I’m the original owner of an 84 T/A. The car is about as good as you find body, paint and interior. But mechanically it’s been somewhat neglected except oil changes. I’ve had trouble finding a mechanic that wants to work on it in the Orlando area for sometime. It sat for a while and had what seemed like fuel issues for starting and wouldn’t stay at idle. I finally found a shop that took it in and they’ve changed the intake, valve covers and valve seals. After new wires and cap they say it starts well and idles but after it warms up it goes to crap whatever that means. They think there is a computer issue and are planning on switching to an msd Distributer and said I’ll have a check engine light but it should run better. It was an all original L69 with Rochester electronic carburetor. It is automatic but lockup has been disconnected for years as it would surge 100 rpm. Does this non computer Distributer sound like a fix? He said he can’t read codes and going throw all the wires and sensors is to tedious. What issues will I have with non computer Distributer? They did remove all pollution except air pump and it looks good with new edlebrock intake although a little concerned with hood clearance.

 

 

Thanks

 

Not too impressed with that shop's troubleshooting skills. It looks like they are just throwing stuff at the wall to see what sticks. It's nearly impossible for anyone here to troubleshoot your problem via the Internet, but you cannot do a half-a$sed swap of non-CCC components and expect positive results with the ECM.
Why was the intake manifold changed? Was the carb changed too? If you are going to run a non-CCC distributor, then you need a non-CCC carb too, and at that point, might as well eliminate the computer altogether. MSD distributors are expensive. You can get a standard HEI distributor with vacuum advance from Summit or Speedway. If it idles good until it warms up and then "turns to crap", it makes me wonder if the choke is not opening, or if the idle mixture control is not working (CCC carb). Need more information...

 

The intake was leaking and warped when they removed it, the carburetor is the original although it was rebuilt years ago. Unfortunately I’m not very mechanical and screwed basically. I wanted the car running again after owning it since new. I don’t really understand what they are getting at but they’ve had the car a very long time and it’s hard to tell the story over the internet. He said it’s to hard to trace down sensors and wiring. He said after the car warms up it doesn’t run well and thinks whatever Distributer he is going to put in will fix things but I’m unsure. It’s a situation I need to get the car out of as it’s been there for months but I don’t know anywhere else to take it if they don’t get it running. It has a 130,000 on it and the compression was good but was very hard to start and wouldn’t stay at idle without feathering pedal. These guys work on older hot rods but don’t care much for this generation. Any advice appreciated.

 

Pull your car OUT of that shop. They are clueless and are just playing trial & error with your money.
A non-CCC distributor is not gonna be compatible with the CCC carb, and if they don't know that, they are inept. I've never seen an intake manifold warp. I can't imagine what extreme conditions would be necessary to cause that...

 

 

These are the only people locally that have wanted to work on my car although it hasn’t went smoothly. As I’ve said I’m mechanically challenged and am going to try to stop them from putting this in Monday morning. He said he can’t read codes and doesn’t know where all the sensors are. Does anyone have any idea what would make it run poorly after it warms up. Any diagram of the sensors or location of what could cause this. Or anyone in the area of Orlando to tow it to. Thanks
The intake was leaking for 20 years or more but car always ran good. Not sure if leaking that long could make it warp.

 

You might want to advise him that all that info can be found right here on this site. The subscription services that repair shops use (Mitchell, etc) don't generally go back to '80s vehicles.


Could be just about anything on a 38-year-old car, but based on the limited information of symptoms listed ITT, I'd look at the ignition module. A poorly adjusted carburetor choke would be another of many possibilities.



Can't help here; maybe a few of the Florida 3rd gen owners who post here can offer suggestions.


Have never seen a cast iron small-block intake warp, but I guess anything is possible. If there was a leak, it's more likely to have been an intake gasket failure (entirely possible on such an old vehicle).

The 'parts cannon' often does more damage than good, and many times only serves to lead the technician further away from the root cause of the problem(s). That's not much help to someone who isn't able to work on the vehicle himself though.

GL going forward.

 

Thanks for the information, appreciate it.

 

L-69 had aluminum intake manifold, but still shouldn't warp...

 

don't bash the shop too much, there's just very few around that remember how these systems worked AND a lot of old time misinformation.

at this point it might be wise to have them swap the dist AND the carb to get it running well enough. have them make a suggestion on what they want to put on and run it by here.

the original carb is now super old and finding someone that can rebuild it that knows what they're doing AND can diagnose all of the sensors and what not that have to work in concert with it may be too long a road and could wind up costing more than a plain swap to mechanical carb and dist. even after it's fixed you still have to maintain it.

you may want to look into getting the lock up working again. there are aftermarket kits that will work without the ECM. the older trans relied on the lockup for additional cooling. not sure if 84 was in that category.

 

my 84 berlinetta with the LG4 also had the aluminum intake.

 

Thank you, I don’t want to bash the shop. They did say going through the sensors and finding the problem would be time consuming and they are very busy with daily repairs coming in. It was put on the back burner for a long time and I just want to get it back at this point. I’m not sure how they wouldn’t understand the Distributer carb compatibility as it seems like it should be common knowledge per this board.
As far as the lockup goes a transmission shop disconnected it at the transmission as I was having it kick in and out at cruise, about 1-2 hundred rpm’s. I believe the converter needs work to fix it and figured I’d deal with that whenever transmission would be rebuilt. I had driven it probably 20 years that way just without overdrive.
Unfortunately I got very sick and needed a transplant and the car never left the garage for four years. A friend who knows a little about cars helped me get it started after getting new fuel in it but it never would idle correctly. I could start it and it would idle high 1500 or so as it should cold but as soon as I’d kick it down it would die. Only way to keep it running was feathering the pedal. I really wish I was in better health and new how to work on it myself. The car treated me very well over the years.