Somebody please help me out here. My neighbor's 88 GTA 350 will not start. The problem started a few days ago and we replaced the fuel pump and replaced the MAF (both needed to be done), but the car will still not start. The car fires up initially, but then dies. It seems like anytime you try to hit the gas, the car wants to die as well, but no gas or flooding happens. Also, to makes things even stranger, if I stick my hand in front of the throttle body and completely choke it off, the car will idle until I take my hand off the front of the throttle body. Please give me some help here. It seems to me that the car is not getting enough fuel. I am basing this upon the fact that the car runs when extremely choked, but dies when I remove my hand. The fuel pump was replaced, what can be the problem? We have not changed the fuel filter, can this be the problem? How about a relay? Any help would be greatly appreciated, because we need to get this car back on the road.

 

I would do a fuel filter before looking at any thing else.

How many miles are on the engine? One possibility is the timing chain has slipped, but that usually happens on high mileage engines.

 

One way to check for a slipped timing chain is to completely cover the throttle body with your hand and crank the engine, if you feel it trying to push your hand off then that is a good indication of a slipped timing chain.

I hope I am wrong, cause timing chain and gear replacement is a pain.

 

Thjta shouldn't be the problem, cause it wants to suck my hand into the TB. I have now replaced the fuel filter and we are still having the same problem. Any more advise?

 

Can you hear the fuel pump working when you turn the key on?
If you can, don't waste your time reading the rest of this 'cause it would not apply.
The next thing I would try is pulling the pump relay and jumping the terminals to provide 12 volts directly to the fuel pump. ( you said you didn't see any gas). If the pump works with the jumper wire, but not with the relay, swap in a new relay.
If the new relay doesn't work, check for a loose ground wire that grounds the relay pull in circuit.
If the ground is good check for a 12 volt signal from the ecm when the key is first turned on. (It will only provide the signal for a few seconds unless it recieves input from the distributor).
If you don't have a 12 v signal from the ecm, then you are probably looking at an ecm