Left me stranded. Starter no workie.

[GTOger]

Hey fellas
Alright, the good news is our 90 ZR-1 has been running great since the injector swap. I've been driving it around, finding excuses for errands, making the work commute etc. All is good.

Until tonight. Took it to dinner, went in and ate. Maybe 30 minutes later it was time to go. Got in, turned the key, and no starter.

Battery is fine. Starter doesn't even engage. It's behaving as if you turn the key to start but don't have the clutch in. I called up some good friends who came and rescued me. One idea was maybe the starter motor is jammed so we pushed it and popped the clutch. It nearly started from that, but we weren't pushing very fast (we weren't pushing to start it). That didn't work. Encouraged by the apparent willingness of the LT5 to fire on a clutch-popping, we gave it a try and she fired right up. So I got to drive it home and put her in the garage. Nice.

I'm looking for ideas on what I might check before having it towed. Here's what I've gone through so far:
- PassKey II (checked the alternate set of keys)
- Fuses
- Airbag fuse under the dash
- looked all over tarnation for a hidden kill-switch I may have bumped.

I'm thinking it sounds like a bad starter or starter solenoid. Or maybe a bad clutch switch?

On the off chance this may be a common issue or something the ZR-1 may be prone to, I thought I'd ask.

[mgbrv8]

I would start with checking and cleaning your battery contacts, remove and clean them, they can be deceiving that includes you battery and engine ground cables. Next go to the switch with a ohm meter its under the dash you will have to remove the foot well kick panel. After that it will involve jumping to the solenoid to check the starter.

Dave

[Kevin]

if the clutch switch hasn't been bypassed i'd start there

[rhipsher]

Dude do you realize that my 1990 zr1 is #1931. Yours is #1930. They were probably right next to eachother in the factory. Hahaha
Ok if its not your clutch peddle switch then do this next. Coming out from your ECM is a big fat wire loom that runs along the fire wall. In that big bundle of wires there is a purple wire that a little fatter than the rest. That goes to your starter solenoid. Take a test light and penetrate that purple wire sheilding and make contactwith the test light. Then turn the ignition key on. If the test light lights up every time you turn the key then your getting juice to it. My advice would be to replace the starter. They are only $120-$129 at Oreillys and be done with it. Same thing happened to me at the drag strip. I replaced it and never had a problem again

[A1990]

I did all the other things first, VATS, bypass clutch, battery...then I just replaced the starter. The purple wire is the best place to start. If it lights when the key is turned all the other items are out of the equation.

[ScottZ95ZR1]

All good advice above.

Also suggest you check Dynomite's SOLUTIONS page linked below and scroll down to the Starter section - Good stuff there, too.

http://www.zr1.net/forum/showthread.php?t=11619

[tccrab]

The Dreaded No-Start.
:mad:
My FAVORITE topic.
:-D
First things first.
Put on your reading cap and then go dig out your volt meter.
Start with the battery and work your way to the starter.
If you can't find a reason for the DNS here's your answer; CPDN-SC.
"Crab's Patented Dreaded No-Start Cure"
http://www.zr1.net/forum/showpost.php?p=88156&postcount=12
Many thanks to Paul for his mad diagraming skillz.

Good luck!!

TomC
"Crabs

[GTOger]

All good advice above.

Also suggest you check Dynomite's SOLUTIONS page linked below and scroll down to the Starter section - Good stuff there, too.

http://www.zr1.net/forum/showthread.php?t=11619

Ah ha. RTFM. :redface:
After looking here: http://zr1netregistry.com/ZR1_nostart.htm
I decided to go and give it a whirl. I tried both the first and the last steps at the same time, then test fired. Vroom went the vette.

Thanks for helping the noob. Again. I promise next time I will look at Dynomite's list. :blahblah:

[1990 415]

The solenoid in the starter may gone bad. If it starts easily when cold, but won't start when hot, then the solenoid is bad. Like most previous posts, replace the starter. A nice winter project.