Car is a 92 firebird 305 tbi with auto 700r4 trans...I'm not sure what could be burning, white smoke coming from steering wheel area.... to be honest I haven't messed with the car much since owning it, since a few weeks ago after coming home from getting some burgers it would die unless I floored the gas.

It died on me at an intersection and to say it was very embarrassing would be an understatement. I don't want to give up on the car and get rid of it though since these have always had a fond spot in my heart...it sounded weak and didn't want to crank, let it rest a few mins then tried again and it fired up and I almost got all the way home before it died again after I had to slow down and take my foot off the gas, it died but started right back up....then died again when slowly going into the parking spot at my place but cranked right back up....that's been roughly 3 weeks ago nearly and it's just sat the whole time. I'm pretty sure it needs valve cover gaskets too.....

So I'm guessing starter and/or battery? I have a decent amount of money saved up, I could even buy a new engine and have it put in to be honest, but I wanna try little stuff first.

I'm also 100% sure it needs a throttle position sensor since the car always acted like it had no power almost when I was pressing on the gas...the engine would rev high but the car wouldn't "go" if that makes sense going around town cruising, but when I floored it trying to get home after the embarrassing intersection stall, the car finally got some oompth to it. I could also clean the throttle body out too. The dying unless pedal is pushed to the floor most likely to be IAC? Worth cleaning or just buy a new IAC?


sorry if that was a bit to read I wanted to be descriptive as possible so ppl could understand the issue at hand....


short version, car dies unless I floor it...IAC, TPS, battery, starter are my likely guesses and new fuel filter and air filter couldn't hurt....I haven't personally pulled the spark plugs to see if the ones in it were bad. From the outside the distributor looks clean and new but I need to take it off...


I live in the middle of town and can walk anywhere I need to go so I guess it hasn't been a huge priority, but I do want to visit some friends far away soon and a vehicle is a must for that.


another question on the side, the car only has a single exhaust but is loud as hell, is it likely one of those cheapo cherry extremes? I almost want to quiet it down since it's "too" loud...it's only the 305 v8 too lol. Maybe a magnaflow? I think even a glasspack would be more quiet...the only smoke is from the steering wheel area, never seen any exhaust leak, the pipes look fairly new as well as the muffler too.

 

a little update which I will update some more when the parts come in to the store tomorrow I ordered from oreilly and I'll put them in. Buuuttt....

battery is only a 2 month old Interstate which I heard is well regarded, so I doubt that's bad.

ordered a new IAC and TPS, the old IAC was stuck open and was filthy....also ordered a new IAC harness since the 4 metal prongs' plastic insulator(?) tubes were broken off....the TPS locking plastic clip broke off but when fully seated I doubt it'll come off, can always ziptie it down.

a MAJOR problem was an old corroded dist. cap....got a brass bwd with lifetime warranty and also lifetime bwd rotor, the old one was corroded and rusty too. The spark plug wires looked alright....spark plug I pulled was some NGK and looked pretty new, I am indeed burning oil by the look of it though but not too much, the valve cover gaskets look pretty easy to get off.

I heard if a dist. cap and rotor are bad enough that can make the car die too...so....doesn't look to be so serious as I was thinking.....here's to hoping new dist. cap and rotor, new IAC, IAC harness, and TPS fix the issue

was going to clean the throttle body, but I looked down into it and it literally looks brand new like all shiny metal down there below the tbi injectors with no grime at all, shocked me honestly.

also got a fuel filter I need to put on for good measure.....I LOOKED at the bundle of wires hanging everywhere below the steering wheel/gas pedal/fuse box area and none of them look burnt or corroded or anything, I'm thinking its for sure something in the dash....I doubt it's the blower motor somebody else suggested online, so I've never even tried the ac or heat in this car, I've literally never had a vehicle where the ac even works (LOL)

I'll take some pics of the jumble of wires, maybe I can zip tie all that crap up to get it out of the way, some of it looks like random connectors, some random connectors even have fuses in them which is weird to me, I thought fuses only went in the fuse box? :P ...some of them look like the connectors when you hook up a stereo or even old IDE hard drive cables if any pc people understand :P


not ruling out a bad starter yet, but the old corroded dist. cap and rotor seem to be a major thing that was screwing with it

 

I think you're on the right track. Clean up all that ignition stuff. The starter isn't going to cause the engine to shut off. If it's turning over to start then you're probably good there as long as the starter connections are clean and tight. Sounds like cleaning up and tightening as many connections as you can, battery, grounds, etc might help
Also sounds like you have what's left of bunches of stereo or alarm wiring stuff to eliminate and clean up

 

yeah, I've never messed with anything electronic on vehicles besides getting a wiring harness adapter to put a stereo in, near the headlight switch area there is a red plastic bump/light bulb, it never blinks though, could be a long-dead alarm.

I'll see how the car performs with the new good dist. cap and rotor and new sensors TPS and IAC and IAC harness since the old one is all busted up, and I imagine those 4 bare metal prongs aren't good to plug into it.

Still shocks me how clean the throttle body is. Air filter wasn't even bad, it's a spectre, the outside just looks dark and is a slight bit dusty but the inside of the filter is clean. I tried looking around for the fuel filter but I guess I'll have to crawl up physically under the car, got a new one of those, microgard cheap one, but should be good for years, I don't put many miles per year on vehicles. It has an Edelbrock open element instead of the restrictive stock air box.

I wonder what could have made the car not want to crank at all at first at the intersection....then when I tried again a few mins later it started up and stayed running as long as I floored the gas lol. Maybe the horribly corroded dist. cap and rotor caused it -shrug-

 

put on the new TPS, IAC, distributor cap and rotor, made sure the spark plug wires were in the correct firing order, put new pcv valve on for good measure, and the car cranks but won't start, just sits there turning....I'm suspecting a bad battery and/or bad parasitic draw maybe...going to get somebody to try and jump the battery off tomorrow and see if it cranks.

I never pulled all the plugs personally, just #1, going to pull them all, although it's very cramped in there and I don't have ramps and/or a jack and jack stands to lift the car up, heard it's much easier changing the plugs on these from under the car actually.

interstate battery says 12-16 on it meaning Dec 2016, not even 3 months old yet.... sucks if it died this early

found the air temp sensor from the old factory air box sitting there on top of the throttle body by the ignition coil (which I found out is an MSD "Blaster" one, always heard very good things about them but never personally used any MSD stuff before) and I tucked it away by the passenger firewall where I've seen other owners do it in pics on here.


Is there a sure fire way to tell if it's the starter or battery? Possible bad alternator that never charged the battery when I drove it around some before it started having problems. I've never had a bad battery or starter or alternator happen to me personally on a vehicle before so I'm kinda overwhelmed and stumped. I can hear the engine(I'm guessing that's what's turning?) turning over when I try and crank the car but it never does start.

it has sat for about 3-4 weeks though, enough time for a parasitic draw to kill the battery. So because it won't start now I don't even know if all the money I spent on parts has helped any.

EDIT: Got a battery tester/starter tester/alternator tester (those will only work if it cranks lol) at walmart for like 9 bucks and it says my charge level is only 60%....bought a multimeter, need to read how to use it, all these symbols and **** confuse me badly tbh...lol, I didn't do so well back years ago in school in science class to be honest........

I have a side post battery with TWO red wires on the positive though, I can attach pics.....one "main" big one goes sorta by the radiator then the other skinny small one goes behind the AC compressor then dissappears into a big huge wiring harness that looks stock....I've never had a vehicle like this though with two that I know of.

Once I figure out this multimeter I'll be able to tell if there's a parasitic draw, or if this 3 month old interstate sucked and died...lol













edit2: battery tested ok and they charged it but yet the car still won't start....just sits there turning over real heavy/slow

 

got 12v at the distributor?

 

it appears to have the original GM MAP sensor, that could be a thing to replace that will fix the rough running if the new fuel filter and/or pump fixes the issue I have it narrowed down to due to using starting fluid and it started then died

I possibly thought bad distributor, boy I was reading and that looks like a pain in the booty to get set up right and then having to do the timing after....crossing my fingers fuel filter and/or fuel pump fixes it, it's literally the only things it could be now, feels very good to have it narrowed down