car is acting stupid!

Well I was coming home this morning and had to take a detour off road. I was driving slow across a backwoods gravel road and the car just shut down. Lost all power n quit!

For the last few months if the car sits, it takes a good 30 secs of cranking to start it. But once started runs great and starts back fine.

I guess whatever has been causing that finally kicked the bucket. So where do I start looking? Its hot a new Opti and cap/rotor.

When it cranks it hiccups when u release the key switch. And this is weird, u can grab the headers with ur hands after a thirty minute drive! Im looking it over rt now. And i cann grab the headers,sup with that?

Now I've got to tow it home somehow...

Id start with the basic stuff like the fuses, fuel pump and pressure then start testing icm just throwing a few ideas out there for ya.

Check for spark at the plug and then fuel via the scrader valve. Let us know what you find out.

You certainly shouldn't be able to grab the headers. Well, there's nothing stopping you from grabbing the headers, but you should certainly regret it. Is this on both sides? Maybe you've got an entire bank down? I would check and see if you are hitting on any cylinder. Easy if you have headers.

Get some water in a cup, bottle, etc. Get a straw and dip it in and cap the end with your thumb. Drop water over each primary. You'll be able to tell which cylinders aren't hitting.

I guess that's if you can get it to start back up again.

After getting pulled home by a Dodge truck I began troubleshooting!

I have fuel, I have spark from coil, but no spark at plugs....

And yep the headers were cool to the touch after it first quit on me.

Good news though, I installed my extra ICM and coil, and the damn thing fired up! Hopefully, this will fix the starting issues. I will see in a few hours....

Something else to check is the ignition switch. While running, jiggle the key around and see if it will stumble again. I had one go out on a 94 vert. It had similar symptoms (other than the cold headers thing, that is crazy).

Yep, drove the car for about 30 mins, it quit and while messing with it, I touched the headers and to my amazement, I could grab all the headers. They were warm but not hot to the touch. Hell I dunno what it means, lol....

I'll check the ignition switch this evening. Im still cooling off...

The car was running fine for those 30 minutes?

Unless you have some super-awesome coating on those headers that I'm not aware of, I don't know of any reason for that. All exhaust is only warm to the touch?

I drove it normal for about 30 minutes. I wasn't hotrodding or anything. Some highway cruising around 65-70 then some backroad driving. Car quit and I began troubleshooting right away. I always carry tools with me. So I was checking the plug wires for spark and touched the header at number one. To my suprise I was not burned up. So I just grabbed it with my entire hand. Then I did the same to all of them. Weird, right? I mean after the car died, I tried starting it a few times, it started once, I revved it up placed her in drive and it died the final time. I then popped the hood started looking at ignition connections. Maybe 5 to 10 mins of cool down at the most. But I still don't think I should have been able to grasp the headers with my entire hand.

But yea, it ran great for the 30 mins as I was coming home til the bumpy side road got me. Like I said, I'm letting it cool down for awhile swapping out the ICM then I will try to start it and see what happens from there. Hopefully my starting issues will be resolved.

And the headers are definately not coated. Just weird I could touch them... Block was hot though and so was the coolant hoses....

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Originally Posted by Jayz28

And the headers are definately not coated. Just weird I could touch them... Block was hot though and so was the coolant hoses....

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That's crazy my coated headers cool down pretty fast but it sounds like yours hold a record in cool down