothing so far. I'm not totally up to date on the VATS system, but thought it wouldn't even crank if there was a VATS problem.
Any suggestions, would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks in advance.
Drifting
Joined: May 2002
Posts: 1,509
Likes: 3
From: Hazel Park MI
Re: '86 Cranks, but doesn't fire........ (fixvet)
It's getting spark and fuel, so how about this. There is a fuseable link located
at the starter solenoid bat. terminal. It might be a 14 gauge red wire, but I know it is red on mine. There are some others too, but this one seems to be directly related to starting, and if bad could be acting up due to weather (air moisture) conditions. Hope this helps! :seeya :steering:
at the starter solenoid bat. terminal. It might be a 14 gauge red wire, but I know it is red on mine. There are some others too, but this one seems to be directly related to starting, and if bad could be acting up due to weather (air moisture) conditions. Hope this helps! :seeya :steering:
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 2,631
Likes: 2
From: Clever, MO aka SOMO
Re: '86 Cranks, but doesn't fire........ (jmrl98)
Thanks, we'll take a look at that area tomorrow. There's also plenty of fuel pressure at the schrader valve on the fuel rail. I keep thinking that something is telling the ign. module to not fire the ignition. Maybe in the computer. I don't think it is "sensor" related, but not sure.
Advanced
Joined: Dec 2002
Posts: 90
Likes: 0
From: Riverside CA
Re: '86 Cranks, but doesn't fire........ (fixvet)
I had that problem after changing my distributer cap. It turned out to be the large red wire that fed power to the coil. The terminal on the large wire has a lock that was broken when I bought the car, it was loose when I plugged it into the new cap. Check it out
Team Owner
Joined: Mar 2001
Posts: 54,124
Likes: 30
From: Cincinnati, Oh USA
Re: '86 Cranks, but doesn't fire........ (fixvet)
Check for spark when it won't start, most likely this is the reason. Pull the distributor cap and look at the condition of the cap and rotor and of the connections to the distributor. See if the rotor button in the cap is intact and also look for a carbon track in the rotor just under the center of the metal arm on the rotor. Open plug wires make the spark jump through the little well under the very center of the metal arm on the rotor. Also check the injectors for pulsing when it won't start. You can do this by putting a small 12v lamp across one of the injector plugs and cranking the engine.
Thread Starter
Melting Slicks
Joined: Apr 2002
Posts: 2,631
Likes: 2
From: Clever, MO aka SOMO
Re: '86 Cranks, but doesn't fire........ (fixvet)
Update:
Went back over to Mike's today to check his car again. Of course, when I'm there with my scanner.......it always starts right up........and it did. We were kinda hoping that it wouldn't start so we could wiggle some wires to see if we could get to fire up that way. While it was running, we even wiggled some ignition wires to see if we could get it to die. Still ran okay. Oh well, we'll get try to figure it out. We've tried about everything suggested in the GM service manual.
Later boys.........
Went back over to Mike's today to check his car again. Of course, when I'm there with my scanner.......it always starts right up........and it did. We were kinda hoping that it wouldn't start so we could wiggle some wires to see if we could get to fire up that way. While it was running, we even wiggled some ignition wires to see if we could get it to die. Still ran okay. Oh well, we'll get try to figure it out. We've tried about everything suggested in the GM service manual.
Later boys.........
