99 Firebird 3.8 trouble...help...

**beel61** · 05-21-2008, 01:15 PM

Hi,
I bought a 99 Firebird with the 3.8 V6 2 weeks ago. The car is near perfect with only 47,000 miles. A girl owned it and drove it 4,000 miles in the last 4 year, only putting on 800 last year after having new plugs,wires,filters changed, then it sat from Sept. 07 until I bought it. When I picked it up they had just started it for the first time since last sept. and it was almost out of fuel, was chugging, dying at stop signs, etc. I figured it was just bad gas from sitting, so I payed for it and drove right to a gas station and filled her up with premium. Well, it runs great on the highway, has lots of power, but after 500 miles of driving and adding seafoam, injection cleaner, etc, it hasn't gotten much better. I them assumed an injector was stuck open, went to the local junkyard and bought a full set of injectors. It idled great right away, but as it warmed up it went right back to the same thing. It is obvious that it is getting way to much fuel at idle, it gets loaded up after a few minutes of idling, where you have to revit good to get it cleared out. It runs perfect down the highway, is faster than I ever thought a 6 cylinder could be without a hint of a miss. It is just getting way too much fuel at idling and low speeds. Any ideas ? The local advance auto says the codes say rich condition on right and left bank and misfire. I haven't had it to a shop with a real scanner yet, just wondering if anyone has had a similar problem before I spend more money. Thanks

**FreakV6** · 05-21-2008, 01:27 PM

a few things come to mind, clogged fuel filter (cheap thing to check, new one could have been clogged by restarting it with old gas) fuel regulator, and fuel pump.

**beel61** · 05-21-2008, 01:36 PM

Since it's getting too much fuel, I don't see how it could be the filter.......I thought of the pump, if the pump is too weak, will the injectors not work properly ?.....the regulator sounds plausible, if there's too much pressure could it be pushing fuel through the injectors ? I don't know exactly how injectors function, could too high or too low fuel pressure cause them to let too much fuel into the engine ? If not, something is telling the injectors to put too much fuel in at idle.....like I said it runs perfect on the highway and when you step on it.

**FreakV6** · 05-21-2008, 01:38 PM

i would say their is now ay to tell if its loading up on fuel at idle or not. It could be starving for fuel as well, only way to tell is by a scanner.

**beel61** · 05-21-2008, 06:03 PM

It's very obvious that it's loading up on fuel at idle, acts just like an old carburated car with the choke stuck partway on, rev it up and clean it out then it's fine for a while.

**beel61** · 06-16-2008, 09:06 PM

Just wanted to give an update, I pulled the vacuum hose off the fuel pressure regulator and the was fuel spraying out of the regulator, that vacuum line runs to the back of the intake. I replaced the regulator and it runs fantastic !

**FreakV6** · 06-17-2008, 06:01 AM

good to hear, glad we could help.

**vetteemt** · 06-17-2008, 08:41 AM

Originally Posted by beel61

Just wanted to give an update, I pulled the vacuum hose off the fuel pressure regulator and the was fuel spraying out of the regulator, that vacuum line runs to the back of the intake. I replaced the regulator and it runs fantastic !

My Gf 99 Camaro had the same thing happen. It seems to be a common failure on the V6s.