blkmaro94

K, my car hasn't been able to start lately and i thought maybe it was my fuel pump. let me start from the beginning. My car would give a bogging bucking type of feel when i accelerated in 2nd or 3rd gear. and would be losing power. to where 1st gear would feel like it was about to die most of the time. and for awhile it had trouble starting but it would still start. then it seemed like it just fixed it self and would start in just one try. then i ran out of gas. then when i put more gas in the car. and tried starting it again. it wouldn't start no more. so i figured it was the fuel pump. so i replaced the fuel pump and the fuel filter. still no start. and it has gas too. so what do u guys think the problem is, any help would be much appreciated thank you.

kahouna23

Well, first of all when you run out of gas and put gas in it, you have to turn ignition to on...not start... and wait for the fuel pump to prime the lines to get fuel pressure to the regulator and injectors. No fuel....no start...

As for the "bogging/bucking" when accelerating, sounds to me like you have a fuel pressure problem. Have the fuel pressure checked. You might have changed a fuel pump for nothing. Could be as simple as a fuel pressure regulator, bad injector, plug, wire, coil, or possibly a head gasket. I'm not saying a head gasket is simple, but could be a possibility. Does your car blow smoke when it does start? If so, what color and for how long? Does it idle rough? Give us some more info then maybe we can better help you.

blkmaro94

alright, now that you mention it when i did start it it did blow some smoke just a little bit and real quick i think it was white. oh ya and when i use to drive it, i'd drive it about, i'd say a good 40 or so miles when it started to smell like it was overheating and had a well to smelled like antifreeze burning. but my guage didn't read no overheating. and it was smoking or nothing from the front. but it did have burnt type of smell. then it'd start losing alot of power. and about a month before it got this bad. I took a ride up to the mountains to go snowboarding and the hills on the way up were so steep that i pretty much had to run it in 2nd gear the whole way up pretty hard. so i might of burnt something out there. and yeah i did turn to on a couple of times to listen for the fuel pump to turn on and it sounded okay to me. but hopefully this extra info will help, and let me know what u think now. and if i have to i'll add more info thanks man.

camaros_4_lfe

sounds like a head gasket i would take it to a shop and tell them the prob and have them test it

kahouna23

I'm sorry to say dude, but it sounds to me like you've got a blown head gasket. The antifreeze smell kinda gives it away. Have you checked your coolant to see if there's any oil in it? If there is..BINGO!! Head gasket......If you do have a bad gasket, it's obviously going to foul out your plugs leading to a loss of power. Take your plugs out and if they smell anything like antifreeze or are wet after your car has been run for a short time.........no good. White smoke kinda leads to a gasket as well. It's not something you can't do yourself, you just have to have the basic tools and a lot of patience. Be sure if you do it yourself, you don't need your car for the entire day. Oh, get lots of beer too!! that's always a good stress reliever. Let us know how things are going, or if you take it to the shop, tell us what you found out. I'd put $$ on a head gasket though.

blkmaro94

ah ****, that's screwed. I didn't want it to be the gasket but i guess it probably is. About how much do u say that would cost. I'm sure I could just buy the part and then put it in myself. I dont' like going to shops too spendy. But i'll be pulling out the plugs either today or tomorrow and see what color they are. and let y'all know so i can see if that's exactly what the problem is. well thanks for the info again. i'll check it out and let you know more about it. peace

camaros_4_lfe

check you oil as well see if theres coolant in it

head gaskets and bolts are a must usually gasket kit and bolts will run bout 100 maybe 150 make sure you get new bolts

also take the heads to a machine shop to have them checked and tested and get them resurfaced bout another 100-150 around here

if you dont have the heads done at a machine shop and you put it all together can be a big waste of time

make sure you also change antifreeze/oil when doing it

and tighten bolts the right way by the book and have a friend thats done it before there with you it is allot of work and if youve never done it before make a weekend out of it not a day

you have allot of gasket surfaces to clean too

blkmaro94

Alright, well I finally dropped the tank put in the new fuel pump. replaced the fuel filter. put some gas in the tank and gave it a turn. still no start. So i pulled one of the plugs. and looked at it. it appeared to be wet. but didn't really smell like coolant. but might of been. but since they we're wet it caused them not to give a spark. and what I thought was weird about the whole thing is the fact the car sounded like it wanted to crank over the first two or three times then after that would just keep turning but wouldn't crank over. So i took out the old plugs put in some new plugs. and presto car started right up. Now even though the pump has been replaced and some new plugs and new fuel filter. The car still has the loss the power. and now has some pretty bad vibration and i'm thinking i need to replace the driveshaft now and get that vibration to settle down. still gives that boggey feeling when i accelerate. it feels as if the emergency brake is on. i don't smell the coolant burning smell too much anymore like i use to when i would drive for a while. but it's still there but real slight. i'm thinkin i just got use to it but everyone else says they don't smell nothing. just feel the vibration. sorry bout the long post. but thanks for the all the help you guys have given me. and find out and get to working on that vibration now. and then restore my power. peace