Hey everyone, I have a friend with a 89 Firebird thats a 6 cylinder, and currently its comotosed in a parking lot at a local mall. It turns and tries to start but no prevail.

The kid has a few enemies (not his fault either) and we have a feeling they did something to it. Now, I would like to see if i can pull the fuel filter and look in it, and also probably need to check out the gas tank also after we get it towed to my house.

What do you guys suggest we look for or at? He went to work in the morning fine, went to thebank midday with no trouble, then 3 hours later to go home it acted like this.

Thanx in advance for and advice.
~Tim

 

First check for spark and fuel pressure. No sense tearing apart if it doesn't need it. I'm not sure but I think sugar in the tank ruins compression. So I would put a compression gauge on it to be sure. It may be something simple like a bad ignition module. Good luck

 

Sugar in the tank: An old bad practice, typical from 40's & 50's years in the past century.

It ruins the compression and the engine too. Review the 6 spark plugs for strange deposits. Reviews the fluids (gas, oil, coolant,etc.). Don't use the car until complete the diagnose.

With sugar in gas tank the car can start and run a few miles before a problem is presented. It was the situation?.

Regards,

Denis V.

 

9 times out of 10 you will find a little bit of sugar at the fuel filler nozzle. check it out.

 

sugar does not dissolve in gasoline. if there is sugar in the tank, it might have clogged up the fuel filter. then he'll need to drop the tank to get the sugar out.

 

If it "mysteriously" won't start and ran fine when he turned it off - I seriously doubt it is sugar. First, it takes "time" to run the fuel out of the rails and into the injectors to "do some damage". And sugar "does it magic" as you drive. Normally, it takes about 1/2 hour of driving for sugar to screw things up.

As mentioned above, "do the basics" - spark and fuel. First thing, listen for the fuel pump to "prime" for the 2 seconds when you first turn it on. If you don't hear it, then check the fuse, relay or the pump.

If the fuel pump is priming, check the fuel pressure. If you are getting a reading in the 40 psi range - check spark.

Lastly, if you have good fuel pressure, GOOD spark then you may have a 'toughy' like a timing chain that jumped a tooth.