craig82

This is my first car that has been sitting in a garage for around 8 years or so now. The last time it was started was probably 5 years ago. To the point, when I turn the key to on I can hear the fuel pump prime. The problem is that I am not seeing any fuel at the valve on the fuel rails. I also disconnected the fuel lines near the engine and I got no fuel. The fuel filter is new, the old fuel was drained and replaced with 5 gallons. Could the old fuel in the lines possibly gelled and clogged the lines? When I changed the fuel filter, fuel was pouring out of the line coming from the tank the whole time. I had to plug it to get it to stop. Could that be a sign of a problem? Because when I changed the fuel filter on my other vehicles fuel did not just keep pouring out of the lines. Thanks any help would be greatly appreciated.

Blazer79

I also had my Iroc sitting there for about 3 years with old gas. When I finally came to start it, it wouldn't. I tried everything but couldn't get gas out of the lines. I disconnected the fuel filter (in case it or the lines were clogged) and put 12V to the ALDL connector that goes to the fuel pump. Got no fuel. So I was complaining to myself that I had to do the pump swap which is beleived to be a PITA.

Ordered a fuel pump, and with the help of a friend and a pneumatic gun the swap was straightforward. Not as hard as you come to beleive after reading some stories in this forum. It took us less than a day. And when I got the old pump out, I was sooo glad we did the swap. Just look at how the old pump came out:



The only difference between what you're saying is that I couldn't hear my pump work, but you do. I would change it anyway for peace of mind so I don't get stranded in the middle of nowhere.

craig82

Yeah, I think that is what I am going to have to do. I also disconnected the line at the fuel filter and could only get a little bit to come out. I used the ALDL terminal to run the pump and ran for a good 5 mins while I was trying to get fuel to come out of the fuel rail valve. I could only get it to trickle out. The car will start when using starting fluid. One weird thing is when it started and ran for about 5 seconds I noticed the tach was not moving just stuck on zero. Do you think that could be another problem? Or is it just not running enough? Thanks for you help

Blazer79

I'd say the tach problem is something else. Theres a wire right beside the pink wire on the distributor. That's the tach lead. Check if it's connected. Follow it for any kinks or if it got caught under a valve cover or something. But that's irrelevant now. Fix your fuel pump first, then when it starts focus on the distributor.