doesn't start but makes lots of noise

[weareoff]

Hi all,

Newbie here and tried to search for this situation in previous post but came up dry. Here's our situation:

We have 1994 Firebird, 350 V8, six-gear manual transmission.

It's been running great for a long time and we drove it yesterday, parked it outside after driving it. It rained a bit during the night but that has happened before. Today we went out to start it but when you turn the key it sounds like you've poured nails in it. The sound is horrible and reminds you of the sound a car would make if you turned the key when the engine was already running. We've tried a couple of times in different situations, but it is always making the same noise. If you persist it still won't start. When you crank it you can see a tendency for the engine to to turn over but it doesn't.

We're kind of stuck in an area of Sweden without a lot of mechanics working on American cars - on a Saturday on top of it...

Anyone have any ideas of what could have caused this or of what to do? (Other than to push-start it...)

Thanks,
Fredrik

[volkerc]

Originally Posted by weareoff

Hi all,

Newbie here and tried to search for this situation in previous post but came up dry. Here's our situation:

We have 1994 Firebird, 350 V8, six-gear manual transmission.

It's been running great for a long time and we drove it yesterday, parked it outside after driving it. It rained a bit during the night but that has happened before. Today we went out to start it but when you turn the key it sounds like you've poured nails in it. The sound is horrible and reminds you of the sound a car would make if you turned the key when the engine was already running. We've tried a couple of times in different situations, but it is always making the same noise. If you persist it still won't start. When you crank it you can see a tendency for the engine to to turn over but it doesn't.

We're kind of stuck in an area of Sweden without a lot of mechanics working on American cars - on a Saturday on top of it...

Anyone have any ideas of what could have caused this or of what to do? (Other than to push-start it...)

Thanks,
Fredrik

could be a weak battery not having enough juice to turn over the engine. did you try jumping it, and did it fire?