Alright guys here the situation. I own an 88 firebird 2.8 6cylinder. I've replaced the fuel pump, fuel filter, new distributor, and fuel pump relay. All the fuses are good..My car wont start. I bought a oil pressure switch and the fuel pump sending unit to replace as well but i have not installed those yet. Any ideas what this issue could be? The car cranks but won't start. Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

 

Well there can be an a few things that can prevent your car from starting so you will have to diagnose some things.

You need adequate fuel, air, and spark, while also being delivered at the right time.

Electrically - If it cranks slowly or not at all then check your wiring and make sure your battery terminals are tight and clean and connectors are plugged in all the way. You may have a bad battery, a bad coil, spark plugs, spark plug wires (possibly), fuel pump, bad relays, solenoids, fuses. Security Systems may disable the fuel injectors also if you use the wrong key. The Mass Airflow sensor (MAF) could be bad too. Bad Coolant temperature sensor.

If you have an Ohm meter and a fuel pressure tester, that may help diagnosing a little.

Fuel - You may have inadequate fuel pressure, or simply not enough fuel in the tank, check and see if your firebird takes premium, regular, plus also. Your fuel pump strainer may be clogged, or you have a bad hose inside the fuel tank next to the fuel pump (which leaks fuel back into the tank, causing a lack of fuel pressure.) incorrectly installed fuel filter (backwards), Fuel Pump sending unit.

Air - You may have a vacuum leak, with the 6cyl there are plenty of vacuum hoses to look through, but the main ones include the ones near the EGR (Exhaust Gas Recirculation valve) and your PCV (Positive Crankcase Ventilation valve) may be clogged or unclamped/defective. Although besides these you may also have a lack of compression in the cylinders, can be tested using a compression tester and looking at your recommended pressure in each cylinder.

I don't believe I mentioned everything, but if you give Third Gen more info, we can narrow down the possibilities. Does your security light come on? Did you replace the Distributor cap and rotor also?

I don't remember when GM started using the VATS security system, but just an idea and a couple things to check and do some research on.

If anybody has an idea, jump in.

 

Hey thanks for that! Yeah, i forgot to mention I did replace the cap and rotor as well, new spark plugs and wires. The fuel pump won't kick on. Like i stated, it's all a brand new assembly back there, pump, everything but it won't kick on. All the fuses are good.

 

How's the wiring coming from the ignition and all that jazz? Make sure everything is hooked up and not shot.

 

you said your fuel pump wont turn on. check the fuel pump fuse it should be by the battery. 20 amp fuse

 

yea u know, i've had people tell me about that but i can't seem to find a fuse by the battery. :s, I've looked every where but i don't see a fuse by the battery.

 

it has to be somewhere by there. its inside a little fuse holder. check by your ac lines

 

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://w...xuWCHxZ4Zwr5aA

look at this thread. look close by the battery in the first picture there is a small fuse holder screwed on to the firewall. that carries the 20 amp fuse you're looking for.

 

http://www.google.com/url?q=http://w...xuWCHxZ4Zwr5aA

look at this thread. look close by the battery in the first picture there is a small fuse holder screwed on to the firewall. that carries the 20 amp fuse you're looking for.

 

May have possibly fixed the problem, but accidentally left a wire unhooked or hooked up a wire backwards on the fuel pump?? Just a thought, I've done that...

 

If you wanna see if the fuel pump is bad? Before you go and spend time, and tons of cash into it for no reason, but a can of starting fluid, spray some into the throttle body and try starting it up, if it starts up, ok, but since u said u just did the fuel pump, I also made a mistake by putting in a new pump, and them no start? 2 days was stumped and ready to sell it, finally a friend helped me out and he went under the car and found out that the plug was not connected all the way into the port where the gas tank goes into, there is a **** there to plug in when you disconnect it off, so check that out,

Next, if all is good? Check or just buy a new pick up coil for the cap, take off the cap, and there should be a simple plug in, my car did this last week, absolutely no start up, again stumped, put in a good pick coil, and whalla, it fired up like new. Check your relays if there is no hot at any fuse,
Simply turn your key to the on position, and get a light tester, check all of each fuses in order, on a v6 car there is only 1 fuse that does not light up, it should be the number 5 fuse, I mean the voltage 5, all other should light up good,
Try that, if it fails? Check back with us and let us know, we will go threw the next step with you,
Good luck with it,

 

Awesome, I will definitely check these issues out this weekend and get back to guys, thanks everyone!

 

Sounds good.

 

you may have replaced the fuel pump, but it could be defective, i work for a parts store and see it all the time, try taking it back and have them defect it out. had a similar issue with mine, got lucky and was just the PCV and plugs that were bad.

 

That is a good point. Avoid cheap fuel pumps if you can help it..

The PCV is relatively cheap so that wouldn't be a bad idea to replace, don't forget the grommet if there is one.

I remember working on a Mazda truck and it ran like garbage, found out a rubber piece fell off that was blocking another part of the PCV, cuz it had two ports on the top where the one port went into the air filter and the other was just useless..

 

Any luck?