I have a 1988 trans am gta with the mfi 5.0. When i got the car it ran and had good throttle response but had a severe water leak. I found that it was the intake gaskets had blown. So i replaced the gaskets and put everything back together. Now that the water leak has been fixed it idles very low and will occasionally die at stop signs, it also feels sluggish when first pushing the gas peddle. What would cause this? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

 

Could be a few things; timing might be off, your tps could be out of adjustment it should be about .58 volts give or take .04 i believe. Did you make sure everything is hooked back up properly, didnt miss any connectors or vacuum hoses? Did you mess with the throttle body idle adjustment screw at all?

 

Ok so I checked and the timing is off a little bit, its currently at 0 when the chilton book I have says should be a 6 degrees before tdc. Would that be enough to cause the poor idle and dieing at stops? Also I'm pretty sure I got everything else hooked back up correctly. Also I never touched a bolt on the throttle body, I actually left the throttle body attached to the rest of the plenum when I took it off.

 

you'll see that your idle will increase when you advance the timing

 

Thank you I will try that. Also when I first put it back together after replacing the intake gaskets I had an issue with the fuel system. When I took it apart I left the fuel rail assembly together just set it to the side in the garage. When I put it back on and hooked everything back up it spewed fuel between the regulator and the passenger side fuel rail. I turned it off and then turned it back on and the leak stopped. So I assumed that the o-ring had dried out a bit and then when it got fuel on it it swelled back up. What do you think?