94 Z28, was bogging down, now wont start.

[Z-Almighty]

Hi all. I've ben a member here for a while and watch the forums regularly, but rarely post. Well my problem started about 6 months ago with an oil change. Everything ran perfectly fine but the oil pressure gauge would gradually sink over the course of driving til it was almost in the red, but the low oil light never came on. I stopped many times when it would do this and checked my oil level, which invariably was perfectly fine. I figured it was a fualty guage and didnt worry about it too much but did check the oil level at leat once every few days or so just to make shure. Everything has run smothly scince then through several more oil changes though the gauge still is quirky. About a week ago I was driving along, the engine was at normal operating temp, all guages said everything was in good shape, I stopped at a red light and when I accelerated the engine bogged down and kinda lurched when I hit about 2000 rpms and accelerated very slowly until I hit the gas hard and then it seemed to catch its self and accelerated heavily till I let off the gas. I stopped as soon as I could to look for anything obvious, but saw no leaks anywhere and all connections seemed to be good. I drove it staright home and looked everything over but could find nothing wrong. The next morning I'm headed to work and everything goes fine, could accel perfectly till I'd been on the road for about 25-30mins and it started chugging and lurching again exactly as the day before. The car has preformed flawlessly scince unless I've been on the road for more than 15-20mins. Then it starts chuggin and lurching again at around 2000 rpm. Well last night I was driving home and had been driving for less than 5 mins car had jsut reached about 150-60 degrees when I stopped at a stop sign. When I accelerated, the car bogged down HARD. The engine was lurching really badly and at each lurch the light, radio and all guages would dim way down and all the warning lights would come on. It lasted about 5 secs and then seemed to catch it self and drove just fine till I could stop. After this my "ABS INOP" light stayed and and a little square red light with a wavy line acros it stayed on (Dont know what the second one is as I dont have the owners manual, it looks like it indicates a low fluid level but all fluids are full). We'll I got it home, and let it idle as I got out and checked all around for leaks, but could find nothing amiss. Engine wasn't hot or anything, battery had a good charge, etc. I shuti the car off for a few mins., came back and tried to start it up but it wouldn't start. The car turned on, lights work, radio works power windows work fine etc, but when I turn the key to start it nothing happens, not even a click. Lights dont dim, and the battery doesn't seem to loose any charge by trying to turn the car over. It was to dark to check the fuses at this time so dunno if any of them are blown. Kinda stumped as to what the prob. is. Any help from the resident car gods would be apreciated. Oh and sorry for the long post. I figured more info was better than less.

[4onFloor]

sounds to me like a charging problem. maybe a bad cell in the battery, or loose connection on the posts, or maybe even a bad alternator. keep an eye on the volt gauge when the car is acting up. clean your battery connections and start there.

when the alternator went out on my brother inlaw's car, the radio started getting real scratchy, the lights dimmed, it lost power and then died.

[Z-Almighty]

Thanks for the reply. Will try your suggestions and see what happens.

[twdz28]

z-almighty, as far as the oil pressure goes try and replace the oil sending unit it is located at the back of the block right by the intake... if you oil pump fails you want to know right away... Also if you oil pump is going out you need to replace it soon if not now... for the bogging down, i would replace the fuel filter and start from there... also check all fuses and the security light system for the no start problem you are having... get back and let us know what you have found...

[Z-Almighty]

Thanks so much for the help guys. I've been in class al day today so havn't really had a chance to mess with anything yet. On my way to work on it right now. Ill post later this evening with any progress or lack there of. Thanks again.

[Z-Almighty]

Well the Z is back in action! Ended up being the starter. It shorted out and engaged for no good reason and burned the solenoid out. Put the new starter in about an hour ago and it started right up. Thanks again for all the help guys!

[tacoma man.]

did that also fix your oil pressure problem?

[twdz28]

Originally Posted by tacoma man.

did that also fix your oil pressure problem?

or the bogging down problem???

[Z-Almighty]

No the oil pressure gauge is still kinda jumpy so I'm putting a new sending unit on sunday afternoon, and if that doesn't solve it I guess I'll have to set some time aside VERY soon to replace the oil pump.I'm fairly shure it's the sending unit though as I believe it's what controls the guage and the "low oil" light is a seperate sensor, which has not lit up once so far. Please correct me if I'm wrong though. As far as the bogging down prob., I drove it for about an hour today after I put the new starter on and it purred along perfectly. I'm gonna try to drive the car as little as possible till I get the oil pressure prob worked out so I guess I'll really have to wait till then to see. The red light that I described in my first post is still on though, and I still have no idea what it is. Alll my fluids are still topped off so I dunno if its just a faulty sensor somewhere or what. It'd help if I could find out what it's supposed to be, alas the owners manual wasn't in the car when I bought it. On a side note though i might be selling the car as a dealer friend of mine has offerd me a 98 SS convert. with 72000 miles for $10000. Not too wild about the convert. (much more of a T-Top man myself) and it's an automatic, but for the price it is rather tempting. Once again i've gotten carried away with teh ultra long post, sorry 'bout that.