Im having some problems with my 82 trans am with the 305 h.o. Several times in the past few months, my car would bog down lose 95% of its power (i'm talking maybe 15 mph at wot). After that, the car progressed to stalling after a few minutes of driving. since the car would not restart right away, i figured the engine was really flooded. after waiting by the side of the road with the choke propped open, the car would start, but every time i tried to put it into gear, it would run rough and then die. Now, the problem has progressed to the point of not turning over when the engine is cranked. I have run numerous checks, the ignition is ok, the compression is fine in all the cylinders, but it will only hit once or twice while cranking. Another odd situation: maybe 1 out of 8 times i crank it (im thinking only one cylinder does this) when i let off the starter, the engine will stop cranking, and it seems to turn back one cylinder (deduced from gas spewing back up through the carb). As of now, it is sitting in my garage collecting dust as i have no more ideas what to do with it. Any help?

 

You are lucky... read a few posts down and you'll see that mine is sitting at the gym with apparently the SAME problem. I put on a new Carter pump the other day and I have a real good feeling I am running too rich because of it. Are your plugs fouled? I am ready to disconnect the MSD box, but I have the feeling that is OK. I know the battery is good because it is fully charged and only 1 day old. I sprayed a can of carb cleaner down it, but it doesn't appear to have done any good. What fuel pump are you using... stock? Carb style? Mine is a computer controlled Q-jet. Guys, any thoughts to this problem?

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1984 z28 w/ a 357 cu in. monster engine which is looking like the posterchild for Edelbrock... all the suspension stuff... 9-bolt posi disk is in... K&N filter... 93 octane...

-=ICON Motorsports=-

 

yes, the plugs foul up after only a few hours of running. (over a week or so) i've been through at least 4 sets of plugs in the last few months that it was running.

btw, everything is stock, computer controlled q-jet.

[This message has been edited by slickrock55 (edited November 09, 2000).]

 

I'm wondering if the MCS is bad. HAve you been able to do anything to get it to run at least a little ways? I'd hate to have to tow my car 3 miles home from the gym.

What kind of pump do you have? Metal line running from the rump to the carb? Any psi readings? Did you do any mods before this happened? Do you have any codes?

 

About six years ago, I had an Olds 88 with the 307 V8 that acted up like that for no apparent reason. The computer had a glitch that made it go into full timing retard and full rich mixture just above idle. The car would barely move, but it idled just fine! A couple of times, I had to tap the fuel pump to get it started. I jiggled the wires going to the various sensors and replaced the TPS. It ran fine, then acted up only once for a few minutes. I had to stop and pull the fuse to the ECM memory to clear it out.

The car has been fine ever since, but I haven't any idea why the computer forced a full timing retard above idle like it did.

 

I had it towed home twice before. It has the metal fuel line that i just replaced. the guy i bought it from had repaired a fuel line break with a little 4" piece of rubber hose, which had corroded and sprung a leak causing a small fire. This was only superficial damage and i replaced a lot of tubing and the wiring harness. It has run well since then. Im going to try the ECM memory remedy to see if that might be my problem.
Everything on the car is stock as far as i can tell. The carb is a replacement, E4ME model, but im pretty sure this is the correct one. No psi readings, im very amateur.

[This message has been edited by slickrock55 (edited November 10, 2000).]

 

Could be the carb is going back to it's full-rich default that it does when it gets no signal from the ECM. But the engine should at least RUN! And WOT performance would be unaffected.

Is the carb spewing fuel out the vents when you crank it? Could be the inlet valve is stuck open with dirt, allowing MASSIVE flooding.

It could also be that the secondary throttle plates are not closing all the way like they are supposed to due to the throttle plate screws backing out or the secondary throttle shaft bushings being totally shot. But again, this shouldn't affect WOT performance.

Are you SURE of the ignition? A bad coil (among other things) can cause symptoms like that.



[This message has been edited by Damon (edited November 10, 2000).]