Hi everyone. I have a 1984 firebird and I'm having issues getting it started. For the past few weeks it's been refusing to start in park. When I tried starting it in park the dash gives me a brake light and choke light and the starter won't run. To get around this I put the car in neutral and it would give me the same issue. Eventually it would crank over and start like normal.

Now I'm in a position where it won't crank in park or neutral at all. It still gives me the choke and brake lights as I turn the key but the moment I let off the lights go away. I believe it's not a starter problem because it worked last week. However, I'm still new to the world of carbs and I'm not sure how to diagnose/fix issues with the choke assuming that's the issue. Thanks for the help!

 

The issue isn't the "choke".

First off, no matter what the factory put on the label, it's really the ALTERNATOR light. It ACTUALLY means that the ALTERNATOR is not working. The "choke" aspect of it is very incidental. Forget about that misleading labelling. If the motor isn't running, the alternator CAN'T POSSIBLY work, so it's supposed to be coming on at startup.

Believe it or not, things usually are like that. They work fine for however long until all the sudden they don't anymore. What they did last week is irrelevant. What they're doing NOW is what matters.

A carb won't ever cause a no-crank. Don't worry about it.

What should happen as you turn the key:

The lights should all be off when the key is off, and the gauges might read almost anything.

When you turn the key to On, the gauges should all go to zero since the engine is cold and has no oil pressure and the RPMs are zero, and the "choke" light should come on.

When you turn the key to Start, the "choke" light should stay on, all the gauges except temp should stay at zero, and the temp gauge should peg. And of course the starter should work.

Earlier you mentioned that it worked in N but not in P. Concentrate your mental effort there. Sounds to me like the neutral safety switch is fornicated. Sounds awholehelluvalot more like that's where the problem is, than the carb. It's on the side of the shifter under the console. Pop the console out, unplug the connector from the switch, and put a jumper wire between the 2 big fat wires (one is yellow and the other purple). Make the jumper from 2 terminals about like this https://www.homedepot.com/p/Gardner-...45MN/301734991 and a piece of somewhat large gauge wire, like, at least 14 gauge. Once you've got it jumped, try to start the car. if it starts, the NSS is bad.

 

Got it. I'll try that next week when I get the chance. Thanks for the help!