1989 Camaro IROC 5.7 only runs on starting fluid...

[stholt5233]

Ok, so the car only runs if I fog it. When I stop spraying the car stops too. I replaced the fuel pump and hanger, fuel pressure at the rail peaks at 50 then drops to around 42. According to a noid check, the injectors are firing. The car will run if I spray starting fluid into it, so I know I have spark. I had the ignition module checked at Autozone and it passed, but it is old. All the fuses are good. What's next?

The car did sit for a few years. The gas I took out wasn't too cloudy, but it was very amber. I cleaned the tank and put a few gallons of 93 oct gas to try starting it, but so far it will not catch. Doesn't even sound like it's trying. The plugs smell like gas, but don't seem wet.

[777stickman]

I suspect the injectors are not squirting fuel due to being plugged with old dried out fuel. There is a test for checking the spray pattern while cranking, just can't remember the details??

Good luck to you.

[Tech II]

I agree with stick....if it fires while spraying carb cleaner into the intake and dies when you stop, and you have fuel pressure and each injector passes the noid test, then there isn't enough fuel coming out of the injectors.......

Stick I believe this has 8 injectors, and is not TBI......the old trick for checking a spray pattern from a TBI injector was to set up a timing light and aim it at the fuel coming out of the injector.....if the light showed Puddling, instead of a conical spray, it was either the injector or the ECM....

Did this all happen at once or was this something that was getting progressively worse?-

[stholt5233]

The car was left to my wife in a will, and had been sitting in a garage for 3 years without being started. I am thinking of trying to flush some cleaner through the fuel rail through the schrader valve and letting it sit for a while then blowing it out.

[Blue Bowtie]

When the pump runs it flushes out the rails. You noted the initial surge of pressure to 50 PSI, and then noted the regulator opening , dropping the pressure to 42. That second fuel line returns to the tank from the regulator, and is flushing the fuel rails due to the regulator being on the opposite side from the fuel inlet. That should flush the rails and crossover pipes after a minute or so of pump operation.

The concern is that the fuel being pumped cannot get through the injectors. There are very fine inlet screens in each injector. There are also metal pintles in each injector which may be frozen in position from years of being static.

You can remove the injectors and send them out for cleaning and testing, or you can try to test them yourself. You could also replace the injectors and avoid future problems. If it is the 1989, that was the first year for Multec injectors in TPIs, and they were problematic.

[Blue Bowtie]

Incidentally, the only places I would trust for injector cleaning and flow-matching are Cruzin' Performance in Michigan or Southbay Injection in NY.

[stholt5233]

Hmm...I was trying to avoid taking them out...but, to me, if I am going through the time to take them out, I will probably just replace them, like you said, to avoid future problems. Any brands I should avoid?

[Blue Bowtie]

DO NOT use the OEM Multecs. Bosch D3s are O.K.