I have a 1985 Trans Am with the L69 engine and while my daughter was driving the car had to have the head gaskets replaced. The shop that did this took every single vacuum line off the engine and now it runs like crap. Does anyone know where to get a book, drawing or picture of the engine so I can find out how to properly hook everything back up?

 

Smog label under hood has vac lines for carb,etc. Factory service manual from helm has diagrams in it, but don't know detailed they are.

 

The label isn't detailed enough, I have 12 or 13 pieces and I can only figure out about 7 of them from the label. Can you elaborate on 'helm'? Never heard of it before.
Also, I went to GM but they don't have anything for a car that old.

Thanks

 

Helm makes the factory service manual for GM. Website: helminc.com phone # 800-782-4356. If you order one prepare to pay around $100 or so. Possible to post pixs of mystery hoses?

 

There is currently a big sale on shopmanuals on www.helminc.com The manuals who regulary go for $150 and up is now $30 and below. For your perticular car, they are $30 , for -83's $23.

I have a Chilton manual myself, they are crap when you want detail. They only cover general repairs and have a couple of hundred pages. The Helms manual is the one used by GM, has 3000 pages and cost about the same, at least a couple of more weeks.

Grab'em while you can, the offer is only valid to February.

 

The sticker under the hood has every single vacuum line there is, except for ones associated with non-engine accessories (ventilation, and cruise control). It's sufficiently detailed that it's a legal document.

If there are more hoses than that, they don't belong.

Hook up everything according to that sticker, and plug any remaining connections on the manifold or carb; then come back and we'll help you get those hooked up right.

 

For $30.00 get the factory manual. Mine has been big help when working on my car. If not for this, then for something else down the road.

 

What is a shop doing taking all those vacuum hoses off. Sounds like a little illegal or at least they should fix it back the way it was.

 

It was during a head gasket swap. You have to disconnect that stuff to take the intake off, which you need to remove to take the heads off.

 

..

 

Unrelated to your plight, but I hope you know how rare an 85 L69 is. I've been looking for one for years and have only come across a small handful. I'd hold on to it.

 

Hey redarrow, where do you find out that a particular car is rare? I have an 84 L69 is that just as rare? Also I checked out helminc and noticed the 84 service manual is around 90 where as the 85 is 30. I should be ok if I order the 85 manual over the 84 right?

 

Look at the number of them produced versus the total number for that year. He's referring to the fact that there were only 1665 L69 T/A's in 1985. If you happen to find a 1986 L69 their even rarer... only 26 made. The 1984 isn't really rare, 18,037 automatics and 7,051 manuals were made, for a total of 25,088.

 

The car was in storage after the head gasket thing and the oil and filter were changed before I started driving it again. I've taken it into GM and they hooked up about half of the lines and set the timing. It's just that I look at it and the whole setup looks wrong... I've gotten the motor to about 80% of what it used to run like, better than the unable to spin tires on a right turn chugging with the lines off, but it seems like I'm running on only 7 cylinders or something. That isn't the case though, plugs, points, wires are all new and routed well away from shorting out. It's frustrating as I know how the car ran before the lines got removed and now it's blah.

 

I would try to find a forum member with an unmolested L69 engine you can look at and try and figure it out that way.

 

well hell i junked an 85 L69 T/A with discs rear and all

and then now i get told that there werent a ton of them,...

little late now.,.


doh


84 were a ton of them i know,


on the vacuum diagrams, there will be a billion different ones all depeninding on what emissions equipment was originally installed on it, GM sure as heck didnt keep this info for much longer than after the model year,

does your state have emissions inspections ?

if not then id just worry about distributor vacuum advance, and cruise control and EGR and HVAC hose really, and bypass TVAC switches in intake and thermostat housing

good luck

 

The diagram that RB83L69 posted should help you a lot. Here is a separate diagram out of the '84 Service Manual for the charcoal canister. I can take pictures of my '84 LG4 as its basically the same setup.

 

It WAS a California car, so it did have a bit more in the way of emissions then most. I've also found another part of the problem, the electric choke has gone bad, causing the plugs to foul pretty quickly. When I get the time/money I'm going to repleace the choke and then see what I can do with it. Maybe I'll have it back in the 14's later this year.

Dens71TA, if you could post a pic, I'd love it. Even if it's close, it'll give me something to sheck out against mine.

Sorry about the time lag on this, Between being out of town and the site going down, I didn't get much of a chance to check here.