Car has a hard time starting

Tiny
ARNIE10ROBINSON
  • MEMBER
  • 1997 PONTIAC FIREFLY
  • 1.0L
  • 3 CYL
  • 2WD
  • MANUAL
  • 280,000 MILES
Starts then quickly shuts down, pumping gas many time to start. Could it be the fuel filter?
Sunday, February 2nd, 2020 AT 2:20 PM

1 Reply

Tiny
KASEKENNY
  • MECHANIC
  • 18,907 POSTS
Your vehicle is actually fuel injected which means it doesn't have a mechanical pump or carburetor. This means pumping the pedal does not cause the fuel to be pumped to the rail. The pump should be energized by turning the key to the on position which will prime the pump.

We can test the fuel being the issue by just spraying some starter fluid in the intake when it is not starting. If it starts and runs then it is fuel related. If not, I would suspect the idle air control system. The idle speed control is responsible for maintaining the idle when the engine starts. A start and stall is normally this system.

https://www.2carpros.com/articles/how-to-replace-an-idle-speed-control-motor-iac

Let me know if you have questions and we can go from there. Thanks
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Sunday, February 2nd, 2020 AT 3:46 PM

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