Yeah, so I went last night... and broke- that's twice so far. The symptoms were almost identical to my first "break" at the track- For my second run, I was waiting in line to get to the tree, and with just four cars in front of me, I stalled and couldn't start. I even pressed the gas to the floor, thinking I flooded the motor, but no good. I wound up pushing my car to the side. It started after 5 minutes, and I persuaded myself to keep going for the second run.

I should've known; the car was stumbling as I was in line for my first run- but not as bad. It bogged off the line; then took off and was fine for the rest of the 1/4. (That 1/4 was a 17.6ish.) After the car died (as in my first paragraph above), and I got it to start, my second run was -bad-! The car was almost stalling at the tree. It bogged badly off the line, and for a few hundred feet- then the car was fine. I saw the timeboards show the time as past 18 secs... but I never even got a chance to look at the time slip. As soon as I left the time booth, the car bucked and almost stalled- I managed to get near the parking lot, where it did stall, and I worked it into a spot.

Looks like it's the fuel pump! It's buzzing like a big ticked-off hornet- extremely loud, like a scream. I got home by keeping the RPM's high- when the engine is at 3000 RPM or higher, it's fine. But if I let the RPMS drop, or if I'm at all jerky with the gas pedal, the car loses it. I drove home in second, and slipped the car into neutral at stoplights.

I got home, and let the car cool off for a few hours while we got something to eat. When I came back, I popped the FP gauge on. With the key "on", ignition "off" (pump primed), I get 33-35 PSI and holding. The car needs 40.5-49 PSI. When I started the car, pressure stayed in the low 30's- even when I floored the gas.

Dammit! I just replaced this thing 4 years ago!! Now I have to decide if I want to put another Borg-Warner pump in, or buy an AC/Delco pump. The BW pump had a lifetime warranty, supposedly, I can get another for free. But how long will it last??

Oh- fuel filter was changed (as part of my major tuneup) a few weeks ago. I doubt it's ignition related because the car runs good at 3000+ RPM, and the car still acts up when the engine (and therefore, the spark module) is cold. The timing's at 12 advance, but it's been that way since I got back from Maryland. No computer codes were set.

DAMMIT!! Oh well, at least I've done this before, so I know what I'm doing. Funny, last time I replaced the pump, it was July 5th, 1997. Here it is, July 26, 2001.. same damn month. Ugh.

So what do you guys think... fuel pump? I'd go after other stuff (like pressure regulator or injectors), but if it was something else, I don't think the pump would be screaming so loudly. What throws me off is my original pump died with a quiet growl- the motor sounded sick. This one sounds like it's going to explode!


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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
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[This message has been edited by TomP (edited July 26, 2001).]

 

Hmm. I had starting issues on my old firebird when the coolant temp sensor went south. Riches the hell out of the mixture on startup. I'd throw a scan tool on that puppy and see what it says.

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Really! Did it start hard all the time? What confuses me is my car's been fine until now... after you got it to start, would it run fine, or did it want to stall? I've never replaced the CTS...

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-Tom P (Hot rodded 1986 Firebird 2.8l) from http://www.f-body.net/mailbag/3rd/3rd_mailbag.html message boards
---Think your car could be pic of the week? Visit http://www.f-body.net for details!