Pontiac Firebird 1967-2002 Birds of a feather flock together

Sputter Sputter...

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Old Jul 6, 2007 | 06:57 PM
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Okay, 1996 Pontiac Firebird V6 manual.

Car runs and drives fine until this afternoon. It's 100+ in the afternoon, and while the morning drives went fine, when we went for errands in the afternoon it only made it as far as two blocks to the gas station where it was shut off normally and refueled.

Immediately upon starting it's a rough low idle and the gas pedal has NO effect on RPM or fuel delivery. It'll play around under 500 RPMs, sputtering and back firing, before dying. Pressing the gas pedal has NO effect on it's running condition. It dies, and will start right back up and then die again after sputtering.

Tried manually turning the throttle while it was started and yet again it had no effect on it's performance. Would not run long enough to ever get us out of the gas station parking lot.

We pushed it into a parking spot and left it there to cool off. It was in the shade all afternoon. By the time 6 pm rolled around we stopped back by to see if it would start and maybe get it limped back to the house.

It started right up after the first try, ran smooth and was responsive as usual. It drove the few blocks to the house just fine with no issues. It's parked now, and just waiting. I don't want to spend money replacing parts that I would first suspect like filter and fuel pump.

Anyone have any ideas?

Thanks,



DB
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Old Jul 7, 2007 | 07:54 AM
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Bump.
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Old Jul 7, 2007 | 04:26 PM
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Sounds like the fuel pump is going, mine did the same thing. Get a fuel preasure gauge and check it.
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Old Jul 7, 2007 | 09:57 PM
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whens the last time you changed to fuel filter? and check the spark plugs wires, with that opti in there they sit really close to the drive belt. i couldnt even tell you how many times my belt cut throught the spark plug wires. and it might be the opti.
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Old Jul 7, 2007 | 11:00 PM
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That's a good idea...I didn't think of the Opti Spark.
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Old Jul 7, 2007 | 11:13 PM
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i just notice you have a v6 sorry i dont think those have optisparks but correct me if im wrong
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Old Jul 8, 2007 | 07:38 AM
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Originally Posted by Disturbed Bird
i just notice you have a v6 sorry i dont think those have optisparks but correct me if im wrong

Okay, back to the first square. Crap.
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