[buzbie]

Hi

My brother has just got a 93 Corvette and he is having problems with it starting. The very first start of the day is no problem but once he has driven it and then stopped and then tries to start it again he gets problems.

It will either a) turn over and start but quickly cut out
b) Not start but the starter motor will squeal like you get if you turn the keys again if the motor is running.

He has 2 sets of keys and he still gets problems with each key

Tried locking/unlocking the drivers door

Checked battery and starter motor connections

It can take upto 1/2 hour before it will eventually start again but he will get the same problem if he then turns the motor off.

We have been told it could be the immobilser, can anyone help?


Regards


Adam

 

[SinisterC6]

what oil viscosity are you using?

 

[buzbie]

Sorry, do you mean what grade of oil like 10W-30

If so how would this effect the starting?


Thanks in advance

Adam

 

[SinisterC6]

i was just thinking is maybe you were running something like 5w 50. on my camaro i can 5-40 for the summer and it would reaaaally struggle to start when hot.

part A of your problem is going to be something electrical, sorry i cant be more specific, but my bet is a sensor is acting up, check for loose wires and connections.

part B has to do with worn teeth on your flywheel and or starter, GM has 4 starting positions on the crank so my assumption is that one is gone.

GL hopefully someone with a beter answer will come along.

 

[49865]

Does the vehicle have long-tube headers?

 

[buzbie]

Sorry not sure and dont know what they are.

As I said its my brother car, what do they look like so i can check later. Would this effect the starting?


Regards


Adam

 

[SinisterC6]

the heat form the headers could be hurthing the starter

 

[49865]

Sorry not sure and dont know what they are.

As I said its my brother car, what do they look like so i can check later. Would this effect the starting?


Regards


Adam

I am really not trying to be a mean guy here so don't take this as me being an a-hole. If you don't know what long tube headers are, I don't think you are going to have any success at diagnosing or fixing a problem. Even with the info you will find on this site it will be difficult for you to do any diagnosing or repairing without at least a little bit of automotive knowledge. Maybe taking it to a dealer is your best bet.....

 

[buzbie]

No offence taken

I am just trying to help my brother out as his PC has gone AWOL!
I can pass the message on as he is more knowledgable on cars then me and he has a mechanic friend who is looking into the problem to

Im afriad there are no local dealers here in the South of England that we know of.

So any suggestions who be grateful so I can pass them on


Regards


Adam

 

[49865]

The reason I asked if it had long tube headers is because of the heat. The extra heat created from the long tubes will destroy a factory starter if it doesn't have any kind of heat shield. I had this problem on a 60's Mustang I built. The added heat even destroyed the heavy duty starters until we fabricated a heat shield...then the problem was solved. But, you problem is more in depth then just this....the fact that there are some missing teeth on either the starter gear or the flywheel tells me there is another problem. Really, any competent mechanic would be able to diagnose which of the two is having the problem.

 

[Kev70]

Check for fuel and spark, otherwise take the starter off and have it tested at Autozone for free, then start throwing parts at it. The last thing that I would check once you get the starting problem fixed would be to see if the water pump is leaking. If it is not, it is very possible the Optispark could be dying on you. The reason it could not start is that the water pump is dripping on the optispark which is causing a problem (the longer the engine runs, the wetter the optispark gets). The optispark is GM's excuse for a distributor. You may need to do a search to get a better idea of where it is located, a good idea is to look for the water pump, the optispark is the electrical component directly underneath it. The LT1 is an awesome engine, but the optispark is a problem for sure when you consider that they could have just stuck a regular distributor on there or something. Once these engines get some age on them they can start leaking causing all sorts of problems.

 

[buzbie]

Thanks everyone so far

Have passed info onto my brother and mechanic. We have been told that the security system could be at fault and causing the starting problems. In the book for the alarm it states that it will stop fuel being feed to the engine and/or immobiliser the car, thus very simular symptons to our problem

Could it be the alarm system is malfunctioning?


Regards



Adam

 

[Kod_X]

Thanks everyone so far

Have passed info onto my brother and mechanic. We have been told that the security system could be at fault and causing the starting problems. In the book for the alarm it states that it will stop fuel being feed to the engine and/or immobiliser the car, thus very simular symptons to our problem

Could it be the alarm system is malfunctioning?


Regards



Adam

Just to make you feel better. It could be a lot of things..

I had a friend of mine with a 93 and it had this exact problem and it was the security system.

For sure though, it has been stated in the thread.. I think it is better to take it to a mechanic.

 

[buzbie]

Ok I have a bit of an update on my problem

When we start the car first thing we can restart it no problem and have done so upto about 15mins, however once we take it out for a spin for say 1/2 hour thats when we get this restarting problem. Also once we start to drive the car we have a noticed the security light starts to flash once we get near to 1/2 hours driving and the leters 'SYS' appear on the front dash display.

Does this make things more clearer to a possible solution?


Thanks in advance


Adam

 

[ajcorrea]

Hi buzbie I am also having the same problem. But mine is getting worst. From cold only cranking few months ago to luckly if cranking today.

I went to a mechanic. He told me it could be the following (I Inspected all, I'm a Electrical Engineer, not a mechanic)

Starting Swith (inspected, ok)
Starting relay (located behind the indicator lights console, inspected ok)
Parking Neutral Swith (located under the Transmission position needle, ok)

Found some schematics about the VATS (Factory theft deterrent system) and believe me, it works OK too, ( if you can hear the relay behind the light indicators, the system is working fine)

According to the wiring diagram found in the Hanes Book, the wire goes directly from the Parking Neutral swith to the starter. So I installed a wire to crank it manually from the B+ batery + terminal but... When the problem came, no cranking from key and when connect the wire, it seems like a short circuit. Right now I am trying to reach the problem my myself, few hours a week.

I wait until the problem starts (you know, it only occurs time to time)disconnected the starter solenoid wire and inspect. Wala! there are something like a short circuit between the park/neutral switch and the starter solenoid. When applying + Pulse from batery, the starter works fine. I then applied + pulse to the starter solenoid wire (that who came from the Park/neutral switch) and heard something activating under the Plennum. Maybe there are something, not shown in electrical diagrams that is faulty.

So, I had been trying to find the factory electrical schematics from the internet, them are very very hard to find. if anyone can help me, I will apreciate it. Mine is a C4 1988 L98 corvette.

So thanks and if find the problem, let me know.

 

[Dan85Vette]

the heat form the headers could be hurthing the starter

Yup, that's my issue with stock manifolds on hot days. Starters is simply stressed from heat soak, no worries though... new starter going in soon.

 

[Ttime]

If you haven't already... Have the battery tested. These cars exhibit very strange problems when the batteries start to go. Check the grounds too. I had the same symptoms last spring due to a bad battery.

I hope it's that simple :thumbsup: