I posted on this a while back about my Formula (basically stock, 80K miles) not wanting to start. I thought it was a moisture related problem because it seemed to not want to start up after rain, but its done it several times lately in dry weather. It only has this problem after its been sitting atleast overnight. I have to turn the engine over WAY too much to get it to fire up, then when it finally does it chokes and sputters and a little puff of blue smoke comes out the back.

Once the car starts, everything gets normal with no missing or stumbling and the idle is smooth and where it should be. At first I thought it could be the opti, but aside from initial startup it runs like a champ. Could an injector be leaking fuel into a combustion chamber causing it to foul a plug? BTW, I can hear the fuel pump priming when I turn the key and flipping it back and forth before I crank doesnt help. It will only fire up after like a minute or so of cranking, on and off of course. Pretty soon its gonna be bye-bye starter. Maybe you guys can give me some ideas and rule some things out. Thanks!

 

mines does the samething, it's been sitting in the dealership for 3 days, they can't figure it out. I'll let you know what they come up with tomorrow.

 

I had the same problem with my 94 formula. I changed the opti and the problem was solved. The opti seal goes bad and moisture builds up. I think the sitting overnight is probably moisture like morning dew getting in there. They have a write up about a vented opti conversion for the non vented one. It would probably worthwhile doing that if your going to hold on to the car. I fixed my opti to sell it so i didn't bother. Hope this helps.

 

I was thinking injector leaking until he said he primes it several times and that doesn't help. I'm gonna say opti as well. I'm not sure about the blue smoke though....that would bother me.

 

Read my new post. Its titled Might help someone. I think it will help you. Same problems.

 

The opti seal sounds like it could be the culprit. Is this some sort of O-ring that I can buy separately or does it only come on a new opti?

 

It could be the opti, but it could be a bunch of other things as well.

If it starts up fine after shutting it off, but doesnt want to start after you leave it sitting for a while, I would definitely rule out a fuel pressure problem. You can get a leak at the pump, the fuel pressure regulator, or an injector. You can check by hooking up a fuel pressure guage to your fuel line, start the car, shut it off, and leave it off and see how fast the pressure goes down.

If its hard to start the car even if its only been shut off for a second, then it could still be a fuel problem, but another possibility would be the ignition switch. Its prob $20 in the U.S. and the installation is relatively easy, after the panels are off, its a total of 8 nuts/bolts i believe. The instructions are on shoebox's site. I'm really stupid at cars but i was able to change mine, and that solved my no start problem.

I had an idea it was something to do with the ignition becausei had to fiddle with the key to get it to start, hold it past the start position would allow the car to run fine, and letting it go would cause it to stumble and shut off (most of the time).

I hope this is enough to get you started. If fuel pressure is good and its not the ignition switch, then i would start looking at other things (eg. opti).

 

Thanks to everyone for the input. I forgot to mention, about a month ago I went through a puddle maybe 6 inches deep and 10 feet wide and the car shut off and had to sit for several hours before it would run again. But it was already giving me the hard starting problem before that incident. Thats why i'm leaning towards the opti seal.
Well, i guess my plan of action is to buy a fuel pressure guage and hook it to the schrader valve and see how it looks, then start replacing the cheap stuff first.

 

Change your Opti. It's a good possibility it's the problem, but even if it isn't, with 80K on the clock, it's due. As for the blue smoke at start up, sounds like valve seals. Not uncommon with higher mileage. As long as it's not burning up oil, it's probably nothing to worry about. And if your gonna do the Opti, you might as well do plug wires and plugs also, cause if their original, you'll be happy you did them. Hope that helps.

Ken R. 95Z

 

what is an opti?

 

mine does the same thing once i start it (with starting fluid) it starts and runs fine all day. if i run it the next day it will start right up and run fine all day again. once i let it stand for 3 days or so i have to shoot starting fluid in it to start help!!!

 

Glad that you used the "search" feature. You would probably be better off starting a new thread of your own, rather than tacking a response/question onto a 6 year old thread. When you post the problem, include basic info about your car - year, model, engine, trans and any major mods. Using the "signature" feature is a good way to do that.

The "opti" is the ignition distributor on an LT1 engine. Full name is "Optispark". It's called that because in addition to the conventional cap and rotor to distribute the spark to the individual cylinders, it also incorporates an optical cam position sensor. The computer (PCM) uses that data to time the ignition spark and the injector pulses.