Bruce86Z

This isn’t the usual “cranks but won’t start” since it is very, very intermittent...however it has now occured twice in the past week. I have an ’86 IROC-Z (I am the original owner) with the 305 carb engine and manual transmission. I’ve made numerous modifications over the years with headers, intake manifold, cam, exhaust, suspension, etc. Now the problem. In the past three years it has developed this mysterious rare habit of not starting. It will crank, but not turn over. Not even close to catching. It is as if it was out of gas. It isn’t. Example, since I took it out in the late spring it has started with no problem each and every time until the other day. Turn the key, the engine cranks but it won’t catch. The odd part is that it may start 5 minutes later…5 hours later…or the next morning as if there was no problem. That was the case here. It didn’t start the entire Saturday and then started right up on Sunday morning. There is no rhyme or reason. Now it happened again this morning four days later.

The carburetor appears to be getting gas from what I recall (and from what I can smell) when I checked last year with help from my brother. Starting fluid didn’t work either. Generally it is when the engine is cold but it has also done it once or twice when driven a bit to the store, etc. The battery is brand new, the ignition switch has been replaced, the coil and distributor cap have been replaced (thought that was it since the coil appeared bad) as well as the ignition module…all to no avail. Again, this is very intermittent and it starts like a champ 99% of the time. It will only occur two or three time the entire spring, summer and early fall, but it leaves me very uneasy about getting stuck somewhere. I’ve already had to have it flatbedded twice in the past couple of years. Neither I, my brother or the two mechanics that I have been to have been able to pinpoint the exact cause. Anyone with any ideas? I’m no gear head but know enough to get around. I will say that the carb is one of the few items left untouched and original on the car. Intermittent fuel pump problem? Faulty starter relay? I haven't yet checked, but could something be "burning out" or disrupting the coil?

naf

iTrader: (7)

Welcome to TGO.

I suffered the same symptoms with my 85 for a year or so. No problems for six months or so then the dreaded no-start. Mine never left me stranded as it would always start up after either a short wait or an hour or so. It was not heat soak related either as the no-start could happen first start of the morning for me. I had replaced every ignition component (cap, coil, rotor, wires, plugs, icm-even the short wire harness to the dist, with no solution but finally cured it when I replaced the dist with a reman. The reman cost around $99 and came with a new icm (which alone cost me $35). Two plus years now no problems.

Never knew exactly what was bad in the dist (probably the pickup) and I wouldn't normally recommend throwing parts but that dist is 20+ years old.

Bruce86Z

naf...

Thanks. I should have added that it is not the original distributor. I replaced it 5 or 6 years ago when I was adding some performance bits with, I believe, an Accel(?) unit. Something is wrong in that area since the last coil had an issue and was fairly new. I chalked it up to a bad coil. Maybe it has occurred again and something (distributor?) is causing the coils to go. Again, haven't looked at this coil as yet and I wouldn't know if a faulty distributor could cause a coil to go bad. Again. I'm not an expert once you get into these kinds of matters.

I'll do some further digging. Maybe this distributor is bad. I've heard some negatives about Accel. I'm hoping it isn't an electrical wiring thing somewhere that will cost a fortune to track down.

Again, thanks.