I just replace the 700r4 transmission in my brothers trans am after it sat for 6 years. It shifts fine but from a stop it sounds like it doesn't want to go and will almost shut off and has twice. I drove it for about a mile and back to the garage and the engine was overheating. So I shut it off and I could hear the coolant boiling. Also for some reason theres oil on the headers becuase it smokes really bad when it heats up.After I let it cool down, I started it back up and now it wont idle. It just sputters and dies.If you give it gas it runs smooth but as soon as I let it idle it dies. I havent really checked anything other than the coolant is full as well as the engine oil. This vehicle is totally different from my Fuel injected 4 cylinder 5 speed manual 4x4 that know how to work on. Could it be the distrubitor or carburator and a plugged cooling system or bad waterpump?Please help

 

Welcome to the boards . Ok, now I'm going to hit you with the third degree . It sat for 6 years you say? Is it running off the same gas it had in the tank when it was parked? Have you inspected the spark plugs, wires, cap, rotor, etc.? What condition is the engine oil? There's not a milkshake on the dipstick is there? See any coolant leaks anywhere? Check all these things out first and if they are OK, then pull out a timing light and see where #1 is firing (#1 is cylinder closest to the front of the car on the driver side if you didn't know). It sounds to me like the timing could be off. Also, you probably have some bad valve cover gaskets if there is oil seeping on to the exhaust manifolds, that's a quick and inexpensive repair there.

 

Thanks. Yes it is the same gas but the tank was half full. I changed the oil and filter before removing the old tranny and the engine ran Great amd idled untill I took it out for a test drive after installing the tranny. Nothing leaks in the cooling system and it is full. I was just thinking it could be the distributor because I had to remove it when the tranny was removed so it wouldnt get crushed against the firewall. It also sounds like it could be a vacuum leak in the carb, but it may very well be the timing even though it ran great before.

 

i played with the distributor a little and started the motor up. It idles good at about 600 rpm. I took it down the road and went to turnaround in someones driveway and it stalled again, but i got it going. It drives fine and it ran at about 160 degrees and i let it idle in the driveway for about 10 minutes. It didnt get any hotter than 220. The fan is on all the time as it is driven by a belt from the crankshaft.

 

Welcome to the hell I call Post Maintainence Screwups (PMS). This is the exact same problem that I dealt with when I replaced my tranny. When you turned the crank to get the bolts for the TC off was the distributer in or out? Mine was not tightened down good so the timing got all screwed up. You may have to setup your timing up by pulling the #1 plug and set it up that way.