My car ran fine over the weekend. On Monday, I went to start it, and it didn't start at all. It acted like the battery was dead (the lights dimmed, it cranked, but the more you tried, the less it cranked). I charged the battery up. Now, if I pump the hell out of it (pump about 15 times) it ALMOST starts, but I get the gas smell in my car. (prolly from flooding it) It's on the edge of starting! Is it my fuel filter?

1986 Camaro Coupe
T-Tops
12 Disc CD player
Sitting 'cause it won't run

 

Your Starter is gone

 

You have flooded it.

Wait a while; charge the battery back up; then push the gas pedal all the way to the floor and hold it there without pumping it while cranking. It should start up, blow out a huge cloud of black smoke, and eventually recover to normal.

If the starter turns the motor over, it's fine. A bad starter won't fill your intake with fuel. You may want to find out why your battery went dead in the first place: I'd bet it will do it again.

 

To continue the second line of thought; how old is the battery? Once a battery reaches the 5 year mark, start saving $$ up to replace it.

 

My car was fixed today. I replaced the fuel filter, but that didn't quite do the trick. I was hoping my starter/fuel pump weren't gone, and to my luck, they were just fine.

The spark plug wires/tubes had some gunk in them, after using a wire brush to clean them out, the car runs fine. Also, I cleaned the spark plugs off.

Thanks for all the help.