Thread: Stumped

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Helping a friend get a camaro running. Need to know if anyone has run into this before. Turns over fine with a new battery and wants to start, but only firing on 3 cylinders. TDC is verified, fuel is no issue. New plugs, wires, cap, rotor. Car is a few miles away, and I didn't write it down, but from what I remember, it is firing on cyls 1 and 3 driver side, cyl 2 on pass side. Motor is built inside and out with race ready (street) internals (not that it changes basic engine 101). Only ignition part not replaced yet is the coil. Was told it ran fine the last time it did (5yrs ago). Did all the pre start processes with fresh oil, pump and valvetrain priming, upper cylinder lubrication, manual crank turning, etc....
Under the dash is a wiring nightmare from previous owner. Any help would be much appreciated.... :/

A little more information might help, like year of camaro&engine you're dealing with, ignition type, fuel system carb or EFI, what's stock & what's not, etc.

Wiring nightmare is next project. Does not effect your current ignition problem. Get the ignition fixed. Plug, wires, timing, dizzy. You only need three things to cause an engine to fire; spark, fuel, and compression.
Let's work on the spark to all 8 cylinders.
Post back to us.

advance your timing way up .. the fellow on here with the 390 that would`nt crank found his initial timing way too low

Pull your plugs (one at a time) and test for spark at the electrode.

Direct wire the + of the coil to the + of the battery. Bypass all the nightmare wiring. Inspect car for ground straps and bare metal connections. You need the body grounded to the frame and the frame grounded to the motor and the motor grounded to the body. Yeah, I realize it's a Camaro, but it still has subframes that should be grounded to the body. Replace the + and the - battery cables and make certain they connect to bare metal. I remember a fellow going round and round in circles trying to get his Impala running. Finally found out that although the positive battery cable looked good from the outside, it was separated down inside the plastic cover.

After you have all that nailed down, follow this tutorial I wrote for the Crankshaft Coalition Wiki....
http://www.crankshaftcoalition.com/w...valves_SBC_BBC

I'm a thinkin if it will fire on 3 cylinders it can only be 1 of 4 things. 5 Bad wires,bad cap,bad rotor or 5 teeth missing on the reluctor in the distributer.

I had a bad coil once that gave me and all my buddies night mares.
It would only spark part of the time and the car would be missing.
Try putting a differant coil on it before you buy one and see if that fixes it.
What ever you find please let use know, thanks.
kurt

you need to know what year this is to even come close to an answer for the electric part--For example if its a FI car, the injectors operate by the computer grding them--
it has new cap, wires, rotor, plugs--wires could be on wrong--since firing order is 2183 might say something as to why its firing on 13&2--batch fire injectors----

Thanks for all the replies, some thoughtful info there…
Can’t be back at the car until tomorrow, but to fill in some blanks… 73 type LT, 75 4 bolt truck motor, deep sump oil pan, hi volume pump, headers, edelbrock intake, holley 4779 dual feed carb, electric fuel pump, stage 2 heads with alum intake valves, roller rockers, lumpy cam (no specs as yet). My primary focus is getting it running as the current owner wants to sell it to help pay for some education expenses. The wiring nightmare will only get my attention if absolutely necessary.
When I do return to the car I will have a new coil standing by. Before that install I will do the direct path from the battery to the coil after checking and fixing connections as needed. With no helper, and no remote starter, I will have to get creative to confirm spark at each plug (but I have some ideas). I will post back my findings / results probably late tomorrow night.
Thanks again..

let 's see now---73 vehicles points, 75 vehicles hei---
which do you have? they are wired different

HEI ignition

Originally Posted by HWORRELL

5 teeth missing on the reluctor in the distributer.

good one

Originally Posted by HOSS429

good one

Yeah that was a pretty good one huh ? Been awhile since I've worked on HEI not very many running around in all those different vehicles I have to work on daily. Plus all this grey hair makes things fuzzy.
Ahhhh, what was we talking about ?????

those early hei didn't like wet