I havejust acquired a 89 tbi 305 firebird that has sat for 8 years/untouched....the engine turns over...but seems like its cranking slow....I have a new battery...and put a new starter on it....and all my grounds/connections are good....but it still cranks slow.....is it possible that the torq converter is stuck....and causing my starter to have to work harder to spin the tranny as well.....I pulled the plugs and sprayed wd-40 in the cycls. and cranked it with the plugs out...and it still cranked slow....so what do you all think????

 

i dont see any reason for the torque converter to be stuck, or to get stuck just by sitting

double check all your grounds

check the terminals at the battery, the terminals at the starter, and make sure you have a ground strap from the engine to the body
make sure the ground cable has a good ground


see if you can turn the crank by hand (a socket on the center pulley works)
if it turns by hand, then its an electrical problem
if it doesnt turn by hand then its mechanical problem, i would be afraid of a seized bearing

 

It just may be it's been sitting so long unran. Let that baby run for some hours (either drive it or sit in it and read the paper and constantly give it different degrees of Fuel). Then see how it cranks. My car cranked kinda slow compared to most cars I have owned/driven too, so it may just be in the nature

 

it cranks too slow to start.....rrrrr...rrrrr....rrrrr, thats Y I'm thinking somethin else is dragging it down.....this weekend I'll remove the flywheel access cover and unbolt the torq converter ..slide it back and crank it then and see what happens....that'll eliminate the tranny
also I double checked my grounds...and could barely budge the crank....so sumthing is holding it back for sure

 

first off, like the guy said, check battery conections thats the first thing to do, and easyest, next, if u have something that u can check how much amperage ur starter is pulling then do it, around 400 or so is good i believe, but usually in those cases its always the starter