Hey just have a couple of questions about problems I'm having with my camaro.

First off, my car takes forever to cold start, like 10 secs of pure cranking the engine, or from what I learned. Crank the engine for like 3 secs, let rest for about another 5 secs, then crank again with alternating the gas back and forth. It is still pretty bad when starting with a warmed up engine also, but not as bad.

When I first bought the car back in the beginning of August it had this problem, but after doing a tuneup and replacing the whole optispark system it seemed to start right up! But now it is back to what it first started out as.

Heres what I've done to the car so far since I've had it:
Oil Change w/ filter
new plugs n wires
new optispark cap/rotor and optical sensor
CAI
New direct fit y pipe w/ new cat from magnaflow ( old cat was clogged up)

From what I've read and researched so far my guess would be to:
Replace the fuel filter
Check the fuel pressure
Check and clean the injectors
Check the fuel pump itself also??

After the car starts up, it idles nicely and it will get up and go without heistation.

Second problem:

After the car starts up, the temp gauge warms up incredibily fast. Not even five minutes of driving and the warning gauge light is on. At first I though it was just air in the system, but wasn't sure because after changing the optispark system and connecting everything, I left the 2 bleeder screws out while I filled up the coolant until some came out, then I put them back in. But going against what I thought I check the bleeder screws and sure enough there was a lot of air in the system. I bled it out till liquid came gushing out of the holes. It seemed to fix it at first, but now its back at what it was doing in the first place???!!!

I made sure I put water and coolant back in the resouivar ( bad spelling sorry) so the car would suck it up after a few engine heat cycles, and it did suck it up, but its back where it started. It doesnt seem like the engine is actually getting that hot, it runs fine even after long drives, no knocking or premature firing of the cyclinders.

Think I just need to bled it out again and more thoroughly?

And this wouldn't be affecting me starting my car could it?

 

heres my first step. try this next time you fire it up, first thing in the morning after sitting would seem to be a good time. go get yourself an aerosol spray can of berryman b-12 carb cleaner. pull the brake booster hose off the intake plenum-attach red extension tube to carb spray-spray into booster hose nipple for 3-5 seconds-re-attach booster hose. then start car-dont step on the gas or anything, just crank it. does it fire up?

 

Check the coolant level in the radiator, not the reservoir. Should be up to the bottom of the radiator neck.

 

For the hard start, check two things:

-fuel pressure. Put a gauge on it, turn the key to "on" (do not try to start). Pump will run for 2 seconds to prime. Should have at least 40psi. When the pump shuts off, the pressure should hold. If it drops rapidly, you've found your problem.

-using a scanner, check the coolant temp sensor reading. The PCM reads the sensor in the water pump housing. If the sensor is not providing the correct cold start temperature, it can cause a hard start.

With regard to the coolant - you indicate the "warning gauge light" is on. Which one - low coolant, or the "check gauges" light indicating the coolant temp gauge is in the red? When filling, follow the guidelines on Shoebox's site:

http://shbox.com/1/4th_gen_tech2.html#radflush

 

Thanks for the fast, great replies!

But, unfortunately, I won't be able to get to solve my hard start problem at the moment as a new bigger issue has arose.

Driving to home from college to see my HS FB team play their first game in their brand new stadium ( built right after I graduate of course...sigh lol) my car didn't make the trip. Blew a radiator hose, heater core, and something on the drivers side of the engine.
Was with two friends at the time but luckily this older guy, also named Matt, stopped by to help us out. He said he saw another fellow camaro in need of help. He drove an 01 forest green camaro. He was nice and gave us a ride to the stadium, we were only 7 miles outside of my hometown.
After the game my bro and me poured water into the car and got it into town at a church. Took my moms car back up to college and returned early today and my Dad and me got the trailer and loaded the car up.

First thought was the freeze plug on the drivers side. Nope, its not, its coming from the head somewhere but can't tell exactly where until we tear down the engine.

With that said there's also a horrible exhaust leak on the same side coming from the same area when the car's block had no water in it.

So just wanted some opinions on it, cracked head(s) or just blew the gasket?
Heater core is also out, the back passengers floor is flooded with coolant. Just going to bypass that for the time being.

And if it turns out the heads are cracked, what would be the cheaper, but best way to go about this?

Buy new heads, and gasket seals? About how much would that run me?
Or since in the engine has roughly 280K miles, my dad is considering a whole new engine since new heads would just stress the lower engine components as they have a ton of miles on them.

Oh, before I forget what do you think cause the built of pressure? Bad radiator cap?

And yes, I feel like a complete dummy at the moment. I was confident about my car about making the trip because I drove it all week long, up to and hour a couple of times and it ran just fine. It was just a bad day, received a speeding ticket on the way back to college, 82 in a 70, which was actually a 65 a night.... sight sorry for ranting. Just need to vent.

Anyways, your opinions would be greatly appreciated!

 

Sounds like your thermostat didn't open and built up too much pressure. Waterpump went bad. I've seen a busted impeller before. Or you originally had a blown headgasket and driving it only made it worse. At 280k miles, I would say the motor needs a rebuild. If it actually overheated that bad, probably warped a head and maybe put a "spot" on the block. Take the heads off and go to a machine shop and tell them what happened. They'll mag them, or whatever it is called for on aluminum, and tell you if they're cracked or not. But an average rebuild, parts, gaskets and little odds and ends will run you about 1300 if you do it all your self. And by doing it yourself, I mean just putting the topend of the motor together and installing it. Have a machine shop assemble the shortblock at least. Probably wouldnt hurt to have them do the timing cover and oil pan. Maybe you should wonder over to the for sale section and get a few "go fast" parts. You should be able to get a set of decent low mileage heads for $300 or so and get a small cam maybe.

But don't feel dumb, just consider it a lesson learned. Pay attention to what your car is telling you and go with your gut feeling on this stuff. You drive your car and know what it feels like. If something doesn't feel right about it, it probably isn't.