---------------------SORRY FOR THE COPY AND PASTING---------------

Ok well, today It was 50 degree's in metro detroit, so after seeing the teenies enjoying their cars all day at work, I was hell bent to get mine out.

Got home, pulled the car cover off with no intention of it starting (I've owned Many LT1's, they never start after six months sitting still...), and although the battery was dying, as it cranked, it fired like a brand new car.

I decided to let it sit (major error..) while i went inside, I knew it had low fuel, but it was worth it for me to let the carbon build up burn out, and let her idle..

grabbed the family, and headed to the gas station after about 15 minutes of idling, I knew it was a risk, but even on E i thought i had about 10 blocks in her (to the neariest gas station), well I was around about 8 blocks in she started to stumble, like it was out of gas, I coasted it to the corner and attempted to crank it, Nothing - Just a momentary ingite, and stumble - stall.

So i walked up to get some fuel, poored it in, still the same thing happened, stumble, stall - Called my wife, to come as the battery was starting to die from the excessive cranking, and I did pump the gas a bit (ignorant I know), Then it just stopped attempting to start, it will crank but no igniting of any sort, I came back two hours later, and STILL it won't start,it just keeps cranking without any signs of ignting, i don't know the average flood time on an LT1 (although I did it alot growing up rofl, i had no gas money!) Does this sound like a flooding issue? I could smell fuel in the begining, but now i can't, the pump is working, its very loud and evident..

Ideas? I read a W.O.T will do a "Clear flood" on the PCM, but have yet to try, any ideas? Its just chilling on the side of the road lol.

 

Damn it... I just tried again, It and the son of a bitch still won't start, just cranks and cranks...

Man, I just don't know why I keep buying these god damned things.. seriously.

 

It only takes 30 seconds to smoke a GM in tank pump when its not pushing fuel.

 

Not to sound ignorant, but how exactly do I check to see if its getting fuel.

 

Do you have fuel pressure gage/tester?Fuel and spark are the first 2 things to check. Steven

 

No, I'm gonna need to get one I guess, I'm going to go back to the car in a bit and test for spark..

Next is fuel, One thing that has me kind of concerned, is one of my neighbors came and gave me a 1/2 gallon of fuel before I walked to get some new fuel, I wonder if it had water, or was bad.. Doubtable, Another day and a slue of new questions...

 

You dont need a pressure gauge to see if its working. Turn the key to the on position and pop the cap off the shrader valve, and push the bleeder in. If fuel comes spraying out, you're good. DO NOT DO THIS ON A HOT ENGINE and have a towel handy to catch whatever comes out.

Pumping the gas pedal on a fuel injected car does absolutely nothing... all you are doing is opening and closing the throttle blades so it is safe to say you did not flood it. I'd bet you burned the pump out. In tank pumps are actually cooled by the gasoline, and when you run them low, the pump runs hot. They will burn out very quickly.

 

The plot thickens, I went back this morning, Checked for spark = OK

Then decided to get some starting fluid (as gas horizontaly would be messy), and what do you know, she fires like she's brand new.. then dies lol.

So now the million dollar question, did i A burn the pump up (I only hear the whining from the motor when its in pre-crank phase) but the back of the car seems to be silent, although I'm not sure if im hearing the whining from the motor, or the rear, as in the rear it's very faint, or did i clog the fuel filter by alowing it to run dry, and pick up sediment..

I don't have time to dick with it really, nor the place to do it - I wonder how much it would cost for a shop to finish what i already started..

I'll pay someone $100.00 to come and do it, lol

 

$100 to check it out and tell you whats wrong? Or to fix it.

 

hmmm...sounds like you should have traded for my DD...lol

good luck. its prolly something simple

 

a feul press. gauge would tell the rest of the story, but I bet the pump is shot. you'll also want to replace the fuel filter cause sometimes the pump will spit out little pieces of itself when self destructing. even if you hear the pump, and even if you get pressurized fuel to come out of the shraeder valve, it doesnt mean the pump is ok. alot of times pumps get weak, and dont build enough press. to start the engine, or keep it running. your pump should be making around 45psi when you first turn the key on, if its at like 20, it wont start. just an example.
you also need to test to see if your getting injector pulse at the injectors. if the pcm's not turning the inj.s on and off, it'll be the same thing as if you had a bad pump. all you know right now is, your engine is not getting enough fuel to start or run.

we charge 5.5 hours to do fuel pumps at my dealership, thats to start. when these cars get old, lots of things that need to come apart to get at the pump, wont due to rust. sometimes the bolts that go through the control arms and panhard bar get rusted into the bushing, and the only way to get them apart is to cut them off. obviously this will raise the price significantly.

that being said, you can do the easy way which is cutting an access door in the floor pan in the package tray area behind the back seat. you gotta pull the rear carpet to get at it though. then VERY CAREFULLYL cut the hole. problem is, there are fuel lines directly under the area your cutting, so you need to use extreme caution when cutting the hole NOT to cut all the way through the sheet metal and into the lines. this'll still take a few hours start to finish, but the good thing is after that fuel pump changes are very easy and fast. noone plans on having to replace a pump more then once, but Ive seen it happen before.

eitherway, $100 aint even close. sorry.

BTW, if steven wants to do the job for you, he's a good friend of mine and he does great work. Id offer you my services but Im WAYYY too busy as usual.

chris

 

No offense, But Even with a blown Pump you'd have to pay me 4K plus your DD, Clean 30ths don't grow on trees.

 

Hell hoping both haha, But i was refering to fixing it.

Called a shop, they quoted me at $850.00, I'm sorry but they are out of their minds, atm mechanic prices are absurd, But with a spiraling economy, what can one expect?

"Whole sending unit needs to be replace..." I just laughed at him, If i can't get it done cheap enough, I'll just dirty my hands, I don't have the time atm, and the trap door is just a poor idea in my opinion, But i will do as i have always done, and do what needs to be done.

I'm going to Ebay a 255 tonight, or sometime this week, as well as a filter, I'm not going to pay 30+% over cost, No thanks - But if you're an experianced mechanic, and want to discuss some numbers you can call me at 586-615-3710, right now it just sits in front of my condo, It's not sports car time imho until Mid-april, I made one bad mistake after another this weekend, And I can already feel my future self touching his toes.

Man am i disappointed in myself.

 

As always chris, thanks for the insight - I'm so utterly disgusted in myself, I know I brought this onto myself, and what a poor time for mistakes..

 

$850 is a good price.At chris' shop you would be looking at twice that.If your looking to get it fixed for $100 you are out of your mind.I could checkit out and confirm the pump is bad for $80 and thats with me comming to you.Hell you can't get a pump for $100.I would not do the job for under $400 and thats with you getting the pump.As far as the pump and price/quality you get what you pay for. Steven