I have a 92 with a 305 tbi. It was running like a bat out of hell but I could see it was leaking a small amount of coolant from around the intake manifold gasket. I had mechanic I've never used changed it and when I picked it up and drove it home (3 blocks) it quickly shot up in temperture, ran bad and when I opened the hood I could hear something bouncing around in the back of the motor. So it went back. The next day I went and picked it up from the mechanic again. He said the new gasket had blocked two of the water ports so he cut the gasket to open them and the noise i heard was a plastic piece that holds the distributor rod in place and that it had come apart. But after taking it home it still didn't run anything like it did- especially with any real load on it like climbing a hill. He said it must be the spark plugs so I changed those ( and wires) myself but still no improvement in power. Does anyone have any ideas why my horsepower has gone away ? Any ideas on what I can do ( besides drowning my sorrows) would really be appriciated right now.

Notice any smoking?How was the oil pressure on the trip home?
If you're talking about the oil pump drive rod,you should have noticed VERY low pressure unless it completely broke,then you would have NO pressure & the should have come on.
Who got the gaskets?

The mechanic got the gasket. I have a aftermarket oil pressure gauge that hasn't been working for awaile - i just sent it in to Dikota Digital for repair. The first trip home it might have had little oil pressure since it just started knocking right when I pulled back into the mechanics. After he pulled the manifold off again and cut the gasket and replaced the plastic collar piece the oil/distributor rod uses the knocking stopped. At this time the mechanic he told me I needed an oil pump. He said he could tell because the rod spun too easily on the pump it so I had him change in to a high volume one. The check lights have not come on. Again before I took it in the first time I had absolutly no noticible engine problems except the slight coolant leak and no obvious lack of oil pressure. Could the problem be the intake gasket he used ? The mechanic doesn't seem too willing to do much else and doesn't know what to suggest. I'm still wondering if something he did or didn't do has caused my problems. I've only put a few miles on it since the work was done and am worried about damaging the engine but I not excited about paying another mechanic to do the manifold gasket again.

Perhaps the intake gasket was installed improperly and you have a vacuum leak, or when he reinstalled the distributor he didn't set the timing correctly???? Or maybe something as simple as a vacuum line unplugged..... Either way, I'd be looking for a new mechanic to work on the car, this guy sounds dangerous to me!!!!!!

The mechanic played with the timing each time I've taken it back. But it hasn't made much difference. I changed the plugs because he thought he had fouled them doing that. I live out it the country and don't have much of a choice of mechanics

If the TBI is like the TPI then the two rear coolant ports have restrictors in them.I reckon he put the gasket on wrong 1st time blocking the front two holes if temp went up that fast.
You can't get to "plastic piece" on the oil pump shaft without dropping oil pan so how did he know it was broken?

Wow you brought your car to a hack mechanic. Most intake gasket come with the 2 back coolant ports blocked off becuase there not really needed and he should know this.And if he didnt tighten the distributor hold down clap then your dizzy timing could have jumped and your timing is off.I bet you have a vacum leak or your timing and distirbutor is way off. Bring the car to a real certified mechanic before any more damage is done to your car.

This is exactly why the only person that ever opens the hood of any of my cars is ME. I only take my car in for things like alignments, tires and things of that nature and even then I hang around the garage as close as they will let me get - usually I say something like "You mind if I check my exhaust while you got it on the lift?" and then I just nose around while I keep an eye on what they are doing. And how often do you get to look at your car on a lift anyway? Its night and day compared to being on a set of stands. My advice from here on out is Spin your own wrenches. The Net is full of info on our cars. Most any problem you have can be addressed in a post on this very site, and dollars to dimes SOMEONE can toss some useful info your way......Plus, even if you had to buy a cheap socket set, a torque wrench and rent a timing light it would have been cheaper than what you just paid someone to do god knows what damage to your car.....Even if I cant pinpoint my exact problem I just take it in for a Diagnostic for $40 at a shop and fix it myself. That my $0.2

But as for your current situation, I agree with vaccum leaks or mistimed distributor....Is your SES light on?

Agree-- he should have known how to put intake gaskets on! Or at least look for the markings stating "Left"-"Top"-"This side out". At the very least make sure they fit correctly before bolting it on & calling it done!

IDK how to determine when a collar breaks other than NO oil pressure,so my ques is-- it makes sense that the best way to see the collar broke is to take off the oil pan---are there ANY signs to point in that direction along with the rattling sound described by bluedingo?

Thanks for the input. The pan was pulled by the mechanic and who knows what he found. What I've learned from all this is to go back to doing the work myself - I'm not the best but at least I wouldn't have put the gasket in wrong and if I screw something up I'm usually know what it was. I'm still left trying to figure out what the mechanic did wrong. I'm going to look for vacume leaks around the manifold tomorrow. I was told to spray carb cleaner around the manifold with the engine running and listen for an increase in RPM. The timing seems correct unless it's 180 off. I haven't checked to see if he put the plug wires back on the distributor correctly. It doesn't seem like a certified mechanic at a shop could screw up that bad. Another guy told me that maybe the computer's not reading something correctly and that effecting the TBI but I don't really see anything he left disconnected.