This has got me scratching my head. I took my 91 vert on a road trip from Connecticut to Virginia with no problems. On the return trip I pulled over at a rest stop 130 miles into the trip for less than 10 minutes and the car would not start. The car was still plenty hot and the starter didn't even click. In fact it behaved as if the battery had been removed with the absence of any noises. The lights on the dash were illuminating and a quick check of the electric seats seem to confirm that the battery had some juice and was working. After about 45 minutes a DOT truck came along and offered me a jump. I figure what the hell and accept the help not expecting much. Immediately after hooking up the jumper cables, I bumped the key and what do you know, its starts right up.


I did not turn the car off again for the rest of the trip. This meant leaving my car open and running on the New Jersey Turnpike as I just had really really go. Get the car home and seems to be working fine. The following morning car starts right up as normal. A week later it continues to start up normally but I'm worried that the car may leave me stranded some place.


Any thoughts?

 

:lurk:

 

A Vats brain fart :jester :confused:

 

I don't know what caused it, But I had the same problem. I replaced the battery, alternator and the ignition module. The problem went away. The ignition module was replace a few days later after everything was working properly.

 

Agent 86....It's Claw not Crawl :rofl:

 

:rofl: One of my favorites :jester


[Modified by AGENT 86, 3:09 PM 5/16/2004]

 

really does seem like a brain fart, but I did reset the timing to about 10 degrees and was running great except for low idle. could this have something to do with it? Reset it to 8 degrees because I was getting a service soon message, although I heard no knocks. Who knows :eek: :eek:

 

Most likely VATS prevented a crank because it did not see the correct resistance from your pellet. This could happen if there wasn't a good connection made from the contacts in the ign tumbler to the pellet. Another thing that could have caused it was no connection in the clutch safety switch (gear selector switch if automatic). Remove the ign key, wait 6 minutes and try it again. Probably the jump wasn't needed, the ECM won't allow another crank for 6 minutes if it detects 2 trials with the wrong pellet resistance.

 

Sometimes the ignition module will do this, not let the engine fire. But in those cases the engine will still crank.

I'd keep a check on the voltage output of the alternator and have the battery load tested.

The starter solenoid could be the culprit too. When they get too hot the engine won't crank.

Jake


[Modified by JAKE, 1:06 AM 5/17/2004]

 

I have run into this problem numerous times over my 55 year driving span. It is almost always due to poor cable connections at the battery terminals. And the fact that a jump start fired your engine immediately tends to confirm my diagnosis. :yesnod: Don't throw money at a problem until you've checked the simple basics.


[Modified by vetteseniorcit, 1:42 AM 5/17/2004]

 

:iagree: I have had this happen on sevewral cars and the battery terminals are the culprit, Of course on my forklift sometimes it is the starter solenoid...i.e. the contact washer in there....

 

sounds to me like the solenoid is probably going bad.

 

thanks for the feedback regarding the battery and selonoid. i would have to lean more towards the selonoid because the general electrics seemed to work by operation of electric seat and interior lights. is there a way of testing a selonoid?

 

There's a bench test procedure using a carbon pile, a volt meter and an amp meter, but this involves removing the starter from the engine. I guess you could use it with the starter still bolted to the block, if you're a contortionist.

But I've by-passed the solenoid by touching a screwdriver tip to the 12V terminal and the 'S' terminal on the solenoid. If the starter cranks, it's the solenoid.

I suppose you can even use a remote, hand held starter - like the one I use when I'm adjusting lifter preload. It clips to the solenoid, one to the 12V terminal and the other to the 'S' terminal, and when I pull the trigger on the hand held starter, it completes the connection and the starter cranks for as long as I hold the trigger depressed.

Jake

Jake

 

Just because a battery has 12 volts does not mean it has enough amps to crank the motor over. I can't tell you how many batteries I have tested (when I worked for a local parts store) that were 12 volts, but only 200-300 amps. Its enough to make the battery look fine when you check your electrical items in your car (lights, radio, etc.), but not enough to fire the car up. I would check the battery first. Have it tested properly, not with a voltage meter.
:cheers: