Its an 86 Z tpi for starters. Im driving it then all of a sudden, it dies on me, luckily i made it into a parking lot. The check engine light comes on as it stumbles and dies. It refuses to idle and wont run if its not above 1000 rpm. On top of that, it refuses to rev up past maybe 2500 rpm. If i give it anything more than just tapping the gas, it stumbles and falls to around 1000 rpm just backfiring. It was throwing a code 21,32,33,36,42, and a 44. I dont see how it could be running fine then something like this happen. I know this post is very confusing and i thank all who take the time to read it and help out.

has the check engine light come on in the past couple months? if so, those codes could be old. if it just through all those codes for the first time, it could be the ECM itself.

Turn it off and then Turn it back on. Hehe just kidding, seems like you have a lot going on there. How many miles? Any problems or mods done recently?

its got 77,000 on everyting besides the shortblock which has 120,000.

I would reset the codes to get rid of the old ones and also check fuel pressure distributor wires plugs etc... at least get the easy stuff out of the way. Then fire the car back up and see what it does. Hopefully checking over the easy stuff will show you the problem.

MAF could need replacing. RPM's jump and they tend to stall out wherever they feel like it when you need a new 1.

alright, reset it and came up with a code 33 and 36. Sometimes, its happend like 3 times in 2 days, the car will idle, but then when i touch the gas, it will stumble to 500 rpm and backfire and barely stay running. If i disonnect the battery for like 30 seconds, it will run normaly again until it just happens again.

Hi guys. I'm new here and this is my first post so be gentle!

I had a similar problem years ago with my '87 Z28 and have to ask:
When it does this, does your tach needle start jumping around?

it will at idle, sometimes it will idle up to 1700 then drop down and stall out.

Mine would jump and stumble and sometimes die. Every time it did this, the tach needle would jump around uncontrollably. It had a bad ignition module. Its inside the distributor.

Try tapping on the MAF sensor with a screwdriver handle while its running. Had a bad one of those too once and it caused similar problems, but no tach jumping.

Just relating my personal experiences. Maybe it'll help.

ill have to go with Lneal on this one.

Check the "spark control module" beneath the distributor cap.
I had similar issues when my module was going out, that took care of that.

holmes....ive had the exact something happen to me & everytime its that D@** MAF sensor...