ok, my car used to be TPI. it is an 89 Trans AM GTA with a rebuilt 5.7L and a 600cfm edelbrock performer carb and intake manifold. it was running nicely untill today. i was going to drive it up on ramps and just as i started going up them, it just died without warning. it wont start again. the engine cranks over smoothly, but there is no sign at all of it trying to ignite. i checked all the wires, and every thing seems normal. the only thing i can think of is the choke. i never botherd to adjust it at all (its electric) because it ran fine the way it was. gas does squirt into the carb when i step on it. everything should be working fine. i havent done any real work on it for a while. i let it sit for about 10 minutes and it still wouldnt start. one thing i did notice is that there is a very strong smell of gas coming from under the car after... on the drivers side. i am useing my stock intank pump with a fuel pressure regulator. i cant see any broken lines or anything. there is 4 lines comeing from the gas tank, one is return, one is the feed, what are the other 2? one goes to the charcoal canister right? how about the other? what happens if i plug the one goeing from/to the canister? i really need some help here.

 

3 things are required for an engine to run: compression, reasonable air/fuel mixture, spark at the right time. Which condtition is not satisfied?

If you smell gas under the car, then the exhaust is might be full of fuel. This might indicate a rich condition.

What is your fuel pressure set to? Should be around 4-5 psi. Any more than that, your carb probably is overflowing into the intake.

 

well... mine runs at just slightly under 6psi i was told 4 - 7 would be alright. the air/fuel mixture "could" be off. personaly i couldnt see any real difference in the rpms when adjusting them, so i just left them both somewhere in the middle. the choke is also adjusted to the center notch. and all this time its been running reallly nice like that untill today. there is no real big modifications to this engine. exept it has a roller cam/lifters. it also has stock 350 TPI heads. so i think the compression might be a bit higher than normal carbed engines.

 

What do the plugs look like? Do they makea strong(white) spark?

 

the plugs are bosch platinum +4's and they are brand new. i havent pulled them out. it couldnt be the spark plugs because i doubt all 8 of them would have failed at once.

 

But it is possible that you have no spark. I think that's what Rezinn was really asking, anyway.

 

that type of thing used to happen to me. it was my pos carb. it kept flooding my engine. it only did it now and then. how long have you had the car with these same parts. if its been running fine with that carb for months than i dont know if this is your prob. i would have to put the pedal to the floor, to let more air in, and after a little bit of cranking, it would run. since i changed to a street avenger, it hasnt done it since, so i know it was my carb. before i thought to put the pedal to the floor, i had to let it sit for like 3-4 hours. talk about inconveniance.

 

the carb is brand new, its a 600cfm edelbrock performer carb with a performer intake manifold. everything on this engine is brand new. EVERYTHING!!!! actualy, i think it might have had something to do with me pluging up the old charcoal canister line. apparently the gas tank needs to vent. i took out the screw, started it up and it works fine. but that COULD just be a fluke that it started. so i dunno