ok my car has been sitting for about a year now . this is how it all started my header was burning through my spark plug wire so i parked it and changed my wires and now it will not start i have checked the firing order at least 15 times and that is right i replced my battery and my cables , had my starter tested and that is good replaced my ignition module so that is good and i have spark. now people at my work have been saying it is my fuel pump but when i turn the key i can hear it prime itself they also said that it could be that my fuel filter could be bad but i also changed that i ran a fuel pressure test and when u turn the key and i hear the fuel pump prime itself the pressure is at 43 psi but then it slowly goes down to 20 psi so i have know idea what this could be . also i sparyed starting fluid in the throttle body and still nothing ...i am moving across the country soon and really need help and now that i have the biggest run on sentence that i ever seen can someone help me

thanks chris

 

Make sure the distributer is not 180* out.When I first bought my car I replaced the plug wires and it would'nt start,checked firing order and it was ok except for the fact that the distributer was in 180 out.

 

i'll second that, especially if you just pulled all the wires off and then put the new ones on how they're *supposed* to go if the dist. is set right, but if you took one off and put one on in its place and so on with all eight then i dunno.

 

C&K,

You mentioned that you have spark, but is that at the coil or right at the spark plugs?

 

How long does the fuel pressure take to drop down to 20 psi?? A guy I knew tried spraying starting fluid into his TB; he blew off the top of the motor.

 

thanks for all your replies i have spark at the spark plug and the fuel pressure drops to 20 psi in about 5 to 6 second if my distribitor is out 180 could that be fixed with a timing light. again thank you

 

i was stupid and pulled all the spark plug wires out i did not do one by one

 

you might try the timing light. if you clip the timing light to the #1 wire and don't see the timing mark when you crank the engine then your dist. is 180 off.

try moving all the wires on the cap over four spots. so #1 will be in the 6 spot, 8 will be in the 5 spot and so on. that'll put your wires 180 off so if your dist. is off then everything should be lined up and it'll start.

or pull off the cap, loosen the hold down, pull up on the dist. and turn it 180 and leave the wires alone, this'll set the dist. right but your timing will be off now so check that when you go to start it as incorrect timing may keep you from starting even though you're aligned right. good luck.

 

Best way would be to pull #1 cylinder's spark plug, and *bump* the starter until your finger gets blown at. Then look at the rotor, it should be pointing towards cylinder #1 on the cap. If it's nowhere near there then you're 180 out. It probably won't point directly at #1 on the cap though, just because of having it advanced and it'll also be a few degrees past TDC (depending on how much the starter bumps after the compression stroke.)

 

ok i tryed the to put all that wire a 180 out and still nothing . i don't know if this will help but when my engine tries to start right after it cranks one of the fans turns on for about 5 seconds i have know idea what that is but u guys may understand it .......what about if i change my whole dis. do you think that would anything if i do it from the start the only thing i am worried about is if it does not start i will have the break in lube just sitting and i do not know if that will hurt the engine or not ....again thanks for all your help guys

 

C&K,

It really isn't hurting the engine to store it with the break-in lube still in it.

The cooling fan phenomenon is not a good sign. Try scanning the ECM for error codes. You should get a constant "12" at least. Make sure the firing order is correct:



Try to find the TDC of the #1 cylinder as 83Z28 suggests, then set the distributor rotor to point at #1 as in the diagram. Actually, the position of the distributor really doesn't matter, as long as you have the #1 wire at the correct position when the #1 cylinder is at TDC, but the diagram shows the factory installed position.

To easee your troubleshooting, you might want to bypass the EST system by disconnecting the "set timing" connector near the firewall.

Your fuel pressure dropping off so quickly is another problem and may indicate a leaking injector(s) and flooding, but we can deal with thaat later, after the engine has at least fired.

 

thanks again for the help .....you guys have helped out alot i will go out and try the last post thanks again

 

well i switched my timiong and sparyed swome starting fluid in the tb and i went to crank it it sounded like it want to start up evern more so i tried it again and then i heard a pop and smoke came out of the tb so did i just kill the engine

 

the pop you heard was most likely a backfire through the tpi and didnt hurt anything, sometimes caused by improper timing. did you set your timing with a light? i believe it should be at 6° BTDC for stock

 

as another option, you could leave the car parked for another few years, and then get a picture of your car in the general motors section of http://www.carsinbarns.com

 

I had the same thing happen to me once. I went through everything trying to get the thing running, and finally threw some new plugs in and it fired right up. Somehow over the winter the plugs opened up inside and wouldn't carry spark. Hell, it's worth a look.

 

no i did not use a timing light i wish i could but the car does start i had to crank it by hand........well i am glad that i did not do anything to my engine i will just have to try again ......thanks again guys

 

you gotta use a timing light, even if the car won't start you can still set timing with it just cranking. my car's been running like crap lately so i thought i'd check the timing today, the dist. was loose and it was at 4°, i set it at 16 and now she purrs. change your plugs too, never hurts.

 

New cap and rotor, Accel if you can get them.


~M~

 

i just want to say thank for all the input on this tread yesterday i set my timing to top dead center and it started right up .......so now that it is started i can set my timing to spec with the timing light and get ready to drive it across country again thanks for all your help.

Chris