so i drive a 1984 trans am and got most of the recent stuff on it corrected but there are a few thing that are really annoying me that i need to fix,
one problem is that while i was driving back from work i was approaching a light that went red and braked fast, next thing i know the idle on the car sounded neer stalling and 2 secs later after breaking it dies! i tried changing the ignition coil but to no luck, my friend said that i have a bad fuel pump but i want a second opinion before spending money again

another issue is that i feel my car is buring more gas then it should,half a tank disappears in 3 days of light driving and after i open the hood there is a strong odor of gas but i cant find any leaks!

and a small problem i am having is the check engine light, one day it would be on, but the moment the car shuts off and turns back on it goes away and dosent come on again any ideas?

thanks

 

I have an 84 T/A also. The car is carbed, have you changed the fuel pump? It could be leaking. That's probably the odor yous smell. I'tll leak on to the block and dry, so you won't have any residue on the ground that's very obvious. The pump is on the passenger side, front lower half of the engine. Shouldn't take more than an hour to replace. Only run about $30.00 so they'e not that expensive.

I would also bet that your carb needs to be rebuilt and EGR valve and O2 sensor need to be changed. Is it the factory Qjet? Do you have a dwell meter? Do you know how to check the dwell on the carb? Is the carb "clicking" when you first turn the ignition to "on" but not start the car? The CEL light that you see is the car reading a rich/lean condition while driving, but it's not a "hard" fault, so the ECM doesn't remember it after you turn the car off.

 

i havent changed the fuel pump but the way it sounds i will get right on it, maybe a new O2 sensor while i'm at it. I don't have a dwell meter and i have no idea on how to check dwell. i do have a stock quadrajet and as for the clicking, i hear it fine when the car is in the start position.

 

the clicking means the Mixture control solenoid is working. That's a good thing. For the Swell, do a search for a thread that myself an NAF and Aperion had, it pretty much goes over how to check the dwell on the carb (Making sure the mixture control is working while the car is running and that it's dialed in to the O2 sensor). Qjets are the only carb to evolve and change with the times. The ECC Qjets (Electronic Controlled Carb) are pretty cool. The ECM reads the O2 sensor and modifies the fuel mixture appropriately. One step below TBI.

 

another question, i noticed my idol seems to be picking up and dropping by itself, i dont know if its timing or what not but it seems to make the car harder to drive along with the throttle getting a little stuck only when its on

 

That sounds like a vacuum leak. Grab a vacuum gauge, block off every port coming outof the intake and carb, and hook it up to the brake booster. This wil give you a baseline should be 22ish and steady. Then start hooking lines back up. When/if the pressure drops, you'll know that's where your leak is. However, block that one off, and continue to see if you have more than one. Even small ones can wreck havoc on the system.

 

Sounds like a bulletproof idea, I wilk take a crack at it. Also today finished puting in the new fuel pump, car feels smoother, one last check on the bolts and lines and i should be good. next is an O2 sensor and the vacuum test you mentioned, hope it gets the car running the way its supposed to

 

Hopefully the fuel pump was the leaky culprit and gets rid of your gas smell. Keep us updated on the rest of it! Good luck!

 

so today i want to fire up my car, and i noticed that the idle had fixed it self, i dont know what it was but it fixed itself. here is another question, the clutch on my A/C wont engage and i wanted know some of the reasons it wont turn on besides low freon and a bad relay i also noticed that the metal prongs on the compressor were fairly loose when i took the connector off to clean it. any ideas?

 

Bad compressor/clutch. When you turn the AC on, will it cyle on at all?

Make sure the system is charged properly. Replace the relay anyway. It's the relay on the silver canister, mine went bad, wouldn't allow it to cycle properly because it didn't know how full the system was.

 

i am getting the AC serviced by some professionals hopefully it will be fixed and it wont be anything major or expensive

 

i wanted to know if anyone had a link on how to rebuild the throttle on the Quadrajet carb on my car. i had mentioned its getting stuck and that its getting slightly stuck ONLY when the car is on and i had heard its manifold vacuum is holding it open i also wanted to know that the carb throttle rebuild kit is included in the whole carb rebuild kit or is it sold separately?

thanks again