[V8] Intermittent no-start and rotten egg smell

[Radek]

You were absolutely right Steve!  In addition to the aftermarket radio, the car had a remote starter (I found a sticker under the hood to this effect).  When I looked closely at the vacuum pump, I noticed that one of the small wires (black) was cut.  Something must have been spliced in there.  I re-soldered the wire and the car started on the first turn of the key. 

Ran high on idle, but no rotten egg smell this time.  

I drove it for about ten minutes, came back home.  Another ten minutes later, tried to restart - dead again.  Evidently, something is preventing it from starting.  Back to square one.

Is there a way of completely disabling/removing the alarm circuit?

Radek.

-----Original Message-----

... I'm guessing the aftermarket radio wire disconnect and reconnect was a
fluke ... perhaps not though ... 

That "vacuum pump" next to the battery does quite a bit more than locking
and unlocking the doors ... the alarm is in this box too.  One possibility
is that the alarm is acting up and sometimes is preventing actuation of the
starter solenoid.  If you look for the starter lockout relay in the relay
box, remove the relay and jumper the contacts that connect the ignition
switch to the starter solenoid the starter might work as you expect.  The
other possible culprit that comes to mind is the starter solenoid itself.
You can do a quick test by jumpering from the +12V battery jumper lug to the
appropriate connection on the starter (the wire that is connected to the
ignition switch).  

Steve Buchholz