[Steve91T]

So yesterday when I started the car, it cranked but didn't fire. It did start on the 2nd try. Odd, I thought. So then on m way home, I was steady at 35 mph when, for about a second, the fire went out. I had nothing. Then it came back and all was well. So I was thinking that maybe the opti was having a bad day.

Fast forward to today and the car wouldn't start. Cranked, but wouldn't fire....didn't even try. I noticed I couldn't hear the fuel pump priming. I banged on the tank with a rubber dead blow and tried again. This time I heard the fuel pump prime and the car fired, but then quit. That was the last time I could get it to fire. I also noticed the fuel gauge is pegged full.

Soooo, time to cut an access above the tank?

[Steve91T]

Yeah but not only am I not getting priming, I'm getting a no start condition. After beating on the tank, I turned the key and heard it prime. Then when I cranked it, it fired but quit, as if it was running off the prime only. That was the last time it fired.

I just went to the garage and tried again. Turned the key and heard nothing. Cranked the engine for a good 10 seconds and got nothing. Sounds like, from what you guys have said, it would take multiple failures of fuel pump relays to get a no start, not just extended cranking. Am I understanding that correctly?

The only other very weird thing is my gas gauge is pegged full. That must mean something. Where are the electrical connections for the gauge and pump?

[trackbird]

The only other very weird thing is my gas gauge is pegged full. That must mean something. Where are the electrical connections for the gauge and pump?

The connector should be plugged into the "bulkhead" in front of the differential (roughly where the seat back is for the backseat). If the gauge is pegged full, it may have lost the ground to the pump and fuel pressure sending unit (as I remember, no ground = "full"). The ground (as I remember) comes through the bulkhead between the back seats, over to the drivers side and under the door jam (likely clustered with the speaker wires) and then has a screw to the chassis under the drivers seat. That's going from memory, but I believe the LT1 cars were setup that way as well.

[Steve91T]

The only other very weird thing is my gas gauge is pegged full. That must mean something. Where are the electrical connections for the gauge and pump?

The connector should be plugged into the "bulkhead" in front of the differential (roughly where the seat back is for the backseat). If the gauge is pegged full, it may have lost the ground to the pump and fuel pressure sending unit (as I remember, no ground = "full"). The ground (as I remember) comes through the bulkhead between the back seats, over to the drivers side and under the door jam (likely clustered with the speaker wires) and then has a screw to the chassis under the drivers seat. That's going from memory, but I believe the LT1 cars were setup that way as well.

I know the ground you're talking about. That's the ground for the fuel pump and fuel gauge? I'll check it out this afternoon. I bet that's it.