Ed Petry

Hi everyone,

My recent purchase is getting closer to starting after five plus years of quiet.

Tank cleaned out, new fuel pump and filter, lines blown out and used radiator installed (along with new tires).

Now the car cranks, fires for three to six-eight seconds and dies. It ran on starter fluid for thirty seconds the other night so hopefully it is close.

Any ideas on what to check next?

Thanks in advance,
Ed

Speedtoys

Unplug the MAF, what does it do?

Landseer

No maf on 81. Ensure AFM is seated. Look for vac leaks at any/all vac hose connections and spider boots.
verify mechanical cam timing via notch alignments.
Replace TempII and thermotime switch.
Ensure fuel pump running; check pressure and volume delivery.
Apply noid light to an injector plug and check for signal. They batch fire, btw.
If sitting long, good possibility of blocked injectors.

The beauty of this is once you hear it fire you know its close.

Speedtoys

Thanks..missed it was an 81...wasnt mentioned.

DR

Ding, Ding, Ding!!

Had this exact situation happen a few years ago also on an 81 that had been sitting for years.

After checking everything I finally pulled the fuel rails up with injectors attached and nothing was coming out of the injectors, yes had fuel pressure and 12 volt pulses to injectors.

Replaced injectors with rebuilt units and it fired up and ran perfectly.

FYI, the only reason it would start and run for a few seconds was from the cold start valve only.

Best of luck,

Dave

76FJ55

Does the 81 have a ballast resistor for the ignition coil? If so you'll get the same symptoms if it fails. Easy test would be to add a jumper across the ballast resistor.