z28_melissa

Aright, I drive my 94 z28 every day, haven't had any problems until 2 weeks ago when it wouldn't start. I tried it again about 5 hours later and it started.

Now I'm having the same problem again. This time, I took my laptop out to the garage and got a sound clip of me trying to start it so hopefully someone here can tell me what I should check first. I initially thought it was either just too cold or had bad gas, but it's like 35 degrees out today and it's got a new tank of (93 octane) gas.

The sound clip is only 362kb and in it I try starting it 4 times... on the 3rd time you can hear the car try to start but stall out right away.

Here's the clip, turn up your speakers.

Anyone know what the problem could be?


edit: it's not the battery.

Gripenfelter

Can't hear it because the file is saved or listed as a .jpg instead of .wav or .mp3

Rodrigues

http://www.tastycherry.com/melissa/carstart2.wav

z28_melissa

heh sorry, I wrote the URL wrong. Try it now.

CARGASM

It's pretty tough to make a real guess just from that. However, It sounds like you are missing either spark or fuel.

If there is a gas smell after trying to start it a few times, I would guess that it is spark related. Try wiggling the coil wire, they are easily foulded-up.


If there is no gas smell, you are not getting any fuel. If this is the case, check the fuel filter first. The fuel pump is a bitch to change, so hope that it's not htat.

Good luck, Adam


p.s. Don't go directly to blaming the opti

z28_melissa

Ok, thanks... I'll check those things first.

Now that I think of it... my fuel pump is really loud, I can hear it buzzing a lot of the time, and someone told me it was probably going bad. Or did they not know what they were talking about?

Gripenfelter

the fuel pump gets very loud when its dying.

You can either drop your exhaust and the fuel tank to get to it or cut a hole from the top to get to it.

SStupid

Get a fuel pressure gauge and hook it up to the schrader valve on the regulator. You're going to need a fuel pressure gauge in the future for troubleshooting. This I can guarantee. If you have fuel pressure, your pump is fine. They don't get noisier when they're going bad, they just go bad. You either have sensitive hearing, or simply a noisy pump. The coil wire will generally have a lot of white dust on it when you pull it off. Check for that and clean it. If you know how to check resistance on your coil, you can give that a shot. It takes a multimeter and a manual for correct resistance numbers. If your coil wire is good, it could be the coil ltself, or the Ignition Control Module. I won't say optispark, because that's bad luck. Check Shoebox's website for location of all of this stuff or a Haynes manual. If you get desperate and need to know if you have fire, get someone brave to hold the coil wire slightly away from the coil post while turning the car over. You should get a BLUE spark arcing from one to the other. You can even get a brave soul to remove the #1 spark plug and hold it (with it still plugged into the wire) against a ground while you turn the car over. If you see a BLUE spark, you are good for fire. This got long. Good luck.

shoebox

Or it can get loud when there is a restriction like the filter being clogged.

trax

My fuel pump was always pretty loud, at least in the couple of seconds when you turned the key to "on" right before starting it and the fuel pressure was building up. That, I would assume, is pretty normal.

--Trax

sideways_Into_3rd

take more audio clips .. this time crank it longer ... atleast crank it for 6 or 7 seconds ... im sure a LOT of us can tell if its the opti just by listening to it im sure i can (and so can bunker, the god of opti)

so just take some more audio clips

to me, it sounds like the opti .. but i need longer cranking audio

also, check ur water pump for any leakage .. if it doesnt start sometimes, but it does 5 hours later .. that means that the opti might be gettin wet from the weep hole, dries up in 5 hours, starts and while u drive it gets wet again

good luck

SStupid

He hath dare speaketh the name, "Opti." Now the mountains shall crumble and the strong shall falter. You have been CURSED!

sideways_Into_3rd

yeah yeah yeah

opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti opti

there . happy

if you think about it long enough, im sure u can even relate the war on Iraq on the opti too

JWA95TA

In my wifes 97 firebird, the fuel pump sounded horrible when it started to die. There always is that whirrr sound the first 2 secs when you turn the key to on, but her's oudned really sick and slow, and when dirving it was almost a low hum. So yes, they can make noises when they die

Jason

z28_melissa

Well you see, in the sound clip where it sounded like I let go of it, I didn't. It just stops, unlike other cars where it'll just keep rolling overandoverandoverandover. So even if I hold it to the start position longer you won't hear anything different.