i'm a little stumped here. i have an 86' 305 tpil, auto trans. about 2 weeks ago when i would start my car it would idle fine, but when i would put it in drive or reverse and press the gas it would die or take a second to send gas. i assumed it was a fuel problem so i replaced my fuel filter and fuel pump. now it seems to have little power in the lower rpms and i have a popping sound coming from my exhaust when in idle, and when i drive. the popping sound started after i replaced the fuel filter and before i replaced the pump (and it still didn't solve my problem of hitting the gas pedal and the car dieing). i figured it was running lean and once i replaced the fuel pump that would solve the problem. it didn't. so i'm just kinda curious now. i do have a knocking/pinging on acceleration, so i think it could be something to do with an exhaust leak. all my vaccuum line are good and connected. so yeah, i dunno, just need some other, more experienced people's thoughts.

 

Start off with simple things, like checking your timing.

 

Very often, problems that seem like fuel problems are really ignition problems, and vise versa.

Check your igntiion timing (stock TPI should be around 6-8* initial or so) and if that checks out, then check your spark. Do this by pulling out one of your spark plugs, plug it back into its plug wire, and rest the plug on the valve cover (to ground it). Have someone crank over the engine while you watch the plug. What you are looking for is the color of the spark. A healthy spark should be white or light blue. A weak spark would be orange or red.

This is also a good time to check the color of the plugs. They should be a light tan color.. something similar to a rust color.

 

An actual popping in the exhaust could also mean you have a small leak somewhere in the system.

 

What exhaust system do you have? Many exhaust systems just sound like that, even if the engine runs just fine... although id does sound like yours is sick.