I've been having problems starting my trans am ever since I bought it, and I've never been able to figure out why. From a cold start, it takes a lot of cranking and pumping to get it rolling, and it stalls if I back off the gas before the voltage evens out at a steady 12volts.

It hasn't been much of a problem for a while, but I want to try to fix it, if I can. Any suggestions?

 

I figured it could be either one of two things...

First of all, it might be the ignition switch. I figured since it's stock, and not in too great of condition, it could leak a current even when the car is off.

Second of all, it could be a short somewhere under the dash. I'd probally have to use a multimeter to investigate each connection, one by one, to find the short.

I have a very limited knowledge of auto repair, so I'm not sure these two suggestions are even possibilities.

Any advice...?

 

I tend to agree with your assessment that the problem is likely to be ignition based. But, before you start on the ignition switch or the dash wiring, check the condition of the cap, rotor, plugs and wires.

It takes three things to make an engine run; fuel, spark, and compression. Taking things one step at a time a fuel problem can be either not enough or too much (flooding). Before you attempt to start the car take off the air cleaner, open up the air horn and see if it smells strongly of gas. If yes, try and start it by holding your foot while you turn the engine over. Do not pump the gas. If the engine starts in this fashion your fuel bowls are leaking into the intake and flooding out the car. If you smell no gas, try starting the car with ether. If the car starts quickly with ether but begins to stumble after a couple of seconds you have fuel delivery problems. Check the carburator accelerator pump for proper operation. You can do this by looking down the carburator throat with the engine off and have someone press down on the gas pedal. You should see a squit of gas enter the carb.

If everything looks good on gas, now is the time to check all of your ignition components. Once your certain the ignition components are good, take off a spark plug wire, hold it near a piece of grounded metal and have someone turn over the motor, are you getting a good spark jumping from the end of the plug wire to the grounded piece of metal? You should. Check for proper voltage at the coil. If its OK but spark is bad you could have a weak coil. If the voltage is low at the coil and distributor, you can finally work your way back to the ignition wiring. Good Luck.

Steve

 

Wow...

Thanks for all the tips.

I've been planning a carb rebuild, so I can address half of that during.

Also, a mechanic threw in a crappy coil and took the comp coil out claiming it was bad, back when I had just bought the car. I just got an AC Delco super coil off a built up bird at the junkyard, so I'll just throw that in and hope it works.

If there is a problem with the fuel bowls, what can I do, except get a new carburetor? I haven't seen many parts online for Carter carbs...

 

You can get rebuild kits for just about anything out there. Do a search on the internet and I am sure you can find one. You might try this place www.thecarburetorshop.com the service a lot of carbs. Something else you should replace is the fuel filter. On the subject of fuel filters, your Carter may have a filter right at the fuel inlet. Check for that being clogged.

Steve