coachnate

Have to start by saying, I'm a total noob on cars - be gentle please. I did brake jobs and some other small stuff (minor tune ups) long ago, but that's about it. Here's my current problem, would greatly appreciate any help/suggestions.

About six to eight years ago I hung up the keys and stored my car. I wanted to work on it, but didn't have resources. After a few years got it over to my place and started it after charging the battery and it ran just fine... About as fine as it did before going into storage. Before storing, it would have trouble starting back up after running for a while a driving around town. My uncle (who used to work full time as a mechanic) suggested replacing the fuel filter. When trying to do that, I broke the line fuel line. My neighbor offered to fix it as a favor - he liked working on cars, and we were working on moving houses. This was a little over a year ago. When he fixed the line and installed the new filter, he broke the break line. I had replaced the battery a couple years ago, and also dropped fresh gas in it (it was stored with about 3/4 of gas six years ago, with no stabil or anything added). Now, I've put the battery on the charger, looks like it has a good charge, so while having the charge on 50A start, I try starting it up and it just turns over like crazy. I hear the pump prime when I turn the key, but I'm not sure where to look now. Thoughts?

Thanks!

gta_knight

If its just cranking over but wont start you need to check if its getting fuel and spark, and id assume its getting air.

Get a friend to spray a blast of starter fluid into the intake while you crank it over and if it fires up then you know your not getting fuel into the engine.

If it still doesnt fire up then id be looking at the ignition system, as if its not getting a spark, then it wont fire up either.

Hope that helps mate

coachnate

Gta knight,

Thanks for the tip. Finally got a can and tried it today. Sprayed for about three seconds and it fired right up then died immediately. So then where should I go next? A neighbor who used to drag suggested checking fuel pressure... Thoughts? He had a pretty good idea where to plug in a tester, but it was more or less a guess.

Thanks again!

coachnate

My apologies if I sounded lazy there... After checking other threads I'll check OBD in diagnostic mode and check the codes. I'll look them up if any come up and post the results.

gta_knight

A few things to check then if it did fire when you blasted starter fluid through. Firstly get your head under the dashboard, there are 2 fuses for each bank of injectors. check them and if your really really lucky it might be a case of replacing those if they have blown for some reason.

But if the fuses are ok I would definatley check the fuel pressure if you can, at the fuel rail on the passenger side theres a little valve next to the fuel pressure regulator, thats where you can screw a gauge onto

If you have good pressure when you switch the ignition on then you know your pump is working and shooting fuel right to the engine. It should read around 35-40psi and hold that pressure for a while even after switching the ignition off.

So if that is the case then its got to be your injectors, either a problem with the wiring or they are all blocked up and arent spraying any fuel

Bob88GTA

iTrader: (2)

"also dropped fresh gas in it (it was stored with about 3/4 of gas six years ago"

Injectors are probably toast/clogged/shot; so is your fuel filter.

Drain that gas out of there and get some new gas and filter

coachnate

Just checking, what's the best way to do that? I tried to do that prior to putting more recent gas in via a pump siphon I got from Harbor Freight, and couldn't get any action. Did I do something wrong? Do I need to drop the tank (which I'm not set up for)? Thanks!

coachnate

I'll check the fuses and see what the pressure is. Thanks.

Bob88GTA

iTrader: (2)

Does your Fuel pump run with the key on? if so, disconnect the inlet to the fuel filter
and pump it out into another container

Then with fresh fuel in the tank, replace the filter. You then need to get the old gas out of the fuel rail. You can attach a line to the schrader valve on the fuel rail and turn key on to push new fuel in and old fuel out.

Or, you can remove the fuel rail and clean it, toss the injectors in the trash and buy new ones from Southbay on here, reassemble and fire it up.

Just my opinion and trying to save you a lot of heartache.