Daphi

Hi guys,

First of all: I'm swedish so you'll have to excuse my english in advance. I hope you understand my problem from my explanation.

I bought a Firebird 305 TBI (with manual gear box) in october and it immediatly moved into my garage where I have done some body- and interior work during the winter. I didn't start the car during the winter until two days ago when spring finally arrived. I changed the oil, oil filter and air filter and checked everything before start-up and even though my battery was pretty low it started for the first time since october with no problems at all. Everything went just fine. The idle was great and everything seemed to be in order.

I let the car idle for a couple of minutes and then I turned it off. I went home with a smile on my face and plans to take it for a ride two days later (today that is). Came back to the garage yesterday and my friend wanted to check it out now that I'm almost finished with the new interior. He also wanted me to start the car for him but I said that the battery still was low and that short start-ups without driving isn't very good. Of course I couldn't keep my fingers away from it so I jump-started it (i think that's what you call it) with help from my other car's battery and it started right away. No problems this far. This was yesterday.

When I got back to the garage TODAY i was finally going to take it for a ride. The battery was exhausted (I was planning on replacing it anyways), so I thought I might as well jump-start it again. Problem is that it won't even try starting. Yesterday everything went fine and it started right away, but today it just cranks without even making an effort of igniting.

My question is:
Can the exhausted battery cause this? Even though it gets enough power from my other car to crank 5-6 times?

Would a new battery (I'm going to pick a new one up tomorrow) solve this problem?

Should I remove the fuel pump fuse and try crankning it a couple of times to avoid risking to flood the injectors? Maybe that's what happened yesterday since the battery is very low?

I need all the help I can get from you guys. I've never visited this message board before and there is not one Pontiac Firebird owner anywhere near my hometown. It's an unusual car here!

I hope you can help me ouy here, guys.

/Daniel
First time V8-owner

chads89ta

iTrader: (6)

check for spark by using another spark plug, also you might try spraying a little carb cleaner or starting fluid in throttle body

Daphi

Probably a dumb question:
Do I just dismount the air filter cap (hope you understand what I mean) and spray the starter fluid down on the throttle body?

If I remove the fuses called Inj.1 and Inj.2, the fuel should "dry up" pretty quick if I get the car to ignite, right?

Gotta get the car going today!

thomas1976

I have started some of these cars that were seriosly flooded wery quickly, by holding the gas pedal to the floor (WOT) and starting it. Just realease trottle as it starts, to not rev it high.
Same procedure for ice cold freezing morning starts.

Daphi

Thank you!
I will try it when I get to the garage. But wouldn't that result in an even more flooded throttle body?

Anyhow, I'll try it and keep my fingers crossed. I really really really want my firebird to ignite today. I just hope I don't exhaust the new battery trying to get it going.

I welcome all the help I can get with this!

I'll try starting it without pulling the fuse to the fuel pump with the pedal all the way to the floor. Hopefully it'll ignite like it did yesterday. Haven't had one single problem with ignition before. I think it's pretty awkward how it could start so easily two days ago and now it's just plain dead with no ignition at all.

Sounds to me like this is a case of exhausted battery and flooded throttle. I mean, what could possibly break since the car was on idle two days ago?

thomas1976

Thats wat I thought too, it was a mechanic that showed me, it has worked every time.
The first time I gave it a little trottle, dident work, the pedal has to be on the flor. Playing around with the trottle dosent work either, hold it then release it steady.

Daphi

I owe you one, Thomas!
I picked up a new battery (expensive as ****, but I wanted a good one), mounted it in the car and tried to start it up. Didn't ignite at first even when I pressed the pedal fully. Then I sprayed some starting gas into the throttle body and it ignited after a couple of tries. Now everything works perfectly again!

It was probably just flooded and due to the exhausted battery it didn't get enough power to ignite.

Thanks!