my car is chugging horribly its a 1989 firebird with a 2.8 5 speed and i dont know where 2 start some one told me it might be the oxygen sensor i hust replaced the distributor cap and rotor and the person said the cap was all chewed up from the rotor so i dont know what that could be, please i need help this is really pissin me off, gm sux, sorry if that pisses people off but i have a ford tempo too and it is a 90 and has twice as many miles and its never given me a problem, PLEASE HELP!!!!

 

From what you said it sounds like you need to remove the distributor and inspect the gear at the bottom and the amount of play up/down.If the rotor is getting chewed up something is pushing the centershaft upwards into the cap.I have seen the cotter pins break or come loose..it holds the gear at the bottom of the distributor..if your cars chuggin its possible the gear has moved which has affected timing...hope that will get you started.

 

im not sure what gear your talkin about but i'll look.

 

To say that a whole car company sucks because YOUR car is chugging, probably because of
a) neglect of maintenece
b) normal wear item
, is just plain stupid.

 

well when all the gm cars ive had sucked i got the right to say they suck, no wonder their goin out of business.

 

ford is going bankrupt in case you didn't know? hmmm Also no one tried to race with a tempo Why bother signing up for the boards that are made just for these cars that you call trash? If it's so bad, sell it! Do it a favor.

 

Hey, your entitled to your view...

My family has 2 merc. sables... Best cars we've ever owned. ONe has almost 300,000 miles on it, still running strong.

I have a 94 s-10, rock solid. Never left me stranded. I've had it three years, commuting to high school , then making a 200 mile one way weekly journey to school. Never been into the shop for anything more serious then a rotting fuel line. Excellent vehicle.

My camaro is too new to gauge... OTher then replacing my exhaust, it has yet to REQUIRE any repair... I just like working on it It did leave me on the side of the road once, when the parts monkey at the local zone gave me the wrong rotor, which didnt quite fit right, and popped off on the highway, taking my coil and cap with it.

In any case, you come onto this site, and ask for help, all while badmouthing our cars? You can say you dislike GM, and nobody will batt an eye. To come in saying, ya dude, they suck, no wonder they are going out of business is just trolling for a flame war.

I hope you figure out what is wrong with you car. Certainly not that it is wearing a GM badge.

 

1st of all its not really even my car and do have anything useful to help me out or r u just talkin ****

 

If the rotor was hitting the cap, the distributor could be getting sloppy. Take the cap off, grap the rotor and make sure there is no play.

What kind of chugging ? Under load? All the time? Certain RPM? Cold? Warm?
Elaborate.

 

it chugs when accelerating and when u take off u have 2 give it a lot of gas or itll bounce and almost die, i just replaced the rotor too and its on there firmly, thanx

 

Take out all the spark plugs and make sure they are useable. Check the wires make sure they aren't melted/burned through. Nothing will make an engine chug quite like not firing on a few cylinders.

Try unplugging the MAF and running without that. (unplugging the MAF forces the computer to use default values based on TPS voltage instead of the sensor. ) If it runs better without the MAF your sensor is bad.

Just several suggestions to keep you busy for a while.

 

wires and plugs r almost brand new, i'll have to look in the book 2 find the maf sensor, what will that do if i unplug it?

 

To test for a dead cylinder... Pull the wires off the distributor 1 by 1, any make sure that the engine runs differently with each cylinder pulled. If you find one wire that doesnt change the way the engine runs, that cylinder is not firing...


Could be many things:
Bad ignition module
Bad Injector (verify the injectors with a resistance check)
Clogged Cat
Ect.

 

i tested the ignition module at autozone, exhaust is new, dont know how 2 test injectors.

 

You test injectors by unplugging them and using a multimeter to read the resistance over the injector.

 

yea ok, ill prob have my friend help me with that