I have an old widow lady who lives across the street from me who asked me to try to fix her car... The car was her husbands car, so it does not get driven much- but she starts it up once a week and takes it for a drive about once a month as well. The car is a '86 el camino with a v6 and trottle body injection. Recently it wouldnt start for her so I tried to start it and all it would do was crank and crank without starting. So I checked for spark and it had plenty. So I tried to start it again and it tried to start but died quickly. A few miniutes later I tried to start it agian and it fired up but I had to keep pumping the gas pedal and keep the rpms over 3000- 4000 to keep it running after about 20- 30 seconds it was running perfectly. So then I let it warm all the way up and run for a while just in case the plugs were fouled or whatever. I told her I would come back the next day and see if it would start easily when the engine was cold. So the next day the same thing happened as before. I took it for a drive and it ran fine except for a little hessitation when it was still cold. I am very famillar with working on cars, but I know nothing about this old GM throttle body injection or the GM v6. I suspect it is the injection system. What do you all think?
<!-- / message -->

 

I would check the fuel filter first then go from there.

 

Would a fuel filter cause a problem like this? It seems like if it was the filter it would run poorly all the time not just at start up. Maybe I am wrong...

 

where is the fuel filter at on this car? On the bottom back by the tank or under the hood?

 

there is a fuel sock on the pickup in the tank ,i believe the filter is along the frame on the driver's side.i know the throttle body to manifold gasket can be a problem might check to see if the bolt's are tight .you might try spraying a little carb cleaner around the base to see if the speed picks up indicating a vacume leak .make sure all vacume hoses are good .

 

Okay I had some time this morning to tinker with the ladys car and I disconnected the fuel line at the throttle body and cranked it over a few times-- alot of gas gushed out at first but then it stopped flowing all together after about 1-2 seconds. So I changed the fuel filter and tried it again- the very same thing happened... bummer. so I guess the only other thing that would cause this is the fuel pump. I didnt want to have to drop the tank- so much for the quick and easy fix!!!

 

I am not very familiar with EFI, but it might be a bad Coil, the fuel pump runs on a relay, it runs for a certain amount of time then stops, that is normal for it to stop, the Fuel Pump Relay might be bad, I would check that, with the coil though, sometimes it will throw good spark will turning over but once it starts the spark can become week, maybe from a bad internal resistor or something along that line, another option is old fuel, or water in the fuel, that would also cause it to act like that... I could be a hundred things, the bad part of the TBI motors is that one simple sensor could be bad and that would cause it too... If you have access to a OBDI reader that might be able to help also. I noticed in an earlier posting that the intake gasket could be leaking, that is another thing to check, you can use WD-40, Starting Fluid, Brake Cleaner, ETC. Spray it around the mating area of the intake and the cylinder heads while it is running, if the RPMs jump up then you know that you are looking at a new intake gasket set... All these options are quite cheap... Hope this helps!

 

Does anyone know where ther fuel pump relay is located on this car? I do not have acess to a manual because this is not my car..

 

Check out Autozone.com under there DIY section, sometimes the have wiring schematics that you can look at with caption that tell you the location, other wise look under the hood, there probably will be a black box on either one of the fenders of maybe even on the firewall, I find it hard to believe that it would be inside the car.

 

I think the fuel pump is in the tank. If it's not in the tank it's on the passenger side of the engine block. Follow the innlet line to the pump.