New Owner - Help with a DNS issue

[Arctic91]

First off, let me say what a great resource this registry is. As a first time vette owner who couldn't resist putting a Z in the garage, I spent quite a bit of time lurking on the forum both before and since I made the purchase and only felt comfortable pulling the trigger because of the support and knowledge that resides here.

I'll try to post some pics of the car later, if I can figure out how to reduce the file size, but here are some of the basics: '91 #1231, white on tan, both tops, good glass, bone stock and no-touch on the paint work. A little detective work and you can figure out what I paid, the mileage and overall condition (hint: row 318), if you're so inclined. I feel I got the car for a very fair price and had a blast driving out to CO. There's slight bolster wear on the driver's side, but it's not bad at all; one small spot in the carpet. As best as I can tell, I'm the 3rd owner and the two previous obviously took very good care of her.

Now to the bad news...

Unfortunately, I've got a DNS situation (hoped to avoid that) and was looking for a little help. Here are the details: she fired right up when I took delivery and had no problems between PA and KS, but after making a stop for fuel and caffeine, she just wouldn't start. All indications were normal, but she did nothing when I turned the key. Classic DNS. Of course it happened on a Sun and NOTHING was open, so I called the wife to let her know what was up and run through the options. Just before calling to get a tow to the local chevy dealer I tried one last time out of desperation and... she fired right up again like nothing had happened.

Got her home without further incident and two days later, same thing, only she was cold this time. Since then, I've only got her to start twice (it's been about 2 mos!!). Given my hectic schedule, limited knowledge of the electrical system and lack of service manuals, I've tried all the so-called "easy" and cheap troubleshooting steps: clutch is being pushed to the floor (no obstructions like floormats), pushed started her once (eliminated VATS as the problem, although that was my first suspect), cleaned the keys, removed the battery and had it checked out (checked out OK at the store and the cables seem to be good, no obvious corrosion), swapped out the starter relay (hoped it would be that easy - no joy), and while looking for the purple wire under the ECM noticed that it had been probed before - big tear in the insulation but no corrosion yet.

So, I'm thinking that this was a relatively recent issue for a previous owner as well. None of the typical work-arounds like jumpering the clutch safety switch or installing an add'l relay installed (aka tccrab's solution bringing 12v directly from the batt to the starter solenoid) seem to have been performed.

The last "easy" check before considering a costly starter replacement or adding an add'l relay (and all the jeers that seem to come with that option, although I'm seriously contemplating it since the integrity of the purple wire has already been compromised) is to try "tapping" the starter with a rod. I remember seeing a thread about that and can probably dig it up again, but there wasn't much detail on the technique. I've looked all over for a glimpse of the starter, but for the life of me I can't figure out where to insert the rod and don't want to start banging around under the plenum unless I'm pretty sure of what I'm doing. Is anyone familiar with how to do that without causing add'l damage?

Any other thoughts out there?


Thanks,
Scott