Hello -

My 87 T/A 305 TPI was in storage fo 3 years while i was overseas and just now getting back i'm doing a tune-up. It was driven/started almost every week i was gone. I noticed she was a little sluggish so I've started doing the usual tune-up stuff. I replaced the plugs and wires today and she started find but the drive was pretty jerky. When I would step on the gas I got alot of hesitation. Plus idle was really rough at the stop lights. I experienced none of this before I replaced the plugs and wires. As you know replacing the plugs is a pain - hopefully its just the wires?? I replaced all my vacuum tubes about 3.5 years ago and I'm not pulling any error codes. Also I am getting BAD gas mileage, she really smells like gas. I replaced the fuel filter about 4 years ago.

Thanks for your help!

TucsonTransAm

 

double check your wire routing sounds like you may have gotten 2 swapped.

 

I'd still say to check the fuel filter, for $10 it may be a quick and easy fix. I also agree wiht duckman, if the problem only got worse after you did the wires, I'd check them again.

 

OK, i verified that all the wires were on correctly. At first i completely changed them since #1 is not marked on the distributor cap so i shifted everything left 2 to test- that did not work (the car did not start at all). I placed all wires back on like before and the car started back up. Now since it is evening i turned off the lights and watched the wires - i saw wires #6 and #8 light up now and then in the dark. What does that mean?

Thanks for the help!

 

You may have spark plug wires that have defective or leaky insulation. It is hard to tell, but when 40,000 Volts are pulsing through center core any cracks, or low resistance path may cause discharge - which may explain lousy engine performance.

//RF

 

if your engine was missing, what did you put the plugs and wires onto?

sorry, I had to.


I was just about to tell you to turn off the lights and run the car. I see that you already did that, and saw arcing. This means they are defective wires which are arcing out to the block. That would explain the miss.

 

I replaced the wires and it looks like it corrected the problem - THANKS!

I still feel like the vehicle is lacking power - I'll replace the fuel filter next.