question involving my brothers 3.1L firebird...

[ecko614]

well im gona try an explain it to the best of knowledge.....my brother owns a 1991 pontiac firebird with a 3.1L v6 in it. i guess he was driving to work the other day, and he said his SES light MIGHT have been on, but he doesnt remember for sure. But anyway....he didnt even get a block down the street and he said the car started backfiring a little bit and it just shut the hell down on him. he tried to restart it...to no avail. constant attempts to start it throughout the following days....nothing. You can hear the fuel pump kicking on, so we know that thats fine. We tried a little starting fluid in the throttle body....nothing. Decided to do a last resort thing and jump it. Before we tried to jump it, it would try to turn over but just couldnt do it fully. After we tried to jump it.......absolutly nothing.the dome light and everything else workd,but there was no crank from the engine at all what so ever. we ended up pushing it home and thats where it is now. Any ideas as to what might be wrong with it?? could the battery be just flat dead and no good? bad alternator?? or something completely diff like his spark plugs and wires maybe?? bad starter?? and help would be greatly appriciated. thank you

[bszopi]

Looks like he is getting no spark. That could be from a couple things... crank position sensor (if it has DIS), ignition control module (even if it has a distributor, there will still be a module inside the cap). There is a chance it is the battery as well, so it might be worth taking that to get tested.

[Superdave]

check the distributor, make sure the cap and rotor are ok.

you may have also killed the starter by constantly cranking on it, put a battery charger on the car and make sure it's all topped off before messing with it.

[ForcedFirebird]

If you replace the ignition components and still isn't starting...

Use a 12v test light on the starter to make sure you are getting juice, or bring the starter into an autoparts store for testing.

A lot of times it's the little HEI module that goes. Use a test spark plug and see if you are getting good spark, they sell them at the parts store for about $3, or you can ground the electrode and turn the motor over.

Either way, it sounds like you need to charge the battery before doing anything.

[Joseph Upson]

I would bet it's the module since there was a back fire. When mine failed in a 2.8 MPFI Firebird it did some weird things, like momentarily showing no sign of response to throttle input although the engine was running and the car moving. It also backfired. The fuel pump will do an initial prime when you first turn the key on. IF you unplug the by-pass connector in the harness near the distributor it may start.

[ecko614]

well, got the battery tested and charged up. put it in, it cranks but still wont start.(the engine fires, but wont start up) dude told my brother to test the spark using a screwdriver. how do you do that? any other little methods that can be done to check spark? dude also told em to start the car and push on the schrader valve on his fuel rail to check and see if thats good. if it has no saprk and no fuel comes shooting out, i guess the ignition module is no good.