TIMSPEED

Well, let me set the scene here. My 87 has been sitting a few days unstarted. (About 5) It's been pretty cold weather. (At night, it gets down to the low 40's; Central Valley California)
Well, I go to start it last night, and it WOULD NOT fire. It just kept on cranking. Now, I figured it was because I was *slightly* low on fuel. (It had 2 bars left, RESERVE light was on, 30 miles left on RANGE) SO, I also figured it was probably AMAZINGLY cold. SO, I went to try to start it this morning, put some gas in it (about 4 gallons), no different! What's the deal? It has a BRAND NEW ignition (see sig) Think my fuel lines are froze? Any ideas?!?

scorp508

Theres no way in hell your fuel lines froze if it was only 40 degrees, gotta go lower than that. And 2 bars of gas should be plenty as long as it isn't way off on the gauge.

Are there any noises, clicking? Are the lights coming on when you open the door? You said it is cranking, you can hear it turn over and over? Does it TRY to fire? Give us more info.....

TIMSPEED

No noises or clicking. All lights work fine, battery guage shows 12.1 volts(dips down pretty low when cranking though; to 10.3). It just keeps turning over, no fire at all. I hear the fuel pump come on, and I hear the hiss by the fuel rail (normal noise). I was thinking of spraying some Starting Fluid into the TB/Plenum...but decided not to after realizing that this would probably cause a fire IN the plenum. Think I may need to charge the battery up higher, because it's not spinning the starter fast enough, and it's not putting out enough volts to fire?

scorp508

Turn the key to "ON", then hold the accelerator to the floor for 30 seconds. Then try to start it. If it is somehow flooded, this should clear it up.

TIMSPEED

OK, Turn it to "ON", then let the fuel pump energize THEN push for 30 seconds THEN let up THEN crank? Or "ON", FLOOR, CRANK? I dunno if it's flooded or not...might be :confused:

Camvette

Charge the battery! Not enough amps to start car. Probably need new battery if its going flat after 5 days.
Good Luck! :yesnod:

scorp508

I'm hoping that isn't the problem (probably will be). Mine shows 12.4 volts with the car off and just the dash on, it also jumps down to 10.x when the starting is turning over.

But yeah, turn the car "on", let the dash go through it's thing (the pump will be running by the time that is done), and hold the pedal to the floor for 30 seconds, then while holding it crank it.

TIMSPEED

Yeah, I'm thinking the battery may be shot, but still... I'm just hoping I can get it started. Brian (Smash) suggested I replace the fuel filter, which I'll do as soon as I get home from work. (As well as put the battery on the charger; couldn't hurt) It'll be warmer when I get home, so maybe I'll try it again. On second thought about it, my battery voltage is like 11.5 when the dash is just on, and it goes into the 9.6's when it's cranking, so maybe that's the problem...hope so. New battery is cool with me!

scorp508

Ahhh....ding ding ding, battery charge time.

TIMSPEED

But the starter works, it cranks over and everything, just no fire-up. Would the battery be just low enough to NOT spin the starter fast enough/give off enough juice to power HEI?? :confused:
I just charged this battery not too long ago...Looks like it's time for a new battery.
DIEHARD BABY!

scorp508

Yep.

Crazy Canuck

I wouldn't be so quick to blame the battery just yet. An engine needs only three things to run. Compression, fuel, and spark. If your engine was running fine before, and nothing has changed since then, I think we can rule out compression as being a problem. So long as the engine is turning over, you only need to look at fuel and spark. We've established fuel in the tank, and a working fuel pump. The only questionable areas here are is fuel getting to the fuel rail, and are the injectors functioning. The first place I would start though would be ignition. Pull a plug, or use a spare if you have one, and connect it to one of your leads to determine if there is any spark action. You can ground it with a test lead or rest it on some grounded point (best to use a test lead if you have one). Check this point very carefully, because it can save you alot of time in finding the problem. If you have strong spark, then it can only be a fuel problem. Let us know how it goes. :smash:

rjaj3954

I HAVE THE SAME PROBLEM ON MY 90' JUST DIED ON THE ROAD....FUEL PUMP IS PUMPING, NEW FUEL FILTER. STARTS WITH ETHER, JUST NOT GETTING INJECTORS TO PUMP...... MECHANIC AT WORK SAID SOMETHNG ABOUT DISTRIBUTOR HAS TO SIGNAL INJECTORS?? ANY HELP????