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Backfire of death!

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Old 10-10-2014, 11:51 PM
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Car: 1984 Z28
Engine: 5.0L HO
Transmission: 700-R4
Axle/Gears: OD 3.73
Backfire of death!

Was on my way home from the town over. all fluid levels are ok I checked them prior to leaving my house. I was going about 60 all gauges were good and then got a loud bang it sounded like a backfire and the engine quit leaving me stranded at 9pm on the side of the road. Engine turns over fine, its not the timing chain thats the first thing I checked for. Its not leaking anything. Could it be the coil?

305 tbi 130k on the clock bone stock


Sorry if I missed any other important details still a little pissed off from the whole thing =(
Old 10-14-2014, 09:00 AM
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Car: 87 IROC Z28
Engine: 355 cid TPI
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Axle/Gears: QP fab 9" 3.70 Truetrac
Re: Backfire of death!

Sounds like you lost spark. The bang would be all of the unburned fuel hitting the exhaust as the ignition stopped producing spark, but fuel delivery continued. Are we talking about the 84 HO? That's not TBI, that's carbureted. Different ignition systems. The TBI uses the external coil HEI. The carb uses the internal coil HEI. Either way, the first thing to verify is power at the pink wire, either at the side of the cap, or to the coil, with key on. If you have power, check for spark while cranking. If it's external coil, check the coil wire for corrosion under the boot and check for spark at the coil and at two or three plug wires. If it's internal, once you've verified no spark at two or three plug wires, pull the top coil cover off the cap and remove the coil. Check for destruction of the rubber insulator and surrounding cap. With either system, pull the cap and look for a wasted rotor. When was the last tune up?
Old 10-29-2014, 08:41 PM
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Re: Backfire of death!

It was the coil dropped in a different coil from my dads camaro and it fired right up thanks for the help. =D
Old 10-30-2014, 05:45 AM
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Re: Backfire of death!

Sounds more like timing chain than anything else.

How do you know it's not that? (how did you check)
Old 10-31-2014, 11:15 AM
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Re: Backfire of death!

I took off the distributor cap and turned the car over and the rotor was spinning
Old 10-31-2014, 05:10 PM
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Re: Backfire of death!

"Spinning" is great, as far as it goes; but was it spinning at the correct speed?
Old 10-31-2014, 07:37 PM
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Re: Backfire of death!

Yes it was spinning at normal speed.
Old 10-31-2014, 08:01 PM
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Re: Backfire of death!

Good call on the coil. Once my old 400 cid Chevy van wouldn't start. Cranked and cranked. Pumped the gas. Cranked some more. Thought maybe I'd flooded it. Cranked. Held the throttles to the floor. Cranked... Then BOOM! Both mufflers BLEW UP! They looked a couple of large inverted flowers...peeled open. The best part was the poor pedestrians on the sidewalk all hitting the deck like someone just unloaded both barrels of a shot gun.
Consider yourself fortunate.
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