First post but I’ve always checked here for help previously with other members issues. You guys are great but me and my brother having terrible time diagnosing a issue.

some background. Last year replaced fuel pump.then for last few months when it rained a lot the car would not start until it dried out. So replaced distributor car and rotor. Then about a month ago again after heavy rain. shut car off at store got back in. Crank no start. No fuel at shrader. Gave it a wack on gas tank. Boom. Started up.
so I’m like great fuel pump. Again.
car was good for another 2 weeks. Thought.
I was told you only get one wack to get the car home basically. lol. I was still thinking at this point it had something to do with the rain bc intermittently I was getting pressure at the shrader.

car was fine for another bit. Then I was at work. ( pizza delivery driver. Then same issue.
No fuel. To shrader. I pushed it to back lot. Called aaa to have it towed yesterday. Battery was dead so they jumped me. And boom car started up. ( yet sluggish ) I drove it home pulled into driveway. ( slight incline ) and it sounded like it wanted to stall out at that point. But it didn’t.
left the car for few hours checked again started up. Then this morning once again crank no start. its just so weird with what’s going on with it.
i don’t have tools to check pressure. I’m replacing fuel filter today.


i don’t want to drop tank if I don’t have too. But it’s just crazy how intermittently ( or not ) that I will then won’t have pressure. Like when the pump goes it goes ? It doesn’t work none day and not the next and back to working.

my to do list
fuel filter
then posssibly fuel pump replacement ( again )

i wanted to give you as much info with what has been going on and how it’s been starting and stuff as I can. Maybe it’s something stupid simple. But yea.

thanks guys in advanced !

 

Get the fuel pressure tester as a loaner at your local parts store. Auto Zone, Advance Auto, O-Reileys all have them as loaners. Can't help you without it. Sure, fuel pumps do that sometimes work thing.

 

Yea those things cost money to “borrow” plus money is tight no way to go buy one without working car. Waiting on the filter now from amazon. Then pump will be here Monday.

jyst so weird how it’s happening. Jus replaced pump. Last year.

went out to see if it would start. And. Battery is dead. Fml. It’s brand new. “ a month old. “

 

Every Crank No Start issue I encounter, I either check for spark first (screwdrivers work, just need someone to see if you have ANY spark) and then spray the intake with either Starting Fluid OR Brake Parts Cleaner OR Carb and Choke Cleaner (basically all the same stuff, minor difference) and see if it runs for a few seconds. And by "Spray" I mean like a solid, 5 second, leave it wet kind of spray. So it gets past the butterfly on the throttle. (Or the other way around, could spray it first, too.)

If it runs for a few seconds, you have a fuel delivery issue.
If doing that yields no result, then, you have another issue (probably spark, although at that point if there is spark then it is either timing or compression, which can be linked to timing.)
COULD BE PLUGGED EXHAUST but if things ever got to that point, the car wont rev past a certain point or go over a certain top speed if the exhaust or cat is that plugged....

This will point you in the direction you need to go
Need: Fuel, Spark, AIR (Air/Fuel Mixture. COULD BE air restriction but that is extreme, let it breathe as much as you can) and timing/compression (thing 4 and 5, different people say timing and compression though one could be directly related to the other, like if your car won't start after a distributor change, head gasket job, valve adjustment, timing advance ? or some other such thing.)

 

Might have a parasitic drain on that battery. I have one of those cell phone adapters that plugs into the cigarette lighter. I am petrified it will give me a dead battery one day... though, many people say it won't (there is a ring of light around the outside of it. That is a power draw.) I am not so sure.
I bought a CTEK battery charger, as that can bring back any battery that doesn't have such discharge that it needs a manual charger to "jump start" its charging. I once had a battery so low, a green light came on the CTEK. It was weird, I never had that happen. Still not sure what that meant, maybe if I left it on it would charge it, "soft start?" but I ended up buying the cheapest $20 manual charger I could find to "jump start" it into charging then let the CTEK work on it and sure enough, even if like a day or two later, it was all the way charged. That battery sure had some damage from being so discharged but, hey, it works. Strong enough for until that first cold day of winter, that's when you know your battery is not strong enough, it does happen.

As to the fuel pressure... LesMyer is right, but try the starting fluid OR BPC OR CC in the intake to see if you get a start.

A dying fuel pump makes the car take longer to start MOST OF the time, then works normal when warm, then, one day, it just won't start. Keeping the gas tank full MAY help there, but, if the pump is dying, one day even that won't help you. Same way if you have an engine with rod knock, you overfill it with oil to help it limp where it has to go. One day, if you keep pushing it, it will put the rod through the side of the block, then you need a tow..

I once had a dying fuel pump act like the transmission was going out because the car would not go more than 65MPH. Really thought it was the trans. Then the car refused to start right in the mechanic shop's parking lot. $150 to $180 later, that car ran like new. It was the fuel pump. They DO say to change the filter first, I changed one once, it is not hard to do but.... That also wasn't a Blazer. (It was a Nissan.)