I'm going to try to explain this the best that i can. I have a 96 camaro ss, it has broken down on me 3 times this week. Everything appears to be fine driving down the road and all the sudden it will just shut off, loose power steering. The next time, i was going up hill and my tack stuck at 5000 rpm, shut my car off immeditely. had it towed home, checked the throttle return cable, everything appeared to be in good condition. This whole time, i had blamed my msd ignition box, because the connections were not good and it was so to speak "rigged" so my buddy and i tore it apart, and put the oem coil back in, turning it back to stock, started right up, drove around town on side roads. Everything seemed great. Then went for a night cruise, avg speed, not goofing off, and it just died on me again. i am throwing no sensors. However, the first time i through a mass air flow senor malefunction code, but there was a vaccum line off the cold air intake, after putting it back on, it showed no codes. Everything added up makes no sense to me, one time the throttle sticks and two times it just dies. Im hoping for a direction to start in? thank you

 

These have to be separated into two different issues. There isn't any electrical connections between the throttle and the PCM (it's not a drive-by-wire system). It isn't causing the throttle to stick open...look for a mechanical cause like a kinked cable or bent linkage.

The engine dying can be a variety of things. Tell us more about the car, what's been done, etc to help with diagnosis. If you need a place to look right away, look at all grounds near the PCM and underneath the engine as well as having the ICM tested.

Good luck!

 

Sounds like a icm mine did the same thing when it got hot it would die . have autozone check it out.Also check your wiring to the mass air flow sensor. good luck!

 

Possibly your ignition switch is bad. Kind of common.

 

i went to start it today wouldnt start had to have it towed home, two people had suggested a crack position sensor to me, as they were in a similar situation and that had been their problem. could someone give me some insite on that? and the car has 76,000 miles, its been taken care of, oil changed reg, have hooker shorties, flowmaster exhaust, cold air intake, and 373 gears. since i put the shortie headers on i did have problems with burning one paticular spark plug wire on the passanger side, thats the only real problem ive had with it. havent had a chance to take the headers back off yet. my car ran a 14.8 at the track, which i feel it should have done much better. could someone tell me more about the crack position sensor?

 

The crank position sensor on your 96 is only there to detect misfires. If it fails, it will not prevent the engine from starting. You would get an SES light, and a code if it failed, but the engine would not shut down. In many other cars, the crank position sensor is used to control the ignition timing, but not in your LT1. The Opti provides a cam position signal for ignition and injector timing.

The throttle sticking is a mechanical problem, not related to anything else. The engine can't operate at 5,000rpm without the throttle blades being open. But then you only indicate that the tach was indicating 5,000rpm. Was the engine also revving to 5,000rpm?

You lose power steering when the engine shuts down because when the engine shuts down the power steering pump is no longer operating.

Have you scanned it for codes again?

 

I agree with this post. I had the same thing happen to my car. It would start and then it would not, and the gauges would go crazy when i would try to start it. the switch is cheep but a bit trickey to replace. Look at shbox sit he has a step by step on how to do it.

 

i have no idea where to even start now. i spent the last of my money on the CPS pretty assured it was the right problem after advise was givin by many. is there something else on avg, that could make a 96 camaro ss just randomly die at different times? means it wont start now i cant take it anywhere to have a scan tool put on it. and means i do have the sensor, i may as well put it on, im having a hard time finding a diagram or directions on how to put it on my car.

 

Crank position sensor doesn't have anything to do with it like said before. I would try to take it back to wherever you bought it because that ain't it.

With the throttle sticking open (if it was actually revving up to 5000rpm) could have been something as simple as getting caught behind the floor mat.
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If the tach was just showing 5000 and the engine wasn't revving up then the ignition switch is a good candidate.
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Something else that comes to mind with the random shutting off is the fuel pump. Make sure you are getting good fuel pressure. If you don't have a gauge pull the elbow off the tb, disconnect the maf sensor, open the blades and squirt some carb cleaner in the intake and then try to start it. If it fires for a second and dies that is usually an indicator of a pump problem if no gauge is handy.
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If the car tries to start only when you let off the key or seems to want to start. Have somebody watch and see if its trying to run backwards. Sometimes they will do this if the ignition coil or the coil wire are the issue.
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If it was the icm most of the time the car will restart after it has time to cool off. So that is not the most likely candidate.

 

Here's the site: http://shbox.com/ignsw/ign_switch_repl.html

You'll know when you look at the switch, it will look burnt and the plastic will be deformed.
Good luck.

 

Ok, i will return the CPS, not going to bother with it if thats def not it, eariler on in the week i had thought it had something to do with my spark/coil maybe the wires on the msd box didnt have a good connection, but i removed the msd box and msd coil, and put the orginal back on, also had to go to a near by junkyard to get a wire that plugged to the coil, but i would find it unlikely to be a coil issue, means that this has happened with two different coils in. Im coming to alot of dead ends. It had seemed before that when the car did cool off after dying, it would restart, this past break down was not the case. my friend hooked a scan tool up to the car today, and it didnt show any codes. Just throwing this out there as well, i put a 160 thermostat in it a few months ago. the guy who had tuned my car said it was the right thing to do, however, summit disagreed, i am trying to think of any option possible. i thought for sure the scan tool would have been helpful today.

 

is it a possibility that the cap and rotor could be the problem, could it cause the symptoms that have happened?

 

When I have a poor connection at the battery in my P'up, my solenoid will click like hell and the tach revs high even though the engine isn't even rotating.

You can assume the problems you mentioned are from the same source. So you can either monitor power to the PCM or first check all the grounds and other electrical connections before trouble shooting else where.

The points you should remove, clean and re-tighten are as follows:
battery
both positive and negative cluster at passenger fender
ground at left front frame rail to driver side head near ICM
ground above the starter
grounds on both sides of the radiator

Still have problems at that point, wiggle every wire you can find while the engine is idling

Wouldn't hurt to rule out fuel pump if after all that, you find nothing.

 

did you use any kind of sealant when you installed the headers or just gaskets.

 

Im having a problem. When i turn the car half way on, i dont hear the fuel pump kick on, but then i researched opti spark and symptoms, and it seems theres alot in common. My buddy and I check the fuel pump relay last night, it had power. I know since i had the car, everyone has been suggesting for me to get a new cap and rotor. And i believe we used gaskets for the headers no sealant