Hi guys, firstly for any help you can give me on this problem I have.....maybe you can help??
My car is a '91 3.1 T-Top, not in bad condition but it REFUSES to start. The problem began when I took it to the local Mechanic to get an MOT Test (Annual UK road-worthiness test). I left the car at the Garage and they couldn't get it to start - ten weeks later I was so frustrated that I had to pay for a recovery truck to collect it, the Mechanic having refused to do any work on it as "it's American"......!!
So now I have a stranded car at my house and have had a good look at it. The symptoms are that it cranks good and you can hear it fire but not "catch" so that it runs. If I move the accellerator pedal up and down REALLY fast then it will run but I keep having to move the accellerator the whole time and RPM, even on full throttle, ony reaches 600RPM.
The Fault Code reads only "12", so no fault recognised.
I have changed: 02 Sensor, Head Temp Sensor, Distrubutor Cap, Coil, Rotor Arm, Ignition Control Module. Checked Plugs and Leads (all OK).
car has new, quality fuel, Fuel Pump primes (can hear it coming on). I've had the Plenum Chamber off and cleaned everything and it's put back correctly.

Can anybody help???!!!

 

Were there any symptoms prior to dropping the car at the garage?

 

Sounds like maybe it has jumped time as its commonly called, when the timing chain gets too loose and/or the teeth disintegrate on the cam gear your cam becomes retarded. It may act like it wants to run but it can't.

 

Before it was droppedoff there were no issues and it was running like a Swiss Watch, however, a couple of months before there was an issue where it refused to start and the RAC (our AAA) removed the plugs and dried them off, after lots of cranking and a bit of Backfiring it ran again. They diagnosed a Flooded Engine. I took the Plugs out and did the same thing this time but no joy. Thanks for your help!

 

You might have bad injectors. Test them for ohms

 

Ok , so if the mechanic is using the sad excuse that "it's American" as to why he can't properly diagnose a simple no start condition , It's a Damned good thing that you got your car outta there !!! In all reality , a piston engine is a pretty simple device and they ALL work pretty much the same ....

So , with THAT outta the way , and since it sounds like your gonna have to do your own repairs , lets get to it . First , your engine needs three things , A free flowing intake and exhaust system to "breathe" a nice clean fuel/air mix into the cylenders and to take away the burnt results of combustion , a spark at the right time to ignite the fuel/air mix , and enough compression to squeeze the fuel/air mix to the point of darned near explosiveness for the plug to ignite . First thing I would check here is , IS there a nice healthy spark happening at the proper time to light the mix ? Got spark ? If yes , the next thing would be to put a fuel pressure gauge on the fuel rail and check the pressure . The fact that you can hear the pump run means that , GREAT ! , the pump is getting power , BUT is NO proof that it's actually putting out enough pressure to properly feed the injectors . So , if both the spark and fuel pressure look good the next thing would be a compression test of all 6 cylenders to determine proper compression . Someone here has mentioned a possible jumped timing chain , all that and more will be revealed in the compression test , as a jumped timing chain would not allow any of the cylenders to develop proper compression . Notice how these are all TESTS , and not just buying parts to swap till it finally runs ? One of the three mentioned things here IS what's keeping your car from running and once you find out which you can make effective , targeted repairs without $pending gigabux with the auto parts guy .

 

That's what I thought and in the scheme of things a '91 Firebird shouldn't be the most complex thing in the world.

I'll get testing using your tips/ inspiration and see where we get to!