1988 Chevrolet Celebrity Starts, Then Dies

Cash for Clunkers?

Na i have 3 other car like this at my farm for parts so this car should last me till i am done collage.

You're studying collage?

I didn't know Hillbillystan extends to some parts of Canada as well...

Do they have Cash for Clunkers in Canada?

to my knowledge no...but you can get a tax refund or something like that

If it were mine, I would first check/replace the fuel filter (cheap)....if that is fine, then go next to the fuel pump - it sounds like your line pressure if failing and just getting to the carb jets, but not enough to distribute - the pumping helps to spray from the jets

You might also get some carb cleaner & shoot the carb jets down to make sure they are OK

Whatever it may be, it sounds like root-cause is net getting any fuel to the carb..

Good Luck!

thanks for the help. i will try it out and let you know how it goes.

Perhaps the fuel is leaking out of the float bowl for the carburetor? This would cause the car to not want to run without your foot on the gas until the pump has filled up the leaky bowl. Once the bowl is full, and topped of with the pump everything acts as normal. After it sits for a while, and the fuel leaks out of the bowl, it will have a hard time again til it has been refilled.

Check around the base of the carburetor for wetness, and the smell of fuel. This is usually a fairly easy fix, its a matter of removing the air cleaner, (& all those pesky vacuum hoses) Pulling off the Carb and replacing a few gaskets.

thanks i will take a look/smell this afternoon

Is the car carbureted? The small 2 bbl carb used on Celebrity was the side of an older Quadrajet carb. There was a tendency for the fuel bowl to leak out. It also might just be a bad check valve in the mechanical fuel pump. that would allow the built fuel pressure to return to the fuel tank level. And the heat from a warm engine would quickly evaporate the small quantity in the fuel bowl.

3 or 4 of the spark plugs should be fairly easy to reach. While the engine is cold you could pull some of them out and look for wetness. If you can remove the air cleaner, you could hold the choke open with a pencil and have someone step on the gas pedal and watch for the spray of raw fuel from the carb into the center air stream. For that matter, If it is cold up there, it could be the choke not closing.

Now you have 3 new things to check. Good luck and let us know.

thanks i will do.

Once you get the car started, and drive it, will it start again if you just turn it off and wait a minute to restart it?

1988 Celebrity has a throttle body fuel injection system.

Most likely the fule pressure or fuel flow is low. If possible check the pressure, replace the filter then the fuel pump. The fuel pump is located inside the fuel tank.

The throttle body injection base gasket will develope a vacuum leak (common problem) and this can give hard starts and a fast/faster idle. Difficult to detect.

For the engine to run, it takes spark, fuel & compression, all in the correct quantity & at the proper time. When it won't start, what is missing? Is the fuel in the vehicle combustible? What Is the maximum spark KV that the ignition system is capable of making? Is spark happening across the plug gap during the event?

That is what I would be looking at if this vehicle were in my shop.

thank you all. i got it running now.

WELL??? What was it?

it was the immobilizer and i replaced the fuel filter. had to take it to the shop that put it in to fix. but the fuel filter need a change to. thank again to all who help me out. my ride is back up and going. minus the new bumper i put on it because a deer got in my way but that anther story. to the admins you can close this if you want. thanks