Ive also posted this in the tech/general engine forum, wasnt sure if posting it here would help me, but I do have a 350 TPI engine, and wasnt sure if some of my symptoms/problems could be TPI related. Sooooo
Over the last 3 or 4 weeks ive done a BUTT load of work on my car, and thought it was good to go, thats what I get for thinkin right? So me and a friend adjusted the timing yesterday and It drives home nice, so this morning I go out to crank it up and it takes 1 or 2 tries(been having this problem, thought it was the timing though), After I get it running, its a rough idle until it warms up, slight hesitation when I put it in reverse and drive, seems to surge now and then when im going down the road and its shifting at a higher RPM than it used too, Ive also noticed a slight exhausty smell, and when I try to go into passing gear, or when I drop it into second, I get a really loud rattling comeing from up under the car(checked around for something loose to no avail) I was talking to a friend and he said it sounded like my fuel to air ratio was bad, or maybe my pump was going? I dont know, im quite lost on what to do/check right now, as far as I can tell, its the fuel pump, IAC, injectors, EGR? in the fuel system? Heres a list of what ive replaced thus far.

Spark plugs, wires, rotor cap/button, O2 sensor, temp sending unit, fuel filter, O rings on the injectors, Manifold gaskets(had a torn one), MAF sensor and both relays.

Any help is greatly appreciated!!

 

No ideas? So far Im planning to check the pressure in the lines, check the injectors and the IAC, cant do much today though, freakin rain.

 

Check your fuel pressure and check for vacume leaks... As far as your trans shifting you may have to adjust you detent cable.

 

Your list is what I would check, probably egr or FPR with the gas smell and all, if you set your base timing, fuel pressure when you did all that work. Vacuum leak is always the first thing I check when I have trouble.

 

soon as I can get my hands on a fuel pressure tester ill test the lines, hoping to get one today, what PSI should I be running at 45ish? As far as the EGR and FPR, is there any method of testing them thats relatively easy? or would you need a computer to do that? For teh vacuum leak, ive heard of using Carb cleaner, do you just spray it all over the engine while its running? Thanks for the help guys!

 

my car was having hard start problems, and surging idle, but no funny exhaust smell. what i did was replace the TPS sensor. just dont run out and buy one right yet, until you preform a simple test. disconect your TPS plug, and with a DVM connect one lead to the center hole and one lead in the top. make sure you get a good connection with the meter. now smoothly flip your throttle to WOT and back. there should be a smooth transition of numbers on the meter. then plug the DVM leads again , but this time with the center and bottom. repeat test. if the numbers are jumbled up , and not smooth , replace the TPS. a TPS will not always throw a code if its not up to par. my car has a non surging idle and starts a bit quicker. my car never idles smooth, and is a little hard to start due to the camshaft profile i have in a 436. i hope this info helps, it did for me....tom

 

also pull the vacuum hose from the FPR. if a fuel smell is in the hose, the diaphram is bad....tom

 

oki, ill check the FPR hose if it ever quits freakin raining. I did replace my TPS already, forgot to add that in hehe, it was idling from 500 up to almost 2000 and then back down, after I replaced teh TPS it evened out, nice a steady, but still a bit rough, which is where I am now. Thanks for the advice!

 

well, finally was able to get out and do some work on the car, I checked the vacuum line coming from the FPR, and, dont know how I missed this, but the elbow going into the FPR was taped and the tape was flapping around and kinda just fell off, and there was a HUGE tear in the elbow, I smelled the line and if ya sniff reaaaaal hard you can barely barely smell some fuel, so I just replaced the elbow and after running it, no fuel smell on the line at all. I also went to recheck the TPS, seems I had it wrong for some reason when I first adjusted it, so I re read some tech articles and went to adjust it to .54Vdc, but it wouldnt adjust over .31Vdc!! I had a friend that is retired military and also a retired GM mechanic tell me how to teach the car to idle, which worked wonderfully, then I went to adjust the TPS and ran into that problem. Taking it back now and getting a new one, hope this one isnt bad, seems to be the problem? Was just idling high, even though only reading .054Vdc, and would idle up and down, like it was sticking. Hope this fixes it, thanks again for the advice!

 

Well replaced the TPS and adjusted it to no avail, then replaced the FPR today, cleared the computer, taught the car to idle and drove it around for about 20 min or so. Everything seems to be in order, save 2 things, I still get some hesitation when I feather the gas from a stop, but I found if I dont feather and just hit the gas, or take it out of OD, its fine with no problems. The other thing is when I get into high gear, or drop it into second, I get a loud rattling coming from around the drivers side of the engine, any ideas on that? But just driving normally its perfect, better than it ever was. Interesting thing my friend told me though was teaching the car to idle, ive done alot of searching and stuff and seen some different ways, but what he told me was to start the car in nuetral and then put it in drive and leave it there for 5 minutes, I think it worked extremely well.

 

Grrrrrrrrrr. Heh, seems im back to the starting problems again. It takes me 3 or 4 tries to get it started and it idles up and down for a min or so then evens out and after that it seems fine, ive sprayed carb cleaner around the intake and plenum and going to use a vacuum line tester today. I did find some melted wires from where the wire holder broke, would this affect anything? Im just completely lost at this point shooting in the dark. Help please!

 

Check the maf sensors, there 2 on the firewall-pasenger side.

My Iroc used to idle up and down.

 

Ive replaced the MAF and both MAF relays, maybe a problem in the wiring? To me, its hard to troubleshoot because it only idles up and down shortly after I get it started and then its fine. Thanks.

 

Ok, took it out today to a friend that works at a shop, junkyard actually, but the guy has everything to work on/diagnose cars. We check the fuel pump, all the vacuum lines, the injectors(ohm), everything tested out just fine, then we put the computer out of it, it called out a code 43, ESC, but I forgot to get teh knock count So Im driving home and getting a loud rattling every now and then, and after aways the SES light comes on, so I check it when I get back to my house and its a code 43(It hasnt called it out before). So my question is, if the ESC, module or wiring are bad would it cause my car to not want to start and stay running? It took me quite some time today, I would start it and it would stall out, and idle real rough, it makes sence to me, but I wouldnt be posting here if I was 100% sure. Please help me figure it out!!! Thanks!