so my GTA's still not starting and I haven't had the time to check it out too much and I'm probably going to have to get the car moved soon since my room mates are pissed at me for having two cars in 1 spot .

some people had told me that removing some pressure from the tank might help so I opened the cap and some pressure did release and I heard some kind of a clunk or something that sounded like a bubble bursting under liquid.

where's the MAF located extactly in my GTA since some of you guys said that removing it and then trying to start it might resolve the issue.

right now all that happens is my dash lights go on and my interior lights etc are on. I can't hear the starter motor or the fuel pump initialize. so I think the battery is totally shot even though the cars been sitting for a while. can batteries drain like that or might something be draining it?. I'll run the CV LTD next to it and jumper it soon.

what else could it be. coil, spark plugs, fuel pump.?

simon.

 

Yes. When a car sits for a long period of time the battery can go dead, or maybe you have a interior light on, hard to say. When is the last time you started the car? You can tell the difference between a fuel pump and a starter, for one unless you turn the ignition completely you are only engageing the fuel pump. The fuel pump only makes a light hissing noise. The starter sounds totally differnet, it is more like a growling, cranking sound. If the car has sat more then a year or two. I would not try to start it with the fuel that is in it, a couple of months...OK. As for the MAF it should be right in front of the throttle horn (throttle body) which is at the front of the pleneum. It should have 5 wires going to it. By the sounds of what you are discribing, I think your starter is not working. It is hard to say. Put some boosters on it and try to start it. If it turns over then there are more problems. If you don't here the starter turning over nicely then you may have a bad connection , or even a bad starter. What year is the car? To be honest, I need more concrete information to give you a good idea as to what the problem is. Try boosting it and see what happens. It may take a few tries. Don't give up right away. You may have to let the boosters charge your battery for a little bit too. Try this then repost with some more detailed information.

Keiran

 

1989 GTA 5.7 L98 w/ 146000 miles.

right now the battery is totally dead that's for sure. so I need to boost her.

a friend and I did have the car running a few days after this had happened but the car ran for only 10 seconds and then died when I tried to give it some gas.

the original problem was that I was driving and I had just floored the car for a good 5 seconds past some cars and then let her off. I came around a corner and everything locked up and the engine died.

I pulled her over without power steering and almost no breaks.

I let her sit for a bit and then tried to crank the engine over and everything was turning. crank, pullies, alternator but it just wouldn't start.

I had to put my flashers on and I took a taxi home and then came back with a tow truck a good hour and a half later. the battery was weak but the engine crank would still turn.

the next day my buddy helped me boost the car and she started for those 10 seconds and the she died again and she hasn't started since.

that's pretty much it I guess.

some other people have suggested it's a charging problem and had something to do with the alternator even though it only has a few k's on it and it pretty much still new.

I dunno. It's got me totally beat and even my mechanic buddy couldn't help me out. the guy build cars and he couldn't figure it out. he "thinks" it's the timing chain since when he was there fuel was still going in and out of the engine. so he concluded the timing was off and spark was going before fuel was going. something like that.

he says the reason it started up was because the timing chain went back on and then slipped back off.

argh! ???

suggestions?

 

I didn't even notice that you had the Monte, lol.
I was just checking it out. all rebuilt and stuff nice.

I'm still a newbie when it comes to cars but I'm learning
a lot everyday and I know I'll catch on someday.

anyways. I'm still waiting on another reply from anyone.

but I might even try the MAF deal today. I didn't know it
was right where the plenum is (doh!).

gives me something to do I guess.

 

Trouble is. A few thing could cause this problem. It may be the fuel pump relay fuse, the realy itself. Could be as simple as a plugged fuel filter. You say it starts after you leave it for a while?Disconnect the battery completely for a few minutes. then try to boost. You may have a code set. For all I know it may need a tune up and to set the timing again. Try to start it again after disconnecting the battery like I said, then repost with your findings. We will go on from there.

BTW. The Plenum is the aluminum top peice that you see at the top of the engine, where your throttle cable hooks up to. Attatched to it, at the front, should be a rubber boot, attatched to that should be your MAF sensor. Again it should have a 5 wire plug in it. This continues on to your air filter/s

Keiran

 

yeah and intake runners. I guess it's just a matter of me getting under the hood and doing the work. I usually learn as I go along but I don't wanna screw up anything electrical.

I'll see tomorrow what happens.

thanks for the help

 

You may also want to swap the relays around on the driver's side firewall. I had this same problem last month and it turned out that one of the relays was junk.

 

It sounds like the alternator to me... Easy to check. Just boost it and see if it runs with the charger on it. Take it off and if it dies in under 20 or so seconds and wont turn over after that its probably your alternator.
Bad MAF I think would still let it turn over it would just have trouble starting and a nasty *** idle.
Bad fuel filter would be a gradual degradation. I doubt it would die that fast unless you had a big nasty something in your tank, but that would never get passed the pump.
Relay sounds possible and if paul had that problem I would definately change it. he has pretty much the same car as you except for a few engine mods (you know, throttle body bypass, K&N)
Never heard of a timing chain slipping like that but I havent heard of alot of things that happen so who knows. Usually I thought timing chains get worn out with to much slack which ends up letting your timing off and results in bad mileage/power. But if its been like that for awhile I guess it could slip, but check the easier stuff first.
give some of that stuff a try and get back to us.
greg

 

right on man that makes some sense to me.

the whole timing chain deal wasn't clicking in my head. I just can't see it slipping or getting messed up in any way.

I know where the relays are so I'll check that. I didn't get a chance yet to check the MAF deal but I doubt it'll do much. just have that gut feeling.

I also think it could be the alternator. but then again I also thought it was the fuel pump once since during the time the problem started it wasn't making that hydraulic type noise when I turned the key.

I'm probably just going to get the car to a shop when I get the money. have them do a charging test or something.

poor GTA, sniff sniff.

 

If it's not even turning over with a charged battery it's not the MAF. I must have missed that. If the MAF is bad it will start and run for about 2 seconds and then die.

 

If you hav'nt got the coin right now to get it into a shop maybe pull the alternator and take it to Crap Tyre. They will test it for free and at least you'll know if that's working or not.

Just don't go on a weekend or you'll end up talking to some slack-jawed skater dolt who doesn't know what an alternator is much less give a rats about you or your car.