1984 Chev Cavalier Won't Start - Ignition System

Question: Last week the car momentarily lost speed while driving; yellow Check Engine light came on then went off after maybe 20 seconds. Now car won't start at all since not starting on very wet day; injector floods with gas. New battery, but slow, labored turnover, like a bad battery. Recharging/jump from another car doesn't help. Replaced wires (spark holes in insulation), distributor rotor and cap (both worn). Also replaced spark plugs. Spark from center distributor wire to chassis bolt seems small and yellowish but not sure. Have not changed coil or ignition module yet. Nor starter motor. Boy the coil is hard to get to in this car!

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Technican: Which engine do you have? Check the battery cables and grounds for the cranking problem. It may not be cranking fast enough to start. If the cables are okay the cranking problem is most likely the starter.

Owner: Not sure if my reply went through, so here it is again: I found that the nut on one of the starter solenoid terminals had worked itself loose and corroded in that position, as if it came loose a long time ago. Tried to clean and tighten, but same symptoms: Slow, laborious turnover, even when new battery was swapped in. Just bought another starter and will be installing it this evening.... will get back with results. Thanks.

Technican: Okay, let me know.

Owner: Hi again-- Good news, you were correct. A new starter fixed it. But we did have so much flooding in the engine that at first we thought we had either a spark plug wire mixup or a timing problem. Once we blew the fuel out of the injectors (by flooring the accelerator) we thought Mt. St. Helens had erupted out the exhaust pipe-- but now she purrs like a kitten. We connected the old starter (and the new, before installation) to the battery while out of the car, lying on the ground: The new one spun smoothly; the old one wouldn't even make a movement. Seized, apparently. In the meantime, every other owner-replaceable ignition part (except the coil) was replaced, so this old jalopy should purr for a while longer. Thanks for your advice!

Technican: Must of been all the unburned fuel that had accumulated. Even though the starter was week and not cranking the engine fast enough, the fuel pump was supplying fuel pressure to the fuel injectors and the injectors were spraying fuel. I would recommend changing the oil and filter. It probably has some gas mixed with it, if you can smell gas in the oil it surely needs to be changed. Thank you for letting me know how it turned out. I just drove an 85 truck the other day, and it ran so great. Didn't look good but was still nice to drive something from the past.

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