Car Problems

Was going down the road to work and my car quit on me. I drive a '96 camaro with the 3.8 engine. If i let it sit long enough it'll crank up but it won't stay running for more than a few seconds. Alot of people have told me that they think that its the fuel pump but I'm not sure. I checked the electrical circuit to it and it checks out good so i tried sittin underneath the car while someone turned the ignition forward because many people said that you could hear the fuel pump come on but i heard nothing. Someone else told me to take the hose coming to the fuel filter from the fuel pump off and it should spray a stream of gas out when the ignition was turned forward but it didn't even drip. Any other suggestions as to what it may be, cause a fuel pump for this car ain't cheap. Any suggestions are appreciated. Thnx.

sounds like a fuel pump to me. The easiest way to check it is by hooking up a fuel pressure gauge.

dont even think you need to do that, if it doesnt spray then its not pumping enough or not at all.

Sounds like the fuel pump to me.

make sure you checked the feed line, not the fuel return line. the feed line is the larger of the two. and also i hope you were at the back of the car when you were layin under it, by the tank... because of course, thats where the pump is.

if after all this, you still get no results. check the pump fuse. on third gens the fuse in near the fender, i believe yours would be under the dash. my fuse have blown on several occassions for some odd reason. if this doesnt fix it, then check for shorts, or damage in the wiring... otherwise replace fuel pump.

sounds like a fuel pump to me. The easiest way to check it is by hooking up a fuel pressure gauge.

:iagree:

Get a gauge and verify the pressure although it's a fair bet the pump took a dump.

Yes i was at the back of the car :screwy: heh. And i've check all shorts and wires on it and they're all good, so i went and spent $283 dollars on a brand new fuel pump due to the miraculous wonder that not a single junk yard had one for my car.

Another question then. I've just replaced my coolant sensor, and my thermostat, and as far as i know none of my hoses on my radiator are leaking, but here lately when i drive it, it loses almost half of whats in the radiator everytime. I've never let it overheat to much but it still gets to hot for me to be comfortable driving it. But still I can't figure out where its going cause its not steaming up on the motor either. And the radiator has been flushed twice since i've had the car, and thats maybe been 8 months??

are you kidding me? My aftermarket walbro high performance pump cost like $100 ....or did you have to buy the whole fuel pump module?

whole module... but if i can get a better and cheaper one i'll take it back and ride the kawasaki for a few more days...

The coolant could be leaking out of the water pump.

do you see steam coming out of the exhaust pipes? i hope you dont have it, but you might have a blown head gasket/ cracked block?

Before we go scaring the man into thinking his car is trash, what about the infamous 4th gen overflow tank leak?

Also, replace the radiator cap, should have with the niew stat.

But ghetto, a USED fuel pump form a junkyard? That's pretty ghetto :lol:

if car gets too hot the pressure of the coolant will also exceed the radiator cap limit. thus when car gets too hot the cap allows the coolant to flow out of radiator into the resovoir (how is that spelled?). the coolant may have overflowed out of the resovoir. some of the resovoir caps (not radiator caps) intentionally aren't sealed because of this.

you may have the incorrect radiator cap for your car. which would cause overheating and possibly coolant loss.

this is probably it.... since you say it runs too hot and you didn't mention white smoke from the exhaust. the only other possibility is coolant entering the oil thru the heads. check oil... if it's an obvious lighter brown color or if there's white stuff on the oil cap, then you have a bigger problem.

Oil is a dark color, and not watery looking but i'll try it again once i get it running. The cap on the coolant resevoir is extremely loose, it screws on but it is easily pulled off. And smoke does come out the exhaust when it first starts but not after that.

Now on to my previous question...Is there any way in hell to get this gas tank out without cutting my exhaust off. I've got everything undone and its ready to drop but i can't angle it out on the right side of the car far enough to completely drop it.

But ghetto, a USED fuel pump form a junkyard? That's pretty ghetto :lol:

And i got one too =) for $25 dollars:smokin:

exhaust has to come out and have fun dropping the tank... it actually has to be angled front to back and then angled toward the front of the car to come out... it's one fun job.... you do have your rear dropped too right?

I'm just in awe you'd go through all this to put a pump in that might only have a week worth of life in it :dunno:

I'm just in awe you'd go through all this to put a pump in that might only have a week worth of life in it :dunno:
lol ... now wouldn't that be the shit...

Well I reckon its gonna need a new pump in it anyway if the motor goes bad and i'd have to put a new motor in it anyway. But the gas tank is out and laying on the ground and i will NEVER do it again after this. I dropped my rear axle to the ground, my exhaust had to be cut off to make room for the tank to drop since the exhaust was welded all the way up to the engine, and now my chrome tips are scratched. I'll try and take some pics of it before i put it all back together. Its hard to work on a car with me having no mechanic experience, and being by myself with a full time job but i think i got this one day. Now to rebuild the motor i guess, sooner or later, and put a turbo on it :nutkick:

Well the car is officially down. I'm gonna spend the money to get the motor rebuilt but I'm seriously craving a 5 speed. Would it be better to try and change it over to a 5 speed or am i better off buying another camaro?

5 speed, why? you do know auto's are faster right? you put a diffrent torque converter on it and you are in there.

It's better to just buy a different camaro with a manual rather than try to swap one in.

cuz its fun to play with your stick ;D

Well my car hasn't died after all. The valve cover head gaskets aren't any good, so I'ma pop em off today, and pull out the silicon :smokin: . Any suggestions as to what i might as well do while they're off?