The car will turn over in the morning and will run fine. i will bring it back in and then try to start and will have no spark. Already replaced opti, coil, spark plugs and wires, cam sensor. Anyone have suggestions what to check next? plugged in programmer and it shows no codes.

is it only doing it when its warm? if so, have your ICM checked. If everything else has been replaced, signs point to ICM next!

is it only doing it when its warm? if so, have your ICM checked. If everything else has been replaced, signs point to ICM next!

I was thinking the same thing

I think some of the local auto parts stores can test it as well!

those tests may be inconclusive if heat soak causes it - unless they blast the damn thing with a torch when they're doing the test

those things can get pretty hot

if you're playing the part replacing diagnostic game (sounds like you are), just replace the damn thing and consider putting some washers on it so it doesn't soak up so much head heat

ive tried taking it to three different shops and noone can figure it out. i just tried replacing the icm and no luck. still runs for a while but then will not start after running. Drove it 42 miles and ran really strong then nothing when i got it back home. any ideas of where to go next??

Do you still have no spark on a restart?

nope. car started again after a few hours. But right after turn off i cannot get any spark.

how do you know its not getting spark? have you pulled a wire and grounded it? cuz it sounds like youve replaced the ENTIRE ignition system already... if you havent atleast done that, do it now.

yep we've done that. tried it at 5 minutes after, 15 minutes, 30 minutes and an hour after and no spark. but in a few hours it will fire back up. When running it has no problem at all.

yep we've done that. tried it at 5 minutes after, 15 minutes, 30 minutes and an hour after and no spark. but in a few hours it will fire back up. When running it has no problem at all.

Seems like the ICM... but man are you symptoms weird... i think your car needs an exorcism.

the weird thing is sometimes on a cold start it still wont turn over. tried putting the washers behind brand new ICM and still no luck. Car wont stall at all when driving. But when turned on nothing will work. Its getting fuel and plenty of power with brand new battery to turn over. Spark is not happening though.... could there be a computer problem at all in need of a tune? car is tuned by madz28.com for the cam in it. maybe any wiring problems to check?

sounds like it might be related to your ignition switch, do you know if the primary side or just the secodary part of the ignition goes out "primary is everthing up to the coil secodary is half the coil plugs and wires.

so basically then, its a random problem, not just a hot or cold thing right? has it ever died on you while driving/running period?

right now the coil was fine and the opti is fine. so idk if that is secondary? the opti gives out power according to the test and the opti and coil are new....and yea its pretty much random. i can take it out and give it hell and nothing will misfire or die. but when i wanna go to the store after it will not start up for me. Is there any more info you can give me on the Primary and Secondary parts that i could check out

what i am trying to say is does it lose spark coming out of coil or is there no signal to the coil to tell it to fire

I was going to say it sounds like something is not getting power. Moreless like kirby said with the ignition switch. It sounds like something might be shot. But have enough play in it to work when it wants to. It could also be a short somewhere to the icm or coil. Sounds like the only thing to do is start testing wires with the switch on when the problem happens. Or just replace the ignition switch since you already played guessing games.

Also what about the vats system. I've never had a problem with it but does it cut fuel or spark?

thing that dont make sense tho is that if it were the icm or coil, why hasnt it died on him? or given him issues while driving(upper rpm miss, shitty idle etc...) i had a similar problem with a broken wire going to the coil, but it would also die on me randomly as well... this seems weird man

yea nothing happens when driving. icm and coil are both new. still has the same problem. checked almost every wire i could find and all had no corrosion or kinks in them. Ill have to check if there is anything giving signal to the coil to make it fire. tried getting new keys to see about security doin it but that didnt work either.

it could not be the actual keys but the sensor that reads them in the cylinder? Just spit ballin here.

talked to a chevy mechanic and he said sensor wont even let it try to crank over it if it doesnt read it right...he said something about the opti having two parts in it? and to make sure both are working. how do i check the opti to make sure even though its new?

its got a hi res and low res side. i dont remember the link to the procedure offhand, but im sure someone else will chime in with the procedure.
just a quick question though, does it act up-- idle funny, miss at all, basically anything besides just not starting? if it runs fine, i would say its not an opti issue, but more like what others are saying, something in the ignition switch. whether its the wires going to the cylinder or something else idk.

Now that you said what the guy told you that is right. It won't do a thing if its the vats system. Does this car have alot of miles or alot of city driving? Start and go traffic? I don't think it is ignition related. Heck you already replaced all that. To be honest i've never heard of this problem before. And like laux said if it was a wiring problem it would show its face.

Just wondering does anyone else know if anything ignition related will still work fine say if the alternator was charging/ car was running? Then if the car wasn't running it would have to start of with the ignition switch? Just guessing things. But i don't think there is but might be.

You've done changed alot. Maybe with heat going across the ignition switch is causing it to expand and loose contact when going to start it. Then agian how long have you tried to start it? Turn over? I had a problem with the coating cut on a wire going to the coil. It would start after like 20 cranks and run. Though it acted like it had a little loss in power. It was like this for awhile till i pulled the motor. When i did i noticed it and cut the wire so fresh ends would show. Soldered it back together and was fine after that.

I'm not sure if it was grounding out or what though as i never noticed the stripped coating before.

What brand opti did you get? Because it sounds like the opti.

no it does not act up funny at all when running. idle is perfect and at high rpms its fine too. I've tried cranking it alot and i believe two or three times it has backfired but ive tried starting it probably 200 times. cars been like this for 2 months now. is there any chance that my cd player may cause this? we did replace that because it would not eject cds...and yes the car has 100,000 miles on it right now but in the past 7 years it has only had 13,000 put on it. its 96 camaro

Hmm I guess I am a little confused and want to try and clarify a few things.
You mention you have no spark when it does start. Is this no spark being tested at the coil with a spark tester?

If you have no spark once its warm and you are trying to restart it, it should be pretty simple to figure it out.
Give us an idea how you tested the no spark issue when warm.

we never had a spark tester on it. we just pulled the boot back on the plug and put it to the car chassis. we also pulled the whole plug out to see it.

Do you have access to a Digital Ohm Meter and a test light?

yea the shop that its at can. what am i testing with it? how do you test the optispark?

2 Links these are from ShoeBox's website and are a great starting point.

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

http://shbox.com/1/coil_testing.jpg

If there is trully no spark this should get you in the right direction.

alright thanks. ill have to try to figure that thing out and test everything.... any other ideas?

is there not some kind of box in the steering column(not sure what its called) that also sends juice to the relays and such when the key is turned? just a thought, when i got my car the guy i got it from gave me an electrical componet with it and said it went under the steering column and had went out on him before so he gave me that piece with it????

Yes there is and it is the actual ignition electrical switch, the information I just provided will show if the 12 volts is not getting to the ICM, if not then he would start tracing that back. He has to start at the source of spark to get there.

alright i printed off the instructions and took them to where my car was. drove it to a chevy dealer and theyre gonna run some tests. car ran fine all the way til i came to a underpass. at the bottom of underpass car stalls out.... i drop clutch and let it spin engine and car turns right over and keeps going. but once at top of hill stalls out again. after 5 trys it fires and runs fine all the way to shop. does that help at all?

chevy dealer told me its the distributor... now does that mean my optispark went bad on me already? he said 1200 to replace it with 5.1 hours labor costing $600. Is there anything other than the opti that is called that? he said located under water pump which i believe is the opti

Yikes $1200.00, I did mine this spring at least I removed it and tested it. Unfortunately the issue was the MSD coil I purchased in the fall of last year. 2 months old. Mine just died while going down the road and never started again. Anyway this is a pretty basic project, it might be something that if you do this yourself you can save a pile of cash. It is always good to do the research of issues you could run into before you start. That way if you get it together and it still has the issue you are not out the total $1200.00. Have you checked to make sure that you do not have coolant entering the cap? Also best practices on these are to also replace the pump also if you haven't replaced it recently. The GM Opti's usually have the least amount of issues. To many issues with the no name Opti. Good Luck!!

dont ever have a shop change out your opti. Its much too easy to have someone else do it for that much. it will take a day and you may want an extra pair of hands, but its not hard. just a little time consuming. then while youre down there change the wires and plugs. if that doesnt solve the problem, then at least you will have a little peace of mind.

im thinking im gonna get one from SUMMIT ... That a good choice? i have comp cam camshaft, headers, intake, new push rods, and new rockers... plugs and wires are pretty much brand new. I have a lift in my garage outback so it should be pretty easy. I heard i need to a special tool though?

the genuine, brand new, non-remanufactured, ac delco opti is THE ONLY opti you should run in your car (lowest failure rate)

oh you don't really need any special tools, maybe a puller for the balancer. that's about it

alright thanks. any sites where i can order that AC delco one that you recommend? is that the direct GM replacement? im lookin online right now to order one but im not exactly sure was the right one... its gotta be the whole thing not just the cap. gm parts # 1104032

get one on ebay, best price you can find. order from "thepartsladi." it will be a delphi unit, which is the same as AC Delco. Brand new with shipping it was $292 I think, and that was just like 2 weeks ago.