My 89 TPI 350 will not run, about 3 months ago I went to drive the car and it would not start. I say it won't, it will hit on 4 out of 8 cylinders for maybe a minute no throttle control or nothing. I have thrown money at it with a new distributor, cap, rotor and wires and even changed out the fuel pump. last week one of my buddy's brought over his snap on scanner over and the car came back with a VATS error, does this sound normal, I thought the car would not crank if something was wrong with the VATS. Where do i go from here; spring is coming and i want to get the car on the road........

 

What kind of plugs are you using? Did the new distributor come with a module? Was it actually NEW? or a used one?

Might be a failing sensor, bad injectors, or many other things.

 

Just for fun, and not saying that this is the problem, or even relevant, but unplug the MAF sensor and try it once. That should throw the computer into limp-home mode, and eliminates a few possibilities.

Exactly what code # did it give you? What does the computer say if you run the codes with a paper clip? I'd stop throwing parts at it and start troubleshooting.

 

I do not remember the exact code that it give but it had the term "vats error" on the live view. we have tried with the maf sensor unplugged with no luck. today it will not start at all and i now have to change the oil because it is 50% gas.