hi, i am haveing a serious problem with my 89 Trans Am GTA (5.7L TPI). the car died, so i had the heads re-done (i was told that was the problem). after i re-assembled everything, i went to start it up and it sort of runs, but it will die if i let off the gas. also it runs really rough. ive re-set the timeing 5 times now (#1 cylindar at TDC, rotor pointing bettween #1 and #8 posts on distributor cap) and it still runs like crap. now its "possible" the rocker arms may be a little loose, and not set to zero lash, but they sound fine. ive checked almost everything i can think of and i dont know what to do. when i tryed to set the valves to zero lash acording to the books, some of the valves still were a tiny bit loose, so i re did it a few times and the same results happend so i asumed i did it correctly. if the valves are even slightly outa sync, could it screw things up that badly? could it be the fuel injectors? so far ive done everything "by the book", everything is torqued correctly too. im like outa ideas, time and money so i gota figure this out quickly. any help would be GREATLY appreciated. thanks

 

Check for vacuum leaks. Maybe when putting all the stuff back together you forgot a hose somewhere.

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"Rice burners are like tampons...Every pu$$y has to have one"
'86 IROC
T-TOPS, TINTED WINDOWS, BRAKE LIGHT BLACKOUTS
GM GOODWRENCH 350
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KN AIRFILTER
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3:73 Posi
Rebuilt 700R4
B&M Megashifter, 5" Autometer Tach w/shift lite

 

Spray carb cleaner all over the place and see if your idle races, if so you have some kind of vacuum leak. Have you reset the iac and tps?

 

If it idles and cruises terrible but runs OK at WOT, chances are it's a vacuum leak; that could be a hose or a gsket such as the plenum ones. If it's rough at WOT too, it could be a plug not firing for whatever reason (bad or disconnected or damaged wire, wires crossed, etc.); or one or more bad injectors, or one bank of injectors not plugged in.

Go back and recheck everything you touched very carefully; all hoses, wires, connections, etc. You'll probably run across some little gotcha somewhere.

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"So many Mustangs, so little time..."
ICON Motorsports

 

im pretty sure its not a vacume leak, the car wont even stay running if i let the gas off. ive checked, and re-checked the vacume lines countless times. ive had a vacume leak before and it made a hissing noise. right now everything air related sounds fine. i have a friend whos dad is a retired mechanic and he keeps tellin me its the valves, and that they arent adjusted properly. but i want to make sure before i start ripping apart my egr system again(to get at the passanger valve cover). it wouldnt make sense for a vacume leak to make the whole engine shake and die, but i am slowly leaning towards the injectors being the problem too..... i dont suppose a can of injector cleaner would help?

 

I had a similar problem when I got my new engine. It turned out to be a few burnt up spark plug wires. Check those and make sure they are connected good. Mine backfired sometimes too.

-Matt

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1984 Camaro Z28 - Black w/ Grey int.
-GM Goodwrench 350 with Edelbrock 600 Carb, Edelbrock Preformer RPM intake, AC Delco plugs, AC Delco wires, 14" Accel filter, Homemade Cold Air Indctn., Edelbrock Chrome valve covers, breather, and Air cleaner.
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