Hi, I picked up a 88 firebird formula 350 awhile back. it set for 2 years in a parking lot without being ran. its in great condition with no rust and It tuned up fine. I had to replace the alternator and blower fan. Anyway, its all tuned up fine, it had a engine flush and 2 fuel injector cleanings. It runs fine but stalls sometimes and the check engine light goes on and off. sometimes it will drive fine for up too an hour and half and then when I park or idle it just stalls. When I try and turn it back on the car shakes and runs terribly, even when I get it up to speed it feels like its trying to die. It makes lots of black smoke from the exaust when this happens. sometimes it happens right away, sometimes it can take an hour but it will happen. The check engine light stays on when the problems happening, and just goes on and off every once in awhile when its not. It also has been gobbling gas terribly as a result. Sometimes a quarter tank just from a 25 min drive. It has been suggested to me that its a Mass airflow sensor problem. My friend has the car and he and some other people have been trying to figure it out. I told them I'd post the problem on this board to see if anyone can give us some suggestions or information. looking forward to getting some opinions!

Jeff

 

First thing you should do is pull the error codes and find out why the check engine light is coming on. That would be the place to start.

Do a search for pulling error codes. All you need is a paperclip.

Then post what the codes are. We can help you from there.

 

Yeah he did that, ill get the codes from him ASAP and post them.

 

They hooked it up to one of them fancy computers that read the codes and says whats wrong, it wont give a reading. when he tries to paper clip it just keeps flashing. Could it be the cars computer?

 

any ideas?

 

What code does it flash?

 

i guess it just flashes really fast for awhile then the light just comes on and wont go off.... They looked at the computer and its an aftermarket computer in the car already, so im going to buy a new computer to replace the already replaced one and hope its not an ongoing problem thats ruining the computer.