Let me explain everything that has happened so far. I just bought a 1988 Pontiac Firebird 2.8 litre V-6 . I drove it home 95 miles after purchasing last night. The car ran fine all the way home. Today I drove around the block got almost back to my driveway and the car stalled out. It took a few tries but the car started back up and made it into the driveway although it was hesitating like it was running out of gas. I just filled it up so it is not out of gas. The car started one more time for me but again stalled out again now won't start. I changed the fuel filter. Nothing happened. I checked for a spark from one of the plugs and there was a spark. I also sprayed starter fluid in the throttle body and car still won't fire. What could cause a car with a spark not to at least fire up with starter fluid? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Welcome to the forum, Dan!

Be careful with the starter fluid. The brother of a guy I knew blew the whole top end of his 2.8 apart with starting fluid- it puddled in the intake, and the motor backfired- boom!

Spend $40 on a fuel pressure gauge- you need the high pressure one (gauge goes up to 80 psi), not the cheap $12 carburetor gauge. If you have spark, it might just be the fuel pump. If you've got 37 psi at the fitting on the rail, it's not the pump- but then we don't have to guess at it.

 

If you're not firing with starter fluid, it's a spark issue. Spraying fuid in the is PLENTY of fuel.

Remeber, it's a lot harder to fire a plug under compression, so when you take the plug out and manage to get a spark from it, it doesn't always mean that you're getting a quality spark in the hole. Go out to the parts store and purchase a spark tester rated at 25,000V. It comes with instructions and if you get a spark using that, then you have a decent spark in the hole.

This is where my money is. I say the coil is toast. happens all the time on our cars, and randomly too. Never know when it's about to crap out.

Ignition systems only use what they need to fire the plug, so when the plug is outside the cylinder under no compression, it might only fire with a 4,000V spark, but it requires 22,000V inside teh engine. So if your coil is onlyable to put out 10,000V then you'll get a good looking spark outside the cylinder, and nothing inside. This is a very important concept the most people aren't aware of.

 

Thanks for the advice. I just picked up the car from the mechanic they replaced the Pick Up, IgnitionCoil and Module. All told with towing was $274.91 Runs like a champ now

 

The Module and Pickup were OK, or you wouldn't have had a spark at all. No signal from pickup to module, no spark; No signal from module to coil, no spark; bad coil, good spark outside engine, weak or no spark inside engine.

The parts that you replaced, aside from the coil, wern't bad, but it's a good thing you replaced them now, that way they have a better chance of living longer as a system, you won't be replacing the module or pickup in like 3 months...hopefully. Glad to see that you had the money for it though and to hear it runs great.

 

for the record, a bad module can cause a weak, erratic spark that is technically a spark, but not enough at the right time to start the car...