Hi all, I'm new here. I've been using the site for a couple months, for any issues I've had on my car, but I wasn't able to find anything on my issue right now. Thought I would make a page to see if I could get some help.


A few months back I got a 1985 Trans Am, 305 TBI. When I got it, it smoked and ran crappy. So I started tearing the engine down. One lifter had exploded, and pushed a push rod through its rocker arm. That caused the push rod next to it to bust in half..

SO I got all of that replaced and got the engine put back together. Before I locked the valve covers down, I started the car, to make sure everything was running right. Everything seemed fine, so I took the valve covers back off, and replaced the gaskets and bolted them down.

After I was done, tried to start the car again. As soon as I turned the key over, it tried to start for a second or 2, then seemed to lose power. Smoke started coming from out of the dash.

When the key is on, the radio and the headlights work, but they don't open. (you can see the light from under the headlight covers, but the covers don't open) other than that, there is no power.

The only other thing I can think of, before I took the engine apart the car already had this problem: If the steering column is all the way up the car wont turn over, it has to be lowered a little bit for it to start.

Hope someone might have a little information for me, if you need any more info on the car, I can get it. Any help is appreciated. Thanks.

 

You need to adjust the ignition switch... While you're under there look for burned wires, check fuses, etc. Smoke is generally a bad thing when electronics are involved.