OK, What the Fcuk is up with Carmine?, Honestly...

I'm getting frustrated, and I know the bottom line would be "take it to the shop" but I don't really have the money for that now, I could save up but I know plenty of ways to go around a shop diagnosing it. Like having friends of my dad help... which can't be done with a non-driveable car.

So... My IROC, Carmine, is broken. It ran fine until I removed the heater core in July and obviously knocked or unclipped or broke something there.

It ran fine until August when it stalled out. Meaning I was driving, had 3/4+ tank of gas, car would sputter and I could stomp on the gas if I wanted to and the car would not rev up, make excess noise or even GO aside from the obvious accelartion from coasting. The car would not start.

I changed the fuel pump and fuel filter. Test drive, test drive, went to show, trophy, went to show, trophy.

Spent 4 hours washing/waxing/checking fluids/tires/pressures....on my way to car show to collect a Car of the Month plaque at a car show, same problem, dies in middle of road.

Towed home, hasn't started since. Noticed coil burned, bought brand new MSD coil, nothing!

I picked up an OEM coil from and 89 Iroc parts car today so will try that.

I figured we have more members on here now and someone may have some other ideas. If all else fails, I can have it towed to a shop in the spring and have it diagnosed there... not towing it to someone's house and have it possibly stuck there. Any input helps, thanks.

- A broad

I had an issue like that 3 years ago... I'm assuming your getting fuel and spark? Does it not start or just run like shit? My issue was 5 bad fuel injectors.

Test fuel pressure (make sure the new pump did not go bad or the relay broke). if you want to make sure its not the coil matco makes a spark tester. See if you have spark. If those two are good its time to test fuel injectors. Wont hurt to take a multi meter and check resistance and make sure they are within acceptable parameters. From that point you can get em flow checked or replace em.

Do a search for 23970 on matcos website. Cant link to it

Thanks guys

It used to run like shit then ran perfect for two weeks now doesnt run at all. Probably injectors

switch it to carb... o yea... i went there

Normally I would have been the first to say that but in her case its alot cheeper to fix it then to swtich it.

please explain what happens when you crank the motor....like the other guys said... do you get spark and fuel? i would also check compression with a gauge...could be a stretched chain that skipped a couple of teeth and ur not getting adequate compression...gotta trouble shoot..

Well i havent touched it in a week but i turn the key and hear the accessories and hear the pump prime, nothing else

does it crank?

well is the battery dead?....altenator might not be charging it. if it wont even crank make sure u have 12 volts at the battery first thing

Probably needs a charge, it died at the time of the tow but I charged it full afterward. No crank. I'll see if we need a recharge and post up if it cranks then. It shouldnt be a dead battery because the dash lights go on, possibly it's very weak, thanks again for the help guys!

Check the battery and alternator....If you don't get a starter noise it's probably because the voltage and/or the amperage is low. Also, make sure there isn't some power drain going on....

Like everyone else said, check the battery, no crank is the first thing. If your battery is weak and not delivering 12v to the pump then the pump is not efficient... Start there. Having lights is no indication of a good battery.
I have seen battery with 12v still not be able to crank a car, but with a good battery it will crank no problem. It is not about the volts its about the amps.

Now, on to when this started. And I hate to try and relate when a problem starts to what a person did to a car because it is a 50/50 guess whether is it actually related.
When you took your heater core out, did you take the full dash apart or did you cut a hole in the bottom of the dash? Either way, did you mess with the computer? Did you actually take the heater core out? What else did you do?

Diagnostics isnt easy, but it is straightfoward, there is always a chart to follow.
Manny mentioned compressions. Basically there are 3 major things that are needed to have a running motor.
Spark, Fuel, Compression. Without one of those you cannot have a running motor.
Obviously without a cranking car you cant have one of those.
Check for spark is the first thing I always do because it is so simple. The tool that Merrick posted is one that I have. I use it whenever anyone cant start their motor. It is failproof to tell you if you have spark going to the plug, Now wether the plug is good and not fouled is another story, also wether the spark is getting there at the right time is a different story.
As for fuel, pressure test it, if you get the correct pressure on the rail your pump is good, which i hope it is if you just changed it, but stranger things have happened. If you have good constant pressure that HOLDS, then what comes next is the injectors, are they being told to "fire" Using a lil noid light will tell you that, if they are being told to open and close, you have spark and fuel pressure then probably one or many of the injectors are clogged.


Right now I basically said all generic stuff because we dont have enough information to give specifics. Its hard to diagnose a car without seeing it, although ive done it before with your car...

Twice, actually, effectively

Well, battery is charging now, we'll see how he does after that

Also, I didn't cut a hole in the dash just went through the factory access panel

I didnt notice that when i ripped my dash out?!? Did u mess with the computer? Possibly a bad connection or loose ground at the ECU?

Will add those to the list to check, tnx

Had that problem. Getting the car out of sttorage one spring, I put in the battery, volts read 12V, all accessories worked, radio worked. Go to start the car, no crank. Changed out batteries, and all back to normal. Until my injectors went, but bad injectors will just make it run like shit, unless you have like 7 bad injectors, then it may not run at all.

But yes, no crank, check battery. Oh, and mine was too weak even after the charge. I charged the battery and it still wouldn't crank. Changed it out, and bingo.

lol, if she dont crank either its a weak battery, bad connections, faulty starter or you seized your engine. Get her cranking first before you go on doing other things.

try to jump it.

New coil

Fully charged battery (not an old battery, new from when I bought car)

Test light shows no spark, but he cranks