No start sometimes.

I can already tell you my mechanic checked the pressure over a month ago. It was about 46 psi and it only dropped a bit overnight. He also measured the volume the pump was putting out and said it was good.
I feel the sudden easier start and no preignition after spraying cleaners into the TB says a lot about the possibility of carbon buildup. I'm going to bring it back soon and I want him to let me see the condition of the plugs. I used to have Delco Rapidfire plugs with a star shaped center electrode with 5 or 6 sharp points for the spark to jump from. Not the same as current Delco Rapidfire plugs. They were great for 11 years until one garage threw them away & replaced them with something they never showed me & without my permission. Problems started after that. For years I've wanted to see them but nobody wants to bother. Unfortunately that plug design isn't made any more. I really want to see these plugs and get an idea how much carbon is in the cylinders. The latest results indicate that I could benefit from another extensive cleaning.

I take this approach because I'm a chemist & used to be in the petroleum industry so I have a supply of some of the kinds of solvents often used in engine and gas line cleaners so I experiment with those. People often get good results just spraying water into the TB. I've done that since the 70's with no problems. I think the multi step procedure I used last did an amazing job. It's unfortunate that I have no test equipment, insufficient tools, can't identify many parts, and can't get at most of them even if I could. I don't work on cars other than to do the simplest maintenance. My job was in a lab. The closest I got to anything involving cars was that I could tell you exactly all the thousands of chemicals found in gasoline the 3 that make premium differ most from lower grades what the high boiling residue was and what cleaned it best. I remember coming in one morning to find the results of an analysis printed out overnight which was 17 feet long, single space type, & I had to identify every one of the chemicals on that list.

Thanks for all your help!

Hi Ken, sorry about the delay. In short, the starting gradually got better and better as long as I added cleaners to the tank. I even set a new MPG record for this car, 23.6 mpg vs 11 mpg at its worst. When I'd switch to a tank of gas only (89 or 93 octane, it didn't matter) it would begin to have the same kind of trouble starting again (difficult on the first crank of the day, instant on all starts after that.) This pattern was repeatable. My mechanic kept looking in the same places and found nothing wrong. He didn't test drive it enough or look at parts I wanted to see which limited my guesses. He kept saying fuel pressure & flow rate were good. I felt that eventually things would go back to normal or if the right part was cleaned but he wouldn't look at parts that gave the same symptoms a few years ago. Then in 1 day it sold at a garage sale so now I have a totally different car. Thanks for the help.

So the other day I tried starting my car but it wouldn't start so I bought a new battery and changed it out and it would crank but wont turn over so the next day I bought a can of starter fluid and sprayed it into the carburetor and tried to crank it over but I'm getting no power in my dashboard and nothing happens when I turn the key but my gas pump will run that is directly wired to the battery so I tested the battery and its reading 12 volts anyone know why I am not getting power?

So my old battery was old and bad so I replaced it. I then tried to start my car and it would crank but not start so I went to the store the next day and bought carburetor fluid. The next day I sprayed some in and turned the ignition to on but none of the gauges turned on so I then tried to start it and nothing happened. So I tested the battery and it reads 12.3v. I have an aftermarket electric fuel pump controlled by a switch. No I have not checked for spark because nothing but the fuel pump gets power. Hope this helps

By the way the guy I bought it from already had it installed so I just text him and asked if he installed anything like an inertia switch when he installed the electric fuel pump. Good question I never thought about that!

I have a 1984 pontiac trans am 15th anniversary edition. It has ran beautifully for a while, until it died on my dad while on his way to work and now the car wont start or even turn-over for that matter(absolutely no noise when I turn the key) and it has a brand new battery so I'm wondering what is wrong?

Thanks I got it running, I talked to the previous owner and he directed me towards a wire on the back of the alternator so I tightened it and it fixed the problem.

Nope absolutely nothing.

We got a new battery maybe a month or a couple weeks before this happened its brand new, we even tried to jump the car and it wouldn't start

This is what I have tried/checked. First off I built the engine myself. I am just stumped!
Compression is great! Spark is great! Plugs are great! Fuel is great! Battery is Great! Starter is great! Turns over great but won't start! What am I missing. Never came across this problem in the 12 years since I built it. The engine only has about 5,000 miles on it.