2000 Pontiac Grand Am SE 3.4L - Now she won't start!

[atxgemini]

Even with 15 years in the field I can't say as I would have read an R/O like this one, although it could be something simple & easy. But with my luck lately, not gonna be the case!

I have a 2000 Pontiac Grand Am SE Sedan 3.4L V6 with 217K
I live in the heart of the live music capital of the world and drive quite a bit to Houston, Dallas, etc. It was on my way back from Corpus this past weekend (approx 175 miles each way) that the battery started smoking halfway home. I've had to jump start her for a couple days preceding this. I pulled over at a rest stop, kept the engine running, disconnected the battery and continued driving. My fuel situation is one of "read it and weep" having put my last of my funds into the tank before departing. I make it into town and the fuel light comes on as expected and the battery still disconnected. I hit a drive thru on the way home and parked with the engine running for a few minutes to eat. I finish my burger and she dies and won't restart. Gauges look ok, Check engine light is on but it has been for about a year now (I know, I know) I get a gas can and put a couple gallons in the tank. I hook the battery back up and have another vehicle to jump the battery. She turns over fine but will not start whatsoever. The most I'll get is foot off the gas pedal and after a couple seconds she'll tease me by letting a couple cylinders fire once. I haven't checked anything yet, we're taking an overnight break from each other to cool off. In the mean time, any ideas as to what I get to replace now? All input is greatly appreciated!

 

[melsg5]

Dont know where to begin.
1. You are driving with a disconnected battery on a car that requires a constant voltage to supply the computer that runs the whole engine.
2. You are ignoring the engine light so if some new code occurs you will never know it until there is a complete failure.
3. You drive the car till it ran out of gas and may have damaged the fuel pump.

So determine if you have spark at the plugs and do a fuel pressure test to see if the pump still works.

 

[atxgemini]

It was painful!

Your point is well taken and I can't really defend against any of them! It was something I had to do, definitely didn't want to do. Very Stressful! I appreciate your input and will do those 2 checks first and go from there. Be ready for me to come back with an update of " I have neither spark or fuel" but I hope not. Thankfully I run full synthetic motor oil and still have compression!

 

[richardgriese]

Wow!

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[atxgemini]

Question...I am under the understanding that the 2000 Pontiac Grand Prix has a "hatch" to gain access to the fuel pump from inside the passenger compartment, yet I am finding no indication of the 2000 Grand Am having the same feature. Am I understanding this correctly? If so, can one be carefully cut out/fabricated if done properly?

 

[melsg5]

you have to drop the tank, no hatches

 

[atxgemini]

Of course! Since this is going to be a one man job, I was hoping to find or cut a hole to gain the needed access. Well this should be fun!

Thank you for the input!

 

[atxgemini]

She's back up and running!

Well after dropping the fuel tank to replace the fuel pump and fuel filter she fired right up and runs great. I could barely blow through the filter! The liquid (it's the only thing I could think of to call it) was black as night as full of sediment. The fuel pump started to think about working again when I "dropped it" a couple times but I replaced it with a new one. I really don't want to have to do this job again anytime soon!

I replaced the battery also, that was the easy part of all this. So go figure, now that I have fuel, spark, and good compression, she runs like a champ!

I'm grateful for the input guys, thanks for steering me in the right direction and not giving me too much grief for putting my baby through hell. This backs up what I've always told my customers, treat your vehicle the same way you want your vehicle to treat you in return!

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[melsg5]

glad to hear everything worked out for you