Hello all,

I recently had my fuel pump, water pump, thermostat and rearend gasket replaced by idiot backyard mechanic. Long story but needless to say I listened to the wrong recommendation.

Anyways, since the replacement I have picked up a hard start problem. I have to crank the engine for at least 10 seconds before it will fire up. Then it runs fine. Also, as I was driving down the road today the car started to rev very high (don't know how high because my tach doesn't read right) and the car started to take off without my foot on the gas pedal, I then put the car in neutral and reved it up one time and the rpm's came back down.

Also, this *** stripped the head off of one of my thermostat housing bolts and in the process of getting the bolt out made the hole too big to tighten up the new bolt. So, someone recommended installing a Helicoil but I don't know what size to get. Does anyone happen to know what size bolts are in the thermostat housing?

Any help would be appreciated,

 

Helicoils are sold in sets. If you are unsure, bring the bolt with you to the parts store.

Try changing out your fuel filter. Its worth a try. I have heard fuel pumps going into cars that were weak to begin with.

When you start up the car the fuel pump makes a little noise and clicks. It pushes fuel to the engine. I usually turn the car over once without starting and turn it over again and it starts right up. I have had a similar issue with a firebird once before.

 

Any SES lights when the car surges? Does it only surge with your foot off the gas, or does it do it on any other throttle positions? Sounds like a dead spot in the TPS. Do you have a VOM? You can use it to test the TPS. Do a search on what wires are what. If I remember correctly the gray wire is ground, the black wire is a steady 5v, and the blue wire should be around .5-.6v at closed throttle and increase steadily to 4.5-5 volts at WOT. Double check the wire colors before you do anything. Its at least worth a test.

What I did was take a 2 or 3 inch section of unbent paper clip and "probe" the back of the plug that goes into the TPS, right around where the wires go in. Its somewhat of an akward procedure, but once you get the VOM set up on the correct wires slowly open the throttle with a free hand and watch the voltage go up. It should steadily climb with no dead spots.