Camaro Maniac

Last fall, my '95 Z-28 became difficult to start and finally would not start at all. One one occasion, a large white cloud spewed from the tailpipes just as it started. A week later, it almost had to have it towed from a local mall but then, after about 20 minutes of cranking (sputtering and spewing), it started and I drove it home. A day later, I tried to start it again to put it in the garage for the winter and it would not. Needless to say, it spent the winter in my driveway.

When it did start, it ran normally without any noticeable driveablity issues.

The car has about 180K on odo and has almost everything stock except plugs and wires and of course the filters have been changed routinely. The fuel pump was also changed probably about 80,000 miles ago or more. The Opti is original.

I cannot tell you how reliable and trouble free the car has been since I bought it in 1996 with 9k on the odo. It's just a great car. Today I threw a bottle of dry gas and a bottle of fuel injector cleaner in the tank and tried to start it once again. Small clouds of whitish smoke came out of the tailpipes as it struggled to start. No dice,

I wanted to bounce this situation off the board. I'm hoping it's not a head gasket (who wouldn't) and something simple like a relay or even the Opti.
Does anyone have an opinion? TIA

Injuneer

Have you scanned it for codes?

Have you checked the fuel pressure?

Camaro Maniac

I have not scanned it for codes and did not check the fuel pressure. I don't have a scanner and now realize I should have had it done last fall when it started to run poorly. I think now it basically comes down to having the car towed to a shop and having it repaired. It was my hope that the board members might recognize the car's symptoms and suggest what it may be, something like "yeah, that's the Opti" or "I had that happen, it's a head gasket for sure" or something similar. Or even better "that's the fuel pump relay" which would mean a lot less money and hassle to fix the problem.

moparman

What Injuneer said: check fuel pressure.

Camaro Maniac

will do, thanks