I am looking for a person or garage that I can take my 89 T/A GTA to to get the engine sorted out, if your a person, I will obviously compensate you for your time and effort with $$$, not looking for a free ride... just a working one.

I have tried 3 local garages and the issues still aren't ironed out. The garage that I trust the most so far out of them all recommends replacing the TPI system with a Carb system, and from the various posts and whatnot I have read it seems like the vibe I come away with is to keep the TPI system. But I am slowly running out of options.

I am not mechanically inclined to do a whole heck of a lot on my own. I understand the language and terminology to an extent, but when I actually get to under the hood I end up drawing a blank and/or messing things up more than fixing anything.

 

Whats the issue you are having with the motor?

 

Here is the abridged version.

- Bought car last year.

Garage #1(Over the course of a few visits due to unresolved issues)
-Replaced engine (I can give more details to that if needed, still 2 years left on warranty)
-Deleted CAT
-Disabled EGR
-Replaced ECM

(At this point it drove ok around town, but still had highway issue which I will describe at the end since I still have it, also consistent missing when hitting bumps)

Garage #2 (1 visit)
- Replaced some melted wires (presumably due to my highway issue see below)

(This fixed the issue with the bumps, but my highway issue remained)
They suggested I switch to Carb

Me trying to tinker myself

- Adjusted TPS trying to solve highway issue, apparently made another issue appear where it bogs down randomly even during "in town" driving so bad that the car will shake (sometimes violently) even when idling. Tried to adjust it back to where it was but the new problem remained. Not sure if my tinkering was coincidence or what caused this new issue.

Garage #3 (Yesterday)
- Diagnosed as a bad ECM unit.. said that when this was going on 1/2 the cylinders weren't firing and it was due to the ECM so...replaced ECM again

(I drove it home for and for about 30 minutes it seemed ok, then the same random around town issue started again with the shakes at the light. I haven't bothered taking it on the highway again, I assume that problem is still there too, I got disgusted and just parked it for the night).

* The highway issue - When cruising up around 70-80-90, and you go to pass, you get maybe 1 or 2 of these little runs of good speed and performance. After that, it will bog down (not unlike what is happening in town, but less extreme) and will actually seem to go slower when you try to accelerate instead of faster. Once this starts, it will continue to drive like this until it sits for about 20 minutes. At this point I wish this was the only issue I had, ever since the random around town issue started, I haven't even had it out on the highway to test this recently due to the other more pressing issue. *

There are much longer version of each stage of the story, but that's the short version.

 

Almost forgot, another part of the *highway issue* is if I continue running it once it goes into that crappy bog down mode, the exhaust manifold will get red hot. (hence the melted wire from earlier)

 

Could be ignition module and fuel pump related

 

Thats what i was thinking also, Leaning more towards fuel pump, fuel pressure.

 

Did they check the Fuel pressure with vacuum line removed from regulator?

 

Sounds like some common fp issues guys were having here with pumps going weak after alot of run time. They'd overheat. Would explain red hot manifolds if pump was dying off in pressure and going lean

 

Not that they made me aware of.

 

You guys think both issues could be caused by a fuel pump?

 

I would check that first. A shop can perform a fuel pump output test, and check the fuel pressure. Also make sure timing is set correctly.