My 92 camaro wont start issue

thanks yeah.. its a beech. ill get it figured out. the kicker is its doing the exact same thing even after its had a full interior wiring harness replaced, and a ton of loose wires and other wires corrected and fixed.

I truly appreciate the attempt at help. here’s a bit of background on it.

Car ws born a v6, has since had a v8 carbed swap over /t5 5 speed transmission. then later removed carb and installed a holley sniper fuel injection. bypassed factory wiring for fuel pump to be controlled soley by the Holley sniper. bypassed the VATS security system setup as it was useless as well since the computer was no longer controlling the engine at all. Vats computer removed. All Airbag controllers and computer devices and sensors removed. Fuel pump is heard when ignition is turned to the on position without fail its not fuel as it never even turns the motor over. its not the starter as its a mini-torque starter that has been tested well, but when you turn the key it never even hits the starter as it never engages it at all. its like its not getting the power to turn the starter.

all fuses have been checked to the new Dash wiring harness, and before we put in the new dash harness we went through the whole harness and visually checked it for any imperfections / damages in the wires. any found were fixed soldered and heat shrinked. All grounds inside the car have been checked and double checked. No changes to the grounds in the engine bay from day 1 when there was no issues.

Thanks for the link to the lock washers. i may pick that kit up just to have as its a good thing to have around.

Battery may be suspect. thats a possibility, however I had to jump the car off to get it to my buddies house in the first place cause it would do this exact thing before no start without the jump.

ignition cylinder is brand new as i just rebuilt the steering column from a complete tear down. kes are brand new. security chip is no longer there, and nor is the computer (vats) that would have controlled it.

starter and flywheel have not been touched in at least 7 years, as it was never the issue other than testing the starter.

the car is a 92 camaro. there is a clutch button that i think is the culprit yet again. as ive had to replace it 3 times now. each time it falls apart when touched. the slave cylinder is good to go, as is the clutch engagement. its either a clutch switch, the battery, both, or something wrong in teh steering column/rod may not be engaging the ignition start switch on the mid-bottom of the column maybe.

our first aim is going to be bypassing the clutch safety switch and seeing if it works then.
then the battery may need a full replacement. even though its from 11/22 it is only 650 cca so it may be bad as i am unsure of the origin as it was put in my body guy when he had the car after killing my last battery due to sitting too long at his shop.

to check the entire wiring agian will be a dang pain, as we’ll have to pull the entire interior out again, as well as the entire dash board . so you can see why this is so frustrating.. especially since it is doing the same thing it did before we did anything.

yeah. my expertise is not electrical but yeah the ign cylinder or clutch switch then are where my money is.

me too, but i’ve had so many issues in the past with the clutch switch i just dont know anymore. its really getting to be a pain. i cant believe all this to help to get the car reliable, and it still is doing the same damn thing. :frowning:
lets hope its an easy fix, and simple to troubleshoot. cause im at my witts end.

15 years is no short time to sneeze at.. where is here?

if they are going to give enough incentive to stay, well id consider it a lot.

i’am not a car mechanic, but wrenching on trucks for a long time. 1st i’d get the batt load tested by someone you trust, or local auto parts store (free). if been sitting more than it runs, the batt will discharge. if take voltmeter and read across batt posts, and its in 12.2 volts or lower, than needs charged. rule of thumb is 12.6 v is full state of charge unless its a agm batt, which could be 12.8 v for full state of charge. you said no crank, jumped and started, my guess your batt will fail a load test. if car sits for long periods of time, your going to want to put on a batt charger at least every 3-4 weeks till fully charged each time. next your clutch switch should not fall apart. its getting crushed when you push the pedal down i’d guess, or buying really cheap china junk. you will need to know if switch is n.o or n.c as to by-pass by leaving circuit open or putting terminals together–my guess would be terminals together. if you by-pass, remember car can start in gear if key is turned or ign circuit is sent to starter key wire, and someone could get hurt. still believe batt will fail a load test. glenn

Dude you sound like a mechanic to me :grin:
@ghjh629

yea, the new guys call themselves tech’s.

Man you bring up battery that was causing my 23 Colorado all kinds of crazy issues. If it got cold the ABS light would come on and all kinds of weird errors. I thought it was just because it was cold then towards the end I called the dealer and the service guy asked “Does that start stop engine work at red lights?” I was like you know it doesn’t (which is actually a plus to me having a bad battery) and he said to bring it in that battery was probably barely alive. Very morning I was going to take it to the dealer bam it was -10 and would not even turn over, had to jump start to get it going. Crazy battery was just on the cusp he said and as long as you drove it everyday they can last a bit but let it get super cold or sit for 2 or 3 days and it will die.

@ghjh629
Glenn,
thanks so much for the reply. my buddy was wondering if the battery has a bad cell as well. perhaps ill go get it and take it to an auto store to see if it is in fact bad. i am suspect of it as well.

the car does sit usually, but when its here at my house i have it on trickle charger. I have not had this battery on such as it was replaced by my body shop guys cause they had the car for so long it killed the last battery totally.. i had a parasitic voltage leak somewhere, which is another reason why i’ve been going through the wiring and replacing / fixing and adding so much stuff. Hoping to fix all of the issues with the car electrically, as i just want it to be finally dependable to start and to go to a cruise in or car show, and me not worrying about it not running or some crud.

the clutch switch only mounts one way and is not adjustable. if it is getting crushed its cause it is out of spec. I hve been buying the switches from rock auto. I may go elsewhere this time, and try to buy the most expensive one i can find since the regular ones are like 12 bux iirc. i’d love to get an ac/delco part if possible. maybe gm still stocks this at the dealer. I’ll have to check that out, if the battery tests bad. which i believe you may be correct about. I really, really do appreciate the advice. Thank you.

I was thinking the same thing. one with a lifetime of experience too..

dude really? i had thought you did. i think you’ll find if you get one you’ll love having it for the background check reasons alone, not to mention the piece of mind that you can safely carry to protect you and those you care for.

damn thats high. I think psa is like 8 bucks per half hour. i dont even know if they charge for an additional person on a lane or not.. its been forever though since i had to pay for a lane to shoot on though. i usually just ahve to pay for targets if i dont bring my own.

i was just thinking the same thing here about me. i usually watch the whole thing, doesnt bother me a bit.. but get me up above 5 stories in a building near the windows, and i start getting real sketchy.

i do get stuck about once a month for blood labs, so needles are nothing new around here for the last 6-7 years or so.

the worse needling i get is in my wrists about once a year now.. for BOG i think is what they call it.. its at my pulmnaologist. they call it the blood oxygen gas or something like that to see how much oxygen is in my artery blood to see what my lungs are really doing. it is one that hurts and feels real weird all at the same time cause they go deep into your wrist and mess around all those tendons and nerves. it sucks.

I can give you my 2 cents on finding a amp/current draw, and really wonder if your clutch pedal assembly is missing a rubber stop/bumper to stop over travel of pedal, since switch is not adjustable. pic’s would be great of what broken switch looks like still attached. not sure if you want me to blow up this post. glenn

well i’d love to hear it, I dont think there is any rubber bumper to stop overtravel as i dont think the assembly is adjustable. Unfortunately i am not able to get under there to look, due to health issues, and the switch that was broken had been thrown away last summer. so its been quite a while since i had a broken switch. the switch that is on it now should be new. and we havent messed with it to see if its falling apart yet or not as we just found the car would not start last saturday when we were working on it. my friend is who is able to get under the dash and look etc and has done that for me thus far due to my physical inability. Perhaps we can find a way to split off this topic and thus not hijack this thread too much… ill look into that.

@ghjh629
i think it worked… so here feel free to post all you wish about mechanical/electric issue for my car.

you could just wire it up so that circuit is always complete and remove the switch all together…

If you’re not there already, go to ThirdGen.org and post there. 82-92 Camaro/Firebird central… I used to hang there when I was trying to plan a total rebuild and KITT-replica conversion on a Firebird back in college 20 years ago.

thanks, I’ll give my thoughts fri night or sat morning on a few things. I may get long winded and put some to sleep. just ready to call it a day. glenn

Have you checked your coils or alternator?

I have a 91 firebird with the tpi in michigan.

Years ago I was very familiar with the f body’s.

Are you getting power when the key is in start at the solenoid terminal of the starter?

that is going to be our first way to test it. to check the switch being bad or not… by bypassing it, we hope it will fix the starting.. I also went and picked up the battery the other evening and this weekend im hoping to take it to an auto parts shop, to have it tested. i do suspect it as bad though. I may in fact buy a replacement battery in the form of an Optima. I am on the fence as to what color, Although I think i should get red. It would be red or yellow.. one or the other. I think the red may be best for me.

anyone have any advice on the color i’d greatly appreciate which would be a better application.. unless you think i shouldnt get an optima at all.. and if not, im listening to hear your words as to which flavor battery i should get.

Oh im on thirdgen.org all over the place. my handle on car forums is Purple 92 SS.. and on gun forums its the one i use here.. i keep it simple that way. lol. I havent posted there yet about the issue, as i want to eliminate the battery possibility and the clutch switch possibility.

i’ve been a member on TGO for about 28 or so years… iirc.. i used to be all over that forum back in teh early 2000’s A kitt replica would be awesome.. i always wanted a KITT myself.

no worries. i get long winded too.

no, not yet… i dont think thats the issue largely because its like it never gets that far to even activate them. the motor never makes a sound or even trys to turn over. basically turn the key to start and it does nothing. just a flicker of the dash lights,

we’ve not checked that as of yet… but we can. really didnt think it is needing to cause of how the key turning does nothing at all… but its worth checking.

To be clear, you turn the key on, then to start, and the engine does not crank correct?

Turn the key press the gas