96 3.8 Won't turn over

[xsofa]

So, my sister and her father (Brian) brought up my car from Connecticut today. Its a 96 Camaro 3.8. a nice first car I'd say, when it runs.....

Which leads me to my issue. When Brian drove it up, it was doing what he described as, 'surging.' Which from what I can figure is like pressing your foot harder on the pedal, except he wasn't Huh? Long story short, the engine was rebuilt a few years ago, due to cracked head, due to overheating, so I'm certain its got nothing to do with the engine, my money is on fuel delivery. Now, this car has been sitting for a loooong time, months, with basically no gas in the tank, which is horrible. They put a gallon of gas in it to get it to the gas station where they put premium, or "high-test" as he likes to call it.

I get home from school, my sister tells me to go out and start it up, so I can hear what the deal is. So I start it a few times, first time, it did the surging, second time it still did it, 3rd time it idled normal. 4th time, nothing happens and the check engine light is now on, not blinking. I turn the key to 'on', and the fuel pump runs for a few seconds like its supposed to, try to start it, starter does its job, but no joy. Pump it, foot to the floor trying to start it, still no joy.

So I'm thinking, start with a fuel filter, as the pump seems to be working, and it had been sitting there so long, I'm thinking it probably sucked something up with the fuel and has clogged the filter. After I get a filter and a fuel pressure gauge, if my dad doesn't already have one, I'll test it. I think its supposed to be around 40 psi but I'm not really sure. I'm just praying that it's not the fuel pump, as there's 3/4 of a tank or gas in there and I really don't feel like having to undo the rear suspension and lower the axle and all the funness that goes along with that.

So, am I on the right track? Any thoughts, suggestions, or comments are welcome.

Thanks
-Jeff

[xXMDACXx]

3800 Series 1 or 2? Factory Super Charged?

Answer those i may have you problem solved!

[xsofa]

Series II N/A

[02 WS6 TA]

Originally Posted by xXMDACXx

3800 Series 1 or 2? Factory Super Charged?

Answer those i may have you problem solved!

There was never a factory S/C 3.8 F body.

[Super83Z]

Before you go throwing parts at it see if you can get the code read, its usually a good place to start.

[xsofa]

Well I went out and bought a fuel filter, injector cleaner, and some stuff that disperses the water that I'll bet is in the gas, alcohol basically. Got in to take off the hand brake to push it onto the drive way. For the hell of it, I decided to see if it would start. Blink of an eye it was on, running not horribly, gauges were all right where they're supposed to be, oil middle, temperature ~170. It was still idling weird tho, so I put the two cleaners into the fuel, and ran it for a few minutes, a little better. I'm still thinkin' the fuel filters got crap in it so I'm replacing that this evening. What a joy it was to hear the loose exhaust again

[xsofa]

Yay it wont start again, I moved it over to get underneath, undid the quick release on the fuel filter, went to turn the nut, nothing, won't budge. I'm certain im turning it the right way, counter clockwise, pushing toward the inside of the car when turning from the bottom half. Issue is, it twisted the fuel line, so I stopped, grabbed another wrench to hold the fuel line, still nothing. I just sprayed penetrating oil on it and left it to sit. Anyone have experience doing this? I'd assume its normal and all I could do was spray the penetrating oil on it...

[xsofa]

New fuel filter did nothing, but i just ordered a code reader which should be here this weekend or early next week