New Firebird Owner with a Problem

[DonRam]

Hello All

Just purchased a 99 Firebird with the 3.8 and manual trans. The car has 130K on it. Ran strong for a few days. On the way home today, rainy wet day, started sputtering and loosing power. Sputtered more with more throttle. If I let off the throttle is would run better, but eventually died. It will now fire-up for a second but immediately die, regardless of throttle position. The previous owner had changed the coils and plug wires for “Rough Running”, but I now suspect he knew it had this problem.

It seems to be getting spark, and I’ll check the fuel pressure tonight. I also thought about the TPS.

Any ideas?

Don

[BLLDOGG]

Re: New Firebird Owner with a Problem

maybe the maf?

[Dawizman]

Re: New Firebird Owner with a Problem

Could also be the cat.

Id take it to a dealership and pay the $90 or so that it will cost to get it diagnosed.

[DonRam]

Re: New Firebird Owner with a Problem

Thanks for the advice.

Since it's not my primary vehicle, I think I'll mess with it instead of having it towed to a dealer. Found it would start and run for a few seconds with a shot of starting fluid. I can hear the fuel pump running but nothing reads on the fuel pressure gage. Fuel just trickles out the pressure relief when pressed. Puchased a filter; hopefully it's that simple. Not normally my luck though.

[BLLDOGG]

Re: New Firebird Owner with a Problem

yeah, you wont really see a car sputter or die with a clogged cat. it just will have poor performance and the engine will only be able to rev to a certain point then will kinda fall on its face. but with that said, anything is possible. I think your going in the right direction. its a good idea to not run your fuel pump again until you replace that filter cause just like any motor, the more strain on it, the more likely it will fail. if you want to try in aiding your dignosis, turn your key to run with the fuel filter disconnected for a second and see if there appears to be proper fuel flow out of the pump. be careful ofcourse of sparks and such. :)

[DonRam]

Re: New Firebird Owner with a Problem

BLLDOGG - Thanks for the help. I disconnected from the filter became even more suspicious when I could hear the pump running, but nothing came out but gurgling sounds. The car has only been driven about 30miles since I purchased it and I found the last owner didn't really do me a favor and fill the tank. He just sold me a car with a fuel gage that always reads full. Oh well, buyer beware. At least I don't have an immediate need to replace a $300 fuel pump.

Again, thanks for the help.

Don