<VV> Re: Dwell Meter Update

[Bill Elliott]

>At 09:45 AM 3/24/2004 -0500, chris czepyha wrote:
>>No fancy electronics.  The only weird thing is that the car won't start
>>with the key, the remote starter makes it start.

Larry is right; this is a common issue. I rigged up a remote start button in the engine compartment of my 
Corsa (race car already had one) which makes servicing easier AND serves as a backup to the key. (On 
the big red wire, I removed this from the harness altogether and ran a separate connection. In my 
experience, this wire will eventually fail in most all "driven" Corvairs... so if your car suddenly goes "dead" 
(nothing working) this is the first place to look.

My normally reliable Corsa began the "not starting with a key" stuff... it was very intermittent, so I didn't 
really worry about it. It got worse. There are numerous places/connectors in the wiring harness between the 
ignition switch and the starter. You should clean up all of those. (This is the point I added the remote start 
button as well) You should also clean up the connections at the starter and coat with dielectric grease.

I have also seen the ignition switch go bad, but that's much rarer in my experience.

So I did all of this and the situation didn't improve. I got frustrated and replaced the starter and the car has 
not failed to start with the key in the year since I put it on. The starter appeared perfect, tested out fine, and 
showed no other evidence of malfunction.

But don't do this _first_.  I've seen others replace a perfectly good starter when the problem was in the 
wiring...

Bill Elliott
Urbana, MD