After three years of sitting idle, I am putting this car back on the road. Before it went idle it ran perfectly. Right before it was left idle I had put new spark plugs and wires in it. Now, it will not start. Using the Haynes book for this car I decided to replace the fuel pump and filter. I tried to start it and it fires but doesn’t start and run. What is the logical next step?
What do you mean when you say “it fires but doesn’t start and run”? You mean it turns over and fires once then immediately dies?
When you changed the fuel pump and filter, did you also dump the old fuel?
Try spraying some starter fluid into the intake to see if it will fire up with that. The gas may be too old to work well in the engine and you may need to mix in some new gas.
The logical step is to try it again tomorrow. Some people do that and it starts right up.
Is the fuel three years old? I would remove if so.
The gasoline in your tank has become something other than gasoline. You will have to drain the tank and refill it with new gas. There may be other problems caused by the old gasoline, which turns to varnish over time, unless you added fuel stabilizer to the tank when the vehicle was parked, but you didn’t do that, did you?
The fuel is the problem. Stop trying to start this vehicle with three-year-old gasoline. It will never work! Drain the old gas, fill the tank with new gas, and pray. If the old gas has permeated the fuel system, you may have expensive repair work to do.
Good luck!