Ok i searched and couldnt find anything helpful, so here it goes. Just acquired a 1985 gsl-se with 156,000 miles. It had sat for about 2 years. So i drained tank, and poured in about 2 gallons of fresh gas and a gallon of laquer thinner, since it had about a 1/8" layer of varnish. Let that mixture sit in there for 3 days, ocassionaly shaking rear of car to loosen up particles and such. In the mean time i replaced the fuel pump, fuel filter, and put in new plugs. Decided to try to start it today. After about 10 seconds of cranking it sputterd, died, sputtered some more and cranked. Sat there and idled for a good 30 seconds! Thought I was in the clear! After that i gave it some gas, revved it to about 3K then let idle some more. About 10 seconds later she quit, and i cant get it to start up again. Crank on it for 15-20 seconds and get nothing. Plugs come out dry so i know i'm not getting gas. Is it possible this new fuel pump is already burnt up, due to the amount of crap in the tank and lines, or is it something else. Took plugs in and out about 5 times to no avail. Please help!!!! She begs to be driven!!
P.S. When i turn the key i cant here the fuel pump turn on like my chevy truck, which leads me to beleave the pumps shot. Come to think of it, i didnt here it turn on the first time.

 

On the SE the pump comes on when cranking, once started it will stay running if the flapper in the afm is open. simply turning the key to start will not turn on the pump. There is a check connector in the engine bay that when jumpered will turn on the pump all the time.

Download the 85 FSM, found in the stickies at the top of the forum under the faqs. You will find the jumper connector in there. If, when jumpered, the pump runs, but you get no fuel, the filter has probably plugged already from the junk in the tank. Lacquer thinner is pretty harsh, try Seafoam next time.

 

I have a question about seafoam (sorry to jack your thread), If I wanna put it sr8 thru to the motor what vac hose should i take off and feed it thru? my rats is removed and i wanna put half in the top and half on the bottom.

 

i had the same ordeal happen when i bought my SE. i did all kindsof checks and rechecks and the thing would crank over and not ever start. checked pump, replaced plugs, marvel mystery oil and still nothing. pulled the injectors out and sent them to rc engineering. they came back lookin pretty. put them in and it fired right up after 1.5 seconds of cranking. after that, i took it to my friends shop and we dropped the tank and washed it out to get all the gunk from sitting for 5 years. new filter, pulled the oil cooler off and had it welded up. ran like a champ until the motor let go a year later. i got all the parts though and getting new rotor housings next week. tearin it down and doin a full rebuild.

 

Pull the vac hoses off of the back of the dynamic chamber, one by one. One of those has vacuum into the chamber This won't clean the throttle plates though. To do that you will need to introduce the Seafoam into the intake duct, prior to the throttle body. The best option to do this might be to tap a 1/8" NPT barb into the hard plastic piece that bolts to the throttle body. This way the entire intake gets cleaned, the barb can be capped off and ready for the next treatment.

Believe it or not, carbon does manage to find it's way into the dynamic chamber and up to the throttle plates.

 

You said you replaced the filter. Did you do this while the tank was soaking in the thinner? Is there a chance that all that crap you were cleaning up got sucked in to the filter? I would consider changing the filter again, and wait on seafoam or MMO until you get it running. That way you can say if those products effected the idle and overall engine performance.

Good luck

 

Just a little something that helped me,
When I bought my 84 SE it wouldn't run either. After getting her started she would idle but once you gave her some throttle she would die. The solution I found was that there was rust particles in the line before the fuel filter causing her to starve for fuel. Once I flushed the lines everything worked great. It may be possible that your cleaning has clogged your lines. Hope this helps.
L8R

 

Man this forum is great! You guys are so helpful. Well i drained the tank before i put the filter on BUT i didnt think to blow out the lines from that point back to the tank. When i drained the tank i noticed lots of black oily looking varnish in the bottom of the gas can, so i may need to completley take the tank off . By the way were do you find this "seafoam". Autozone or something? Thanks a million.

 

I bought Seafoam at Advance Auto. It is in a non descript can with a green cap. Kinda easy to overlook, but its there.

 

Ok ok i admit, I'm a newb to rotories (working on cars actually, first car I've actually had to work on, i have always driven chevy trucks !!!!) Worked on my share of dirtbikes and atv's before, so I'm a little mechanically inclined. BUT before i screw something up royally on this car, lets get some things straight. If i disconnect the fuel lines from the pump and filter, then from where they come up from the firewall, can i blow some carb cleaner through them with compressed air? Also, whats involved with removing the injecters to clean them, as I'm sure their gummed up as well And all those fuel lines above the filter, what about them? Thanks

 

Carb cleaner compressed air fine. You gotta remove the entire intake manifold to get to the injectors (all two of em) and you're gonna want a new intake gasket cause your old one isn't gonna come off too easy. And while you got it all apart you might as well do a bunch of mods like get rid of that hideous air pump and pull the sixport sleeves ditch the ACV and plug up all the holes it'll leave....Quick steel will be your friend!

 

You can add the carb cleaner and blow out the lines, as long as you don't blow through the filter or pump. If you decide to drop the tank, you can remove the fuel pickup unit and clean that while it is out. Once your cleaning is done, put 2-3 gallons of gas in the tank, a full can of Seafoam and see it it helps clean out the injectors. If the engine runs decent in the garage, take it out and run it hard to open the injectors up to run the Seafoam through them.

 

Just got back from oreillys. Bought a can of berrymans cause it was cheaper and they told me it would do the same as sea foam. Gonna work on it this weekend. Rxguro, forgive me for I'm a newb, but what the hell is all that stuff your talking about? Sleeves, ACV ? Are these mods gonna give any noticable imrovement or are they just unneccessary crap on the motor. I dont wanna stray from stock untill l learn the car a little better. But I'll look into the mods when the time comes (unless their really simple and you dont mind explaining them to me or showing me where a post about it is. I think I'm gonna go the route of cleaning the tank and pickup, then running the berrymans or sea foam to get to the injectors.

 

I have to disagree with rxguru on removing the sleeves. It has been shown, dyno tests, that removing the 6th-port sleeves will slow your overall time down, even if the butt dyno tells you otherwise.

Get the car running as it should, and I mean all around, brakes, suspension, tires, tranny, fuel system, steering and engine. When you have that acomplished, then start looking into mods, we will be here to help for both.

 

Also, get a timing light and check BOTH leading and trailing ignition. If you're not getting a signal for the timing gun from your trailing coil - that's your problem (bad trailing ignitor).

The SE ECU gets the tach signal from the trailing coil (+) lead on when to fire the fuel injectors, so you can get good fuel pressure, good fuel pump flow, and still not get any fuel injected.

So, to answer the age old question of whether your car will run on just the leading ignition - Not an SE! Maybe a carb'ed car will only run on the leading, but the SE needs trailing ignition for fuel timing. HTH,

Oh, and check your Fusible Links at the driver's side strut tower - there's one labeled "INJECTOR" that obviously controls whether the fuel injectors will fire. Test and/or replace, as a good looking wire can also be the problem.

 

listen to LongDuck. i cant tell you how many times he's helped solve the nit picking problems. he's helped me when i thought my fsm had failed me.