I recently finished the installation of my LE2 H/C on my rebuilt 355 for my 97 Z28. The entire engine is new or rebuilt . A few weeks ago I tried to to start the car & the starter would not work. I went ahead & bought a new starter since the starter was the same one on it when I bought it. I put the starter on. Last week during my vacation I wanted to verify the oil pump worked. I removed the spark plugs, hooked up the battery (about 1 year old), I turned the ignition. The starter engage & I turned the engine over a few times. It turned slowly but I did get about 40-50 psi of oil pressure. I was satisfied with that & called it a day. Next day I wanted to attempt to start the car. I installed the new TR55 plugs (checked the gap. all were 0.055 on the nose). Engine turned over slower & almost started. I tried a few more times & it would not start. The battery I had was a POS cheapy from Wal Mart so I went to Advance & bought a new quality battery with the highest CCA available. I checked the battery & it was fully charged.

I hooked the battery up. Checked my connections & tried to start it. I heard the fuel pump come on & the electric water pump come on. I attempted to start the car. I heard a click but the starter would not engage. All lights stayed on. Tried again. Same result. I rechecked my battery connections & everything looked good. I took the battery back to Advance to make sure it worked. They ran it on the diagonostic machine & it checked out A OK. I put the battery on trickle charge last night for approximately 12 hours. This morning I attempted to start the car again. Hooked the battery up, turned the ignition on (heard fuel pump & water pump come on,), heard a click but nothing. Jiggled the keys in the ignition, tried again. Heard a click but engine would not turn over. I am going to go check all the fuses in a little while.


Could this be the infamous ignition switch issue? All the posts I read regarding a malfuctioning ignition switch indicated that if it was bad, all the lights died & nothing worked. Any thoughts?

 

where did you get the starter? is it a lifetime rebuild from discount? cause they are junk.

make sure you have 12 volts on the purple wire at the starter when cranking, if so id guess you got a bad one. if you are only getting on loud click when you hit the key its the armature of the starter extending but its just not spinning to start the motor.

if its the ignition switch you wouldnt get any click from the starter at all, you get nothing when the igniting switch goes bad, just lights no noise at all.

check for voltage at the purple wire and let us know.

 

x2 - voltage at the starter would be a good place to start the diagnosis.

 

Maybe a ground?

Check all wires going to the starter and wires going to the battery. Maybe a bare spot on a wire, or a break..You never know.

 

There is a small gauge ground wire that attaches to the block. It is on the harness leading to the starter. Check that.

 

Thanks folks!
Updating it. I put the old battery back in. It would turn the motor over sometimes then would do the same thing as the newer battery. Car almost started up one time. I think yall are right. It sounds like a grounding issue. I am going to check everything recommended here. I will update as soon as I have some findings. As always, thanks for your help

 

Update. Man I feel so stupid. I went to put my new LT4 starter back on the car (to many low ballers so decided not to sell it) when I went to take the starter off, I noticed what I had done. I had put the purple solenoid wire on, then put the PCM ground on top of that nut. I hope I did not fry my PCM. Damn it! Did not have time to get it back together last night I'll put it together tonight & see if I blew a fuse or worse yet fried the PCM.

 

Ouch, that sucks. Hope you didnt hurt anything.. Good luck and give us an update and a startup vid!!

 

Update! That was definately it. Put the ground wire on the block, hooked up the LT4 starter, put the new battery it. Turns over everytime much faster. 60 psi oil pressure. Could not get the car to stay cranked. I would crank for about a second then die. I am going to check fuel pressure, make sure my plug wires are hooked up correctly, then check for spark on all plugs. More updates to come. I can tell she is gonna sound evil once I get everything straightened out.