Greets all... I'm a newbie here, but you all have helped me out in the past with my '89 C4. My vette is a daily driver to and from work, but has been having issues starting in the morning (or any time after it has sat for a couple hours). About 6 months ago I had the same problem with the car not wanting to start after being left for long periods of time. So, I replaced the battery and alternator and also invested in a "battery minder" battery charger unit to place on the car overnight. For the most part this did the trick and the car hasn't had many issues until now :( .

Now, I'm getting the almost the same issue again. The car will seem like it wants to turn over, the starter spins away and cranks, but it just sits there and cranks... never turns over and fires up. I usually try it a couple of times and then leave it sit for 1-2 minutes, then try it again and it will usually fire up with only a little protest after that. I just replaced the battery and alternator about 6 months ago and I live in sunny Florida where it never really gets cold, so I'm just gettin' kinda stumped here :confused: .

Any suggestions/ideas? Any help is greatly appreciated... thanx!!

 

Hi,

I had a similar problem on my Fiero GT. I found that the injectors were leaking and it just took time to "pressure up". I changed the injectors and the problem was solved. I bought a fuel pressure guage that was permanently installed and noticed that when I shut off the motor the guage would begin to fall as the the fuel leaked past the pintels. Just a thought.

Regards,

Don in VT :flag

 

[SNIP]Greets all...
Now, . The car will seem like it wants to turn over, the starter spins away and cranks, but it just sits there and cranks... never turns over and fires up. I usually try it a couple of times and then leave it sit for 1-2 minutes, then try it again and it will usually fire up with only a little protest after that. I just replaced the battery and alternator about 6 months ago and I live in sunny Florida where it never really gets cold, so I'm just gettin' kinda stumped here :confused: .

Any suggestions/ideas? Any help is greatly appreciated... thanx!!
[/SNIP]

Well, I'm confused too, but that's not to hard to do; confuse me.

First, you say it seems like it wants to turn over, then you say the starter spins away and cranks, then you said it just sits there and cranks, then you say it never turns over.

The terms' turning over/turn over' and 'crank/cranking' are the same thing; the terms are used interchangeably.

Can you explain exactly what's going on?

Is the starter spinning BUT the engine is not cranking/turning over OR is the engine cranking/turning over but won't start?

Thanks,

Jake

 

Haha... :) My apologies on the way it was phrased there... I can see now that I didn't do a very good job of explaining it.. lol.

Anyways, when I turn the key I hear the typical winding of the starter, but that is it. The starter will keep going until I let go of the key, but the car never starts. I'll go thru this scenario for a minute or so and then give up on it and let it sit for 1-2 minutes. When I return, the same thing happens with only the starter spinning and nothing else, but after a couple of tries the engine will usually turn over and kick on.

Once the car has been on and driven for a little bit (my commute to work is about 30 minutes one-way), then it will start no problems on the first try. However, let it sit for 3-4 hours (like when I am at work or as it sits overnight at home) and the same problem is back :banghead: .

Again, thanx for the replies and any help or suggestions you all may have!

 

Car engines need spark (and at the right time), fuel, air (and in the right ratio) to start and run. When your car won't start, you need to use your timing light to determine if you have spark and at the right time while cranking. Next, put a fuel pressure gauge on the shrader valve on the fuel rail to see if it is the correct value and after the key is turned off, that the fuel pressure does not rapidly fall. Rapid loss of fuel pressure tells you that you have a leaky injector/s and the fuel mixture is too rich for starting. Next, place a low power 12v lamp across one socket from an injector and crank the engine. The lamp should pulse during cranking. Check back with us.
Blank check replacing of parts is not the way to repair cars.

 

If I understand your post correctly, the starter never engages the flywheel (?). If that is the case, you have a failing solenoid on your starter. It could be a loose connection but if there are a lot of miles on the starter, it's probably toast.

 

I agree, if the starter is "spinning" like he said, and not turning the engine over, that's where the problem is.

But his original post sounded like it was a fuel problem, which several responses addressed very well.

See, you get great info here even when you don't ask for it, good going fellas....

:thumbs:

 

If I understand your thread the starter is not engaging the ring gear? That would be caused by a bad starter bendix. Best way to fix is replace/ rebuild the starter. I would have a shop rebuild the original starter so that it will fit right without having to use shims to get the right ring gear clearance. Also, you will get a more reliable starter. Remans from the parts store are hit or miss as to reliability IMHO. :cheers: