Non-topic first.......how do I get this billboard sized lettering off here!? I have it only on this website!

Now...on to truely important "Q's".......

'89 Firebird Formula TBI 305. Book says 9.3-1 compression. Stepdaughter put regular gas(93oct?)in it. Now it don't wanna' start. I suspect that octane ain't gonna' cut it with that compression ratio.

Is this a normal problem? Is octane where I'm having fits?

I'm at my wits' end and thinking lovingly of an aftermarket intake and an "Eddy"!!!!

regular where i pump is 87....i ran 93 (premium) for a little while but noticed no difference, and seeing as im always hard up for cash (too many fund sucking hobbies) i switched back to 87. I get mad knock counts (200+) either way, but i think thats a result of a bad sensor and a 'holy' exhaust.

Either way, i've never heard of people having trouble w/ 93 octane in our cars. I think it may be something else. Does it turn over fine? is there gas comming out of the injectors? how is your ignition system?

-chuck

Sure she didn't top it up with diesel?
It happens.

Your problem has nothing to do with octane. You have another problem. Do you see fuel coming out of the injectors? Can you hear your fuel pump prime? Do the car even turn over? The possibilites are endless.

The car should still run. Like poo and with a whole lot of smoke until its boggs itself out.

This chick I was seeing years ago did that and it would'nt run at all!

i am pretty sure we don't have nearly the compression needed to get diesel to run.

btw, i use 87 octane 95% of the time, the other 5% i am going to the race track, and i use 92 (best we have here in OR), and i turn the timing up when i do that.

the key to picking the octane you use is actualy very simple.

run the LOWEST octane you can, without knocking.

I had a friend whose mom accidently put it in he car. I think it was a 3.1 (Lumina) and her car ran but it smoked to high heaven until the gas was out of the lines and the diesel started to mix. It didn't run long after that. However, a quick siphon and a re-fill took care of the problem.

I've had a couple cars come into the shop on the hook just for that reason... "I dunno what happened, I/my wife/daughter/gas jockey just filled the tank, now it won't start... help!" If there's more than a little in there, it will NOT run. Can be kinda hard to track down sometimes too. Sniff the filler, stick your nose in the tailpipe, you'll know if there's anything wrong in there. Of course, it's only one of many possibilities as to why your car won't start.

LOL! No diesel in fuel. I made sure!

Fuel pump is running up just fine. Fuel pump relay is working well. Fuel squirting through the injectors.

I cleared codes, and now am showing a 32 and a 44. (as I understand this is EGR and O2 lean, fairly standard from what I've been reading) Out of curiosity, and experimentation, we tried it without the air filter. Runs great without it....acts a fool when I put it back on.

Also, it will pretty much straighten out if you rev the engine rather high(that is, once you finally get it started!)

Will an EGR problem actually cause this much grief? Now I guess I get to figure out if its' the valve, the vacuum lines, the relay, the harness or the ECM....oh joy!

That carb , intake and HEI are sounding better all the time!!!LOL

OK....replaced the EGR relay....and attendent vacuum hoses(they crushed when I removed them....whos' idea was it to use plastic lines for vacuum!!!!!)

Cleared codes and test drove. Codes have not returned, and it seems to be running fine....but.....


I DID check the EGR valve while I was at it. It needs replaced.

The computer will now think its' working...but I forsee a rather large vacuum leak when it comes online.

After 23 bucks for the relay all I can say is thank the heavens tomorrow is payday!LOL

Right on, FS. Sometimes it's mind-boggling how some little thing can stop a car in its tracks. Just this week we had an EFI Jetta in the shop, stalled on her and no start. We plugged on it for 2 or 3 hours, it had fuel, and it had spark when we pulled the plugs out. 180lbs compression, should run great. Put new plugs in finally, and it fired. Turns out the coil wire shorted out, and trying to start it again, she flooded it and soaked the plugs. They'd fire in open air, but not under compression. Wierd stuff, and totally off topic, but yeah. Sometimes it's not in the most obvious place to look.

He-he...yeah.

I'm an old MOPAR musclecar era affectionado. If you have any knowledge of these old iron pieces, you'll understand what I mean when I say "electrical probs can be a b***h"!!!LOL

I once had a situation where the car would only start when you released the key...took 3 weeks to track the problem down....wound up being a faulty ECU....a NEW ECU!

But I must admit...I do like the self diagnostic features on the newer 'puter cars. Figureing out whats' causing it can be fun but at least the car will give you hints!!! This ain't the case with the wifes' '68 Dart!

I only hope I don't PO too many in here before I get a decent knowledge of these things!

I just ran into a great site that deals with mostly dodge, and a lot of the older iron incl. wiring diagrams and upgrades etc. www.allpar.com I actually ran into it in the search for info on another wierd nostart I had last week. Lots of good tech stuff there.

Yep...been there. Its' a good site, but I have yet to find one better than www.moparts.com .

As a matter of fact, they were the ones who sent me here. Said this was the best third gen site on the web....

....they weren't lieing!