I own a 1988 Pontiac Trans Am GTA with the 5.7L/TPI engine and driving to work I was forced off the road by a driver not paying attention during a lane change at 65 miles an hour which forced me to go off the road and run down the grassy ditch side of the road. I kept the car out of the ditch/woods and managed to get back on the road by the seat of my pants. After I got back on the road the car went another 100 yards and quite running so later that morning I trailered the car home. After sitting a while I tried to start the car and it acted as if it would start but did not and still will not start. Can anyone tell me if there is a emergency fuel shut off switch for accidents and if not does anyone have any idea of what it could be causing the car not to start, and yes it is full of fuel as I filled it that morning prior to being forced off the road. Please help. I'm lost on what it could be.

 

There is no inertia switch on these cars. I would suggest staring at the basics. Does it have fuel pressure? Does it have spark. Look under the under for anything out of place, i.e. vacuum lines, wiring.

 

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Check for an SES light code. Good tutorials online. My favorite is this: http://www.troublecodes.net/gm/ shows how to check and generic codes.

As said fuel pressure is important to check right now as the fuel may have sloshed around enough that the pump didn't pick any up and burned out.

 

He said the tank was full when this happened .......

And yes , standard troubleshooting protocols will reveal the reason easily , since it flat out won't run ....

 

Oops missed that

Thanks

 

Check the air intake and air filter. Some grass or some trash in the grass may have possibly gotten sucked into the air intake and is choking the air flow.

 

Seen this before. car ran off the road way during a rain storm. Catalytic converter bottomed out busting up the inside blocking exhaust flow.