91 formula tpi, car sat for about three years, but ran fine before then with the only issue being vats and a bad distributor which was dealt with. It runs extremely rough jumping all over, so I had plugs, wires, throttle body replaced/cleaned. Everything seemed back to normal, so I drove the car home, but the next day it had absolutely no power(40mph WOT) and was back to running extremely rough. Since then it has been to two different shops and has had multiple parts replaced; ecm, fuel pump, fuel filter. This has been a 4 month process that has been nothing other than a nightmare. Here's the information I currently have throughout all of this. One shop said the problem is injectors are not pulsing. Eventually they told me they have no idea what's wrong take the car out of there. Next shop said they found water in the tank(I'm not sure how much, but there was definitely new and old gas too). They told me the timing was off. They also think it is the egr valve. Been a month since I've heard from them, called a week after they said that and was told the egr valve hasn't arrived yet. I'm not very car savvy when it comes to working on cars, so that's why I have it in a shop. I've been trying to do as much research as possible seeing as these shops seem clueless. Is there anything that can be pinpointed with the information provided? Also not sure if it's important to note that everything is stock other than a performance chip and a flowmaster exhaust. Both of which were from the previous owner over 6 years ago.

 

Checked your map/maf

 

How was the distributor repaired,was it replaced entirely or just pieces replaced?
It also sounds like an injector could be bad or some crap in the fuel rail,but it could be that the new fuel pump has crapped out(it happens).
Did any rodents chew on any wiring that you know of?
Does it still have a catalytic converter?I doubt it would be the converter but it should be checked also.
I wish I had this at my shop,this would be a fun challenge.I don't think many shops perform proper diagnosis and I know time is money,but throwing parts at a vehicle it just shameful for a place of business.

 

An entirely new distributor was put in a while ago and it still does have a cat. I've read about others having similar issues fixing it by replacing injectors, but any time I suggest injectors being the issue the idea is immediately shutdown with the response "I don't think it's that". Very disappointed these shops say they can work on the car then seem to know nothing about it... Rather them just say we don't work on that type of car from the start. Been considering the dealer...

 

why don't you check the resistance on the injectors when they are hot and cold. They should all ohm out the same. If the resistance is 12 or below you need new injectors

 

Read around a bit and it seems new wires would allow current to flow easier through them advancing the timing too much which would explain that? Just repeating what I've read. Regardless car still has the issue

 

Sounds like nonsense to me. I've heard that the Earth was flat and that Elvis is in the grocery store down the street; my "hearing" it doesn't seem to affect the reality very much.

A car that sits around for awhile, the gas turns to varnish in everything. In your case the suspects would be, injectors. Sitting around won't make them not "pulse", whatever that might mean in the context of whatever this "shop" did.

I'd be checking injectors, myself. Not so much their electrical properties though, as whether they're built up with varnish and crusties inside; which is not immediately obvious from outside. Again, sitting around causes certain things to happen (varnish for example), doesn't really cause other things so much (electrical failure other than corrosion on contacts for example).

You have a car that is LITERALLY an ANTIQUE. If you can't work on it yourself, you arguably have no business owning it, and certainly not trying to use it as a daily driver (if that's your intent). Now is a great time to begin learning how to work on it. I'd suggest starting out by replacing the injectors with a fresh flow-matched set. Southbay, that just replied to your post, is a good source for those. There are others as well. Contact him/them and see what they say.