I have a big problem with my 87 2.8 multiport firebird......it wont start
michael conaway
my name is michael and my firebird isn't anything specical
but i am having a really big problem with it
well i turn the key and it will try to start and run for about 2 seconds
and then cut out and die........................
before you say whats wrong let me tell you what i have done to try
to get it running
first what happened i had a short some where in or near the taillight
brake switch which when I pressed on the brake pedal i could hear the short
in the radio .......i found this short after my left me sitting
along the rode on rt 715 in tannersville Pa...............
when the engine died out on me it just quit ..........no backfire or no
warning what so ever
this happened a week after i got it out of the shop because of another
problem i had with the car
a week eariler i took the car down to the garage because it wouldnt
start for me they replaced the ignition coil and the control module
in the distributor
they put the car back into time for me also because i replaced the
distributor and the timing chain and gears also
well when this car of mine decided to breakdown on me again
i figured that the short fried my control module so i went out and bought
another one and a brand new battery for it .installed the part and tried to
start it
same thing
so i barrowed my freinds ohm meter and tested the new ignition
coil and pick up coil and they seem to to check out fine
i also checked out a few of the wires from the mods that the
the garage put in the car............they moved the ignition coil and
a few of the vacuum lines up off the exhast manifold to the top
left of the engine .....bolted to the top of the multiport
fuel intake system...............i also went as far as to change the
throttle body to anotherone i had from the engie swap
i did two years ago.( the head gaskets went on the original 87 engine and
blew the motor thats another story though........i have an
86 firebird engine in her now)
still its not starting for me and its not a fuse in the fuse box i have
check for that atleast 7 times now and i dont think its anything
to do with the ECM im still getting the "handshake mode " code
12 when i cross the A&B terminals in the diagnostic connector plug
if you have any suguesstions or if you are a wiz at these 2.8 pontiac
engines pls give me a shout
my email is ............. myt...@prolog.net
ill also be checking back to this news group to see if i get a reply or not
thanks if not for anything else just listening to my problem
michael
Craig S. Gillen
before....but i had a similar problem a little over a year ago in my truck.
usually i would get into the car and turn the key...it would start up and run
for about 2 or 3 seconds, then it would just die. it start it up, sometimes
get my foot on the gas a little bit to get the revs up right away....sometimes
not, but it would run then the rpms would just drop and it would stall. it
often took me 3 or 4 tries to get it going, sometimes it wouldnt hold at all,
and sometimes it started right up first try... it was probably the most
frustrating problem ive ever dealt with because you never knew when it was
finally going to give up and i could find anything wrong for the life of me. i
replaced the filter....no change....i checked everything i knew how to
check...nothing....i brought it to the shop....i guess it went to the shop
probably 12 or 13 times before it was actually fixed. the first couple of
times the car would start up for them no problem...then they would call me up,
hand me the keys and look at me like i was an idiot. that happened with the
first 3 or 4 shops i brought it to. (in fact i think i was the only one to ever
experience the problem, friends and parents borrowed the car several times
durring this period and never ever had a problem...just me) The first shop
that actually got it to stall out on them thought it was a relay. i told them
that i was pretty sure that it wasnt a relay but i was so fed up that i sed
just put the damn thing in anyway and well see what happens, it didnt cost that
much anyway. so they did, same problem continued. brought it back. this
time they said fuel pump. so the pump was replaced. (expensive little
job)...problem continued. next time it went in the shop the guy checked all of
my wires and found 2 connectors leading to the pump which were corroded from
all of my driving on the beach and trailoring the boat...just prolonged
exposure to salt. so i replaced those....no change. finally we found it. it
turns out that there was some type of short in the alternator. it was wierd.
my battery remained fully charged and all that shit, but apparently electronic
feul pumps are extremely sensitive to current change...so when the alternator
would short, it would cause the pump to stop...whatever...a big expensive
mess...changed the alternator...all better.
michael conaway wrote:
--
Craig S. Gillen
http://www.geocities.com/Baja/Canyon/3033
michael conaway
and i think your idea that the alternator is plauseable so i will give it a
try tomarrow today a cant get a chance to get to the auto parts store to get
a new one so i half to find out how to test the alternator today
any idea on how to test an alternator for a 87 Firebird 2.8l v6 MPFI ?
michael
"peace is for throughs who have enough problems already....."
Craig S. Gillen wrote in message <3702C0AB...@vt.edu>...
Craig S. Gillen
problem as i had, it works sometimes and sometimes it just doesnt........but
thats how i would try it. my mechanic found the problem with mine so i dont
know exactly how they tested for that exact problem. good luck...
Carl Porter
shops have one now but call first to make sure. If the diodes are bad it will
show up on the meter. Also if you plan on keeping the car go to
www.helminc.com & order you a shop manual for the car. It has all the test
procedures & diagnostic charts.
michael conaway
so its either fuel pump or the fuelrail ...........maybe just the fuel
filter
........................dont know yet..ive got to put it up in the air
tomarrow and start looking and testing
so this should be fun.............ive allready have over 30 hours of labor
in it myself............. another 2 or 3 shouldn't hurt .but she should be
running again,,
michael
Craig S. Gillen wrote in message <37040469...@vt.edu>...
>i would recomend a ammeter/voltometer.........but of course if you have the
same
>problem as i had, it works sometimes and sometimes it just
doesnt........but
>thats how i would try it. my mechanic found the problem with mine so i
dont
>know exactly how they tested for that exact problem. good luck...
>--
>Craig S. Gillen
>http://www.geocities.com/Baja/Canyon/3033
>
>
mlw...@ibm.net
the engine would crank fine, but wouldn't catch for more than a second or
so. It turned out the 1'st fuel injector had shorted out, which wouldn't
allow the engine to turn over. You might try looking there if the
alternator idea doesn't pan out.
Good Luck
michael conaway <@ptd.net> wrote in message ...