I am having an issue with my C6 Z06 starting. Basically when I push the start button the dash lights will go out, the check engine light will come on and it won't do anything. No clicks and the starter is not turning. The battery is new, so I know for sure that it is not a battery issue. I have also checked all of the ground connections and everything is tight.

HP Tuners will also not connect to the car.

Any ideas?

 

the starter is toast

 

Sounds like it could be a bad battery. Load test it at your local parts store to be sure. Then check the lug on your starter to be sure it hasn't melted, fairly common and especially so with headers and no wrap.

 

I'm w/ starter/solenoid shot, if possible get it on a lift for close inspection.
Heat destroys solenoids IIRC, bakelite becomes brittle & eventually fractures around connecting posts.
Use a pliers to check posts for looseness, best disconnecting battery, don't want to accidentally ground.
Be great if it's only that, given symptoms as reported it often is.

FWIW, a member claims solenoids are easily rebuilt vs whole new starter assembly.
Tackling a rebuild depends on skill level, of course.

 

The C6 starter solenoids are sealed units, so you really can't pull them apart to clean the swipe bar.

Skip to 7:50 to see the type used on the C6 starter,
https://www.corvetteforum.com/forums..._starter_2.jpg

But the starter solenoids are only about $20, so easy to pull them off the starter and replace it when the contact bar is sport burn to hell,

As for the starter motor itself, the common problem with them is the ground path from the brush back down the outer case to the bell housing for it ground to battery can have problems, but the starter motors are easy enough to pull apart to clean the ground contact points, as well clean up the commutator so the brushes are making a good contact to them.

Not a C6 starter, but close enough to get an idea of what you looking at when you pull one part to clean it up with replacing the solenoid as well.


Note, was planning on doing a write up on cleaning up a starter with new solenoid, but Froggy has to do his to is Z06 starter, so may beat me to the punch with him making a video on the process instead.

 

Even with a locked tune, HP tuner should be able to get to the car, but will list that the tune is locked and request the unlock code number to open the tune.

So if your not getting HP tuner to connect to the car to even ask for the tune unlock code, then check the OBDII port pins, wires ,and the BCM connectors to the BCM for problems. Hence OBDII port connects to the BCM first, and the rest of the information is through the GM land bus off the BCM to the other modules like the ECM.

 

My tuner/mechanic has my car and he is the one experiencing the problem. He has been doing some work on my car, cam, head gaskets, E85 Conversion etc. and for some reason the car won't start. He has gone through everything and cannot find anything. I don't know exactly what he has checked but I know for sure that he has checked every ground and power cable. The strange thing is that he cannot get HP to connect to my car. The only think that he messed with that was electrical was hooking up a racetronic wire harness to the alternator. This one https://www.racetronix.biz/product.asp?ic=fpwh-008 He says that when the start button is pushed that he can hear the fuel pump prime so we know that it is not a fuel issue.

Here is a video of another C6 that has similar symptoms to what my car is doing. It is very strange. The car started and drove fine when he put is on the lift. I had an issue before I brought my car to him with the ground cable that is near the fuse box in the engine bay. I had a nitrous system on this car and I guess that I did not get the ground tight when I removed everything and it would not start. I thought that it was a battery issue, so I bought a new battery and it still would not start. I went back through all of the wires and found that the ground bolt was loose and the threads were stripped. I got another slightly bigger bolt and tightened the ground cable and it fired right up. This was all before I dropped my car off with my tuner. My car was at his shop for a few weeks before he worked on it but it fired right up when he pulled it into his garage to work on it. After the work was done it would not start so we are trying to figure it out.

 

Yeah, I have an idea that your "mechanic" should try. Disconnect the racetronic wire and see if the only electrical thing he touched has affected other things.
This should have been the first thing to try and would have been easier to answer if you had mentioned this in your first post.

 

He is very good so I am sure that he has done that, but I will make sure. I certainly don't know everything that he has done but he is stumped and that is why I am asking the CF. More importantly, I want to get my car back.

 

Would put a tech II on the car to pull DTC's, since they will tell you what oem modules have problems, and what need to tracked down with it's wiring for both power, and even Gm land bus communications as well.

 

 

BCM is the first module on the GM lan bus from the ObdII, So if you can communicate with the ECM, you are going throw the BCM to commincate with the ECM.

So my guess, not using a Tech II, and the scanner being used will not communicate with the BCM on the body level, nor even the ABS level of scanning.

As for how the car starts the motor, you hit the starter button, the BCM checks the RCDLR to make sure that is a Fob inside the car, checks the clutch pedal to make sure it depressed on a M6/brake pedal pushed in on an A6, then sends the signal to the ECM to start the car. The ECM sends the signal to the starter relay, which sends the power to the starter solenoid terminal a (the round socket plug in wire on the starter solenoid itself), and this fires the solenoid to drive the starter motor gears in the flywheel gears and turn the starter motor until the motor starts.

So with tech II, you can not only check the modules for problems to begin with, but to check the above conditions to make sure they are meet, the ECM is showing the start command, and if the problem is pre ECM or post ECM instead.

Bluntly put, if the shop your having the work done at does not have the needed GM diagnostic tools (tech II or MDI with Tech2win) to find the problem quickly when they run into problems on the vet, then really need to find another shop.

 

 

Okay guys I need some help to figure out this issue with my car. Let me give you some background on what was done.

1. New Cam
2. Replaced head gaskets to .040 to increase compression and to reduce quench.
2. ATI Balancer
3. Replaced Fuel pump with Walbro to run E85
4. Replaced fuel bucket wire harness, and the external fuel pump wire harness that connects directly to the alternator.

My mechanic used the start button to spin the engine after all of the engine work was done check rockers. The started spun the motor with no issue. After checking the rockers the valve covers were installed and the car has not started at since.

The car reads that key fob and when you hit the start button it takes about 6 to 8 seconds for the dash lights to come on and for the needles to sweep. It is very strange almost like there is a communication issue. When you hit the button again to start the car the dash lights will go out and the engine light will come on. In accessory mode the lights, radio, locks, basically everything works until you try to start the car and then nothing works.

My mechanic used a Snap On code reader and he was able to confirm that the ABS, Clutch and other systems are working. I have a Foxwell NT510 with GM software and it would not read the VIN from the car so there is clearly some type of communication problem. I am stumped at this point and I am hoping someone has experienced an issue like this in the past.

Any ideas?