My BF and I have been trying to figure out what is wrong with my car. when i first got the car, it would cut off here and there when i was driving it, but you were able to start it back up and drive again. By the way it is an '86 Trans Am- TPI.
finally i decided to rebuild the distributor, change the wires and plugs, thinking it was an ignition issue. i used MSD products also. so last weekend we were on our way to the track and my car cuts off at a light and does not start up.
we thought it was the starter, batttery or alternator but it turns over fine. after doing all of that we came to the conclusion that the spark is getting shorted out somewhere but couldnt figure out where. so finally we figured it was the wiring harness to the computer. the other day we were checking with a voltmeter the harness itself and it was getting to be a perplexing situation. i am wondering if i should get a new harness or if the prolem if simple.
has anybody had any of these issues before and if so please offer some ideas.

 

What did you replace in the dist?
Similar symptoms can be caused by a bad ecm, bad ign module, bad p/u coil or loose/bad grounds.

 

Bad injectors can cause this problem as well. Check the resistance on the injectors use a multimeter touch the two terminals in each injector anything under 10 ohms is bad 16-17 range is normal. One really bad injector can keep the car from firing, after time it can also knock out the ecm.

 

replaced the module, ignition coil, cap , rotor. plugs and wires.

 

Not saying this is it since this is remote diag. but I've seen a p/u coil do that.