I am having a strange problem with my car that if any one has any ideas on what the problem could be or has had this sort of problem please help me.

First off my car is an 88 Pontiac Firebird with the TBI 305 and auto transmission has about 130,000 miles on it and I have an open element air cleaner, MSD coil and wires, Jet stage 2 chip, and AIR delete with the rest pretty much stock.

Problem is that the car suddenly starts to sputter erratically and dies but once the car has died there are no problems restarting it, it just fires right up.

Problem occurs when I move the selector on my air conditioning panel to any position other than OFF position. Max, vent, defrost it does not matter and there is no set time for the car to start acting goofy it may do it as soon as I move the selector or it may decide to wait for about 10 to 15 min and it does it when hot or cold. But if I can see the car start to act funny and move the selector to the OFF position the problem stops and the car starts to act normal again.

Personally it seems to me to be ignition or electrical related because when the problem occurs the tachometer needle starts to jump all over the place erratically like the car is firing sometimes and not at others, then if left to itself will eventually cause the car to die.

Thanks in advance for all the help!!!

 

Sounds like an ign module going out with the tach jumping around like that.
They usually get worse when hot, but not always.
Luckily, they're easy to change and not too expensive.

Might wanna check the tach wire on the distributor/coil. Make sure it's not loose or grounding on something intermittently.

The part abt the heater-A/C controls was probably a coincidence.
If there was a direct, immediate correlation between the controls and the eng, it would be a different story, but waiting 10-15 mins,, that leaves the door wide open.

 

Read my reply in your other thread. Might be an idea. Hopefully Vader can help us out here.

https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=108347

 

Well the problem has now gotten worse to the point where my car will only run for a few second then will die. The problem seems to be ignition related because when the car starts to act funny the fuel pressure does not change and the fuel amount sprayed out of the injectors does not change either. I have a new cap, rotor, plugs, wires, ignition module, and I have checked by pickup coil and it is within the specs on my car manual. Any other suggestions guys????

 

Start by checking/cleaning the engine ground connections. There is that SOB tangle of ground wires on the rear of the right head to begin with. That will take you some time to sort out. Then there is that braided ground strap on the firewall in the same location, but that's a lot easier. And of course the chassis ground connection right near the battery. And verifying a good ECM ground wouldn't hurt, but that will require removing a few interior trim pieces.

After that, you probably should check the alternator output stud connection, and meter the output on an AC voltage scale to make sure there is not stray AC contingent in the system (from a shorting diode in the rectifier bridge). Anything over a half a volt AC or more could cause problems with some of the sensors for the ECM, really screwing over the ECMs ability to maintain control.

Does the voltmeter do anything unusual during these episodes?

 

I noticed when searching through the posts that related to the problems I was having [car runs like crap with EST connected and fine without] that not many people finished the post with a definite answer to why their cars had been acting the way they had. So maybe with the hope of starting a new trend where people can search previous posts and find a solution to their individual problems here is my solution. Following Vaders’ advise and checking the grounds I found that the ground wires on the drivers side head had come loose, and once tightened the problem no longer exists. Thank you Vader for your helpful insight I am very grateful. :hail: And for any one with the problem described above I suggest following Vaders helpful suggestions.

 

Ground Wires are usually always the problem............If Only I would have known that before I spent $500 and spent 2 weeks under my car....................