What's new
By:
TurboTransAm.com

Register today to become a member! Once signed in, you'll be able to participate on this site by adding your own topics and posts, as well as connect with other members.

Car starts then shuts off

8

89GTA_Turbo

Member
I have just brought my car back from the full engine rebuild, everything was working fine first day except the oil pressure gauge was reading low (under 40) the moment I picked it up from the mechanic. He said that its my gauge thats not reading right because he said he hooked up the mechanical oil pressure gauge to the engine and it was great. I said ok, even though my gauge work fine prior to that. I drove it home and the oil pressure dropped even more lower, stayed under 40 the whole time and even got very close to a 0. I drove it about full tank of gas that day. Next day I try to start the car but it wouldnt start, motor would turn but feels like no fuel. after several attempts it finally started, I drove it about 5 miles and it stalled on me on a red light, in few attempts restarting it, it finally did but I only made it across the street and it wouldnt start again, end up towing it home. I checked the fuel and its fine, even tried to start it by spraying starter fluid into tb but nothing. After my battery died after trying to crank it, I bought a new battery and oil pressure switch, went to start the car and it started right away but idled very bad and when i tried to press gas to keep it up, it would try to stall, so I left it just running but after few seconds it shut off and wouldnt start again. There was a small backfire that i heard somewhere by the engine bay as well. Im so confused. Any idea what it could be?
 
last time I got it to start, it fired right up but barely stayed on, idle was rough and it was about to shut off but I tried to give a little gas by pressing on the pedal but instead of revving up and continuing to run it revved a little and wanted to shut off, so I let go of the gas and it went back to rough idle for another few seconds untill it shut off with small backfire in the motor area. Also I noticed check engine light turned on, and oil pressure gauge showed it near 0 on the dash, and my battery gauge also shows lower than the scan master reads. All of my gauges worked fine before taken to the mechanic (just to mention) so i don't know whats going on. It could be many things, hopefully nothing serious.
 
I took off the cam sensor cap, it looks ok but saw a little bit of moisture at the top of the inner cap (small water drips) and the inner base was little oily too for some reason, Is that normal?... There is spark, but all 6 spark plugs are black and oil wet. Thanks in advance.
Alex
 
Last edited:
89GTA_Turbo said:
I took off the cam sensor cap, it looks ok but saw a little bit of moisture at the top of the inner cap (small water drips) and the inner base was little oily too for some reason, Is that normal?... There is spark, but all 6 spark plugs are black and oil wet. Thanks in advance.
Alex
Click to expand...
Your cam sensor could be 180 deg. off, first change the plugs; once they are fouled they are trash. there is countless reasons for your problem but after changing the plugs if its not alot better i would take it back to the "builder" and let him deal with it
 
robert lee said:
Your cam sensor could be 180 deg. off, first change the plugs; once they are fouled they are trash. there is countless reasons for your problem but after changing the plugs if its not alot better i would take it back to the "builder" and let him deal with it
Click to expand...

Could it be? even though it ran fine the day I picked it up from the shop... I will do that and yes I am taking it back to the builder, thank you
 
89GTA_Turbo said:
Could it be? even though it ran fine the day I picked it up from the shop... I will do that and yes I am taking it back to the builder, thank you
Click to expand...
No it don't make sense, but obviously something is wrong, thats why a scanmaster is so important to these cars, your flying blind without one
 
As quoted, I think he has a Scanmaster:

last time I got it to start, it fired right up but barely stayed on, idle was rough and it was about to shut off but I tried to give a little gas by pressing on the pedal but instead of revving up and continuing to run it revved a little and wanted to shut off, so I let go of the gas and it went back to rough idle for another few seconds untill it shut off with small backfire in the motor area. Also I noticed check engine light turned on, and oil pressure gauge showed it near 0 on the dash, and my battery gauge also shows lower than the scan master reads. All of my gauges worked fine before taken to the mechanic (just to mention) so i don't know whats going on. It could be many things, hopefully nothing serious.
 
yes I have the scanmaster, however, I didnt have it when I picked up the car from the shop while it ran good that day. I installed it over night, and thats when next morning it already give me that don't start, start, don't start problems. Now scanmaster wont do much as car doesnt want to fire up. On my way to get the new plugs, and see what happens. Thank you guys.
 
Are you positive you have the S.M connected correct? check it again to be sure and if your not unhook it and check all the fuses either way
 
robert lee said:
Are you positive you have the S.M connected correct? check it again to be sure and if your not unhook it and check all the fuses either way
Click to expand...


I had sm connected to my car previously when it ran great for about a year, I reconnected it to the same location as where it used to be, but I will double check it again even though i am sure its connected properly. Infact I didnt even finish reinstalling the sm when it didnt start on me, all i did was unbolted (2screws) the ALDL to connect the white wire but didnt get a chance to actually connect it that night. next morning it wouldnt start, I thought I might have touched something hear ALDL that could have caused it but everything is solid. After the car was acting up and I towed it home, thats when I finished installing the scanmaster, but it was too late since the car wouldnt fire up.
 
Last edited:
Well the best advice i can give you (without seeing the car) is change the plugs and look for the obvious, take a good look at the Maf and all connections. if it starts after the new plugs get a quick look at the S.M#s, blms, o2's, tps and iac
 
My guess is oil pressure sensor/switch is not make contact,cause no oil pressure or switch is bad. Motor starts because fuel pump priming but shuts off because fuel pump is not running. Fuel pump relay do priming.
Check sensor connector is if yes ok then replace oil pressure sensor/switch.
 
ANA.TTA said:
My guess is oil pressure sensor/switch is not make contact,cause no oil pressure or switch is bad. Motor starts because fuel pump priming but shuts off because fuel pump is not running. Fuel pump relay do priming.
Check sensor connector is if yes ok then replace oil pressure sensor/switch.
Click to expand...

I broke the oil pressure switch before while trying to unscrew the oil filter that was tightly sucked on, but I replaced the oil pressure switch with a brand new one and as I recall it read the oil pressure fine. Now that I got it back from the shop, the gauge reads low so I went ahead and bought another oil pressure switch in case the other one was defective or something but nothing changed. Fuel pump is running fine, i can hear it turn on and there's fuel at the fuel rail nipple. I am replacing the sparkplugs in few minutes and see what happens after. Hopefully It'll start and stay on just enough to read the scanmaster.
Thanks,
Alex
 
changed the plugs but no luck :wall: checked the fuel pressure regulator which is fine. Taking it back to the shop on Tuesday after the holiday.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top