Thread: Car starts for a second then dies

It's a '97 grand prix V6 SE. I'm pretty sure it ran out of fuel (gauge is broken), so I pushed it into a gas station, filled it up. Now when I try to start, it will idle violently for about a second then die, regardless of throttle.

I assume it's the fuel filter since it was ran out of gas, but are there any other problems it could be? The spark plugs didn't look too dirty and I didn't see any loose vacuum hoses, but couldn't do a thorough look at the time.

Originally Posted by BillBoost37

Unplug the maf sensor that sits on top of the throttle body. Then using the throttle pedal...keep it running for a couple minutes. if you can, your maf is bad. But you may need to let it learn and keep it running for a minute before it stays running on it's own.

You're awesome! I could've sworn it was the fuel filter; I changed that and it worked for a day, then started doing it again. So I picked up a MAF sensor at the junkyard for 20 bucks and works like a champ now!