Disco Man

I pulled my '82 Trans Am out of the garage yesterday and let it idle in the driveway. After about 2 minutes of running at idle, it died. Needless to say it will not start again. I seem to be getting power to the sparkplugs since the clutch fan is moving when I attempt to start the car. The starter is also working fine. Also when I attempt to start it, it backfires a little bit. My car has cross-fire fuel injection (dual TBIs). I looked at the TBI units which seem to be operating fine, however I do not smell any fuel in the TBIs. It has good 94 octane gas in the car and as much as I can tell no mosture has gotten into the gas system. This leads me to think that the fuel pump is bad. The 10 amp fuel pump fuse in the fuse box is also good. Tell me what you guys think, if I am on the right track. Also tell me if you have done a fuel pump replacement on a Fuel Injected 3rd generation since they all came with the fuel pump in the gas tank. I am not looking forward to replacing a fuel pump in 30 degree weather that requires dropping the gas tank to get to it. Thanks in advance for any help.

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Disco Man

1982-83 Cross-Fire Trans Am Site: http://members.xoom.com/the305cfi/

1979 (L78/W72) 10th Anniversary Trans Am
1982 (LU5) Trans Am

ede

if you don't have tools to check fuel preasure a quick and easy way is to loosen a fuel fitting and you should have fuel spray from it if the pump is good, if the fuel only dribbles out you have problem with the fuel pump. not 100% accurate but it's fast and easy way to tell.

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ICON Motorsports
1st & 3rd

Vader

Disco,

Ed's idea is the most direct way. If you're as lazy as I am, you can prime the engine with a little extra fuel or starting fluid to see if it will start. If it starts and runs only briefly, you've got a fuel delivery problem. The filter and/or pump are suspect. If the extra fuel makes no difference, you might have an flooding, ignition, or timing problem.

If it doesn't start, you may have flooded the engine. Remove a couple of spark plugs and examine their condition. Wet plugs with a strong fuel odor indicate flooding. If that's the case, remove all the plugs, rinse them in very hot water and dry them. Crank the engine several revs to admit air and clear out the excess fuel. Reinstall the plugs and try starting again.

Test for spark by removing a plug wire and holding it ¼" from a ground (NOT the TBI units) while someone cranks the engine briefly. I'd advise using well insulated pliers in case the insulation on the plug wire is failing. You should be able to see a solid blue spark between the wire and ground.

If the spark is present, and the extra fuel doesn't help, you need to check the ignition timing. If the timing has moved way off the correct setting, you might have slipped a timing chain.

One of these should get you closer to the problem, or at least eliminate possibilities.

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Later,
Vader
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"No matter how hard you try you can't stop us now"
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Disco Man

Thanks for the advice. I am getting the humming sound from the fuel pump when the ignition key is turned and it stopped when I pulled the fuel pump fuse. I will check the fuel pressure tonight since my battery ran out of juice and I had to recharge it late last night. If that looks okay I will move on to testing the ignition system. Thanks again, I will keep you updated as things progress.

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Disco Man

1982-83 Cross-Fire Trans Am Site: http://members.xoom.com/the305cfi/

1979 (L78/W72) 10th Anniversary Trans Am
1982 (LU5) Trans Am

Disco Man

Guys,
Thanks for all the help, I have found the problem. After diagnosing the fuel system it checked out ok. I then concentrated my efforts on the ignition system using a amp/voltmeter and my trusty timing light which led me to find a little suprise inside the distributor cap. A completely broken up and shattered rotor (looks like it got loose and was pounded into several pieces). Well it is off to the local Pontiac dealership parts department tomorrow for a new rotor. Thanks again.

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Disco Man

1982-83 Cross-Fire Trans Am Site: http://members.xoom.com/the305cfi/

1979 (L78/W72) 10th Anniversary Trans Am
1982 (LU5) Trans Am

Bort62

Dont get me Wrong Disco, But you pare paying someone to Change Your Rotor ?

After Showing all the Technical prowess to Diagnose the problem, I would imagine You Could remove two screws and Install a new rotor...

But If You have Money To Burn...

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60 Ranchero - Project ( Money Hole )
85 Sport Coupe LG4 - Daily Driver

Livin' the Stereotype

82 Berlinetta

How are you able to tell you have spark with hte fan turning??? I must have missed that in engine repair class. ( Sorry, not meaning to be smart_ _ _)

Disco Man

Bort62,
Sorry for the miscommunication. I went to pick up the rotor and new distributor cap at the parts department. I did not take the car to the dealer. I installed the rotor and distributor cap myself, last night and voila, the car is running fine. However it took about 30 minutes for my hands to warm up after I finished the job, it was only 22 degrees outside when I did the job in my driveway.

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Disco Man

1982-83 Cross-Fire Trans Am Site: http://members.xoom.com/the305cfi/

1979 (L78/W72) 10th Anniversary Trans Am
1982 (LU5) Trans Am

Disco Man

82 Berlinetta,
This method has worked pretty well for me in the past and this latest situation was no different. It entails using a timing gun and hooking up its black connector to a ground, its red connector to the positive (+) terminal on the battery and hooking up its spark plug wire sensor first to the #8 sparkplug wire (1st in the firing order on the small block Chevy V8). Then have someone attempt to start the car while you are firing the timing gun. If it pulses then current is getting to your spark plug. You should also move the timing guns spark plug wire sensor connector to the other spark plug wires and repeat the test. In the case of yesterday, I was not getting any pulses from the timing gun therefore I then worked my way back to the distributor and found the problem. Also this test is good if you are having a misfiring problem which most of the time is caused by a bad plug wire. Seen many bad plug wires that looked good on the outside but did not pass current.

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Disco Man

1982-83 Cross-Fire Trans Am Site: http://members.xoom.com/the305cfi/

1979 (L78/W72) 10th Anniversary Trans Am
1982 (LU5) Trans Am