id say about 85 percent of the time my car runs like crap, when its cold it will barely idle at like 400 rpm shaking and chugging, and when i rev it up it will backfire through the intake and the exhaust. When i run up the rpms it will not pull at full throttle it acts like its being choked out but when i let up on the gas it will run up alittle higher and shift. And the other 15 percent of the time it will start up cold and idle up at like 1500 for a few seconds and then idle down to 900 and idle great, i can rev it up and it will rev quickly to 6000 rpm and not backfire or nothing. When i hit the gas it will light the tires up and run up at full throttle to 6000 with ease and pull hard. But if hardley ever runs good just enough to tease me and keep me trying to figure it out and when i get down and feel like quitting on it, it will run great again and get me trying some more stuff. Is there some main wire to check, it acts like something is being triggered and making everything mess up, and every now and then it dosent get triggered. Its a 88 iroc 350 tpi

 

This could be a multiple amount of the following.

Bad timing
Ignition control module bad
Electronic spark module
TV cable out of adjustment
Clogged fuel filter
Dirty Fuel injectors
Fouled spark plug
fouled plug wire
could even be a really dirty air cleaner
distributor cap
rotor for distributor
coil wire

Check all your vacuum lines could be as simple as this.

 

i figure if the timing was bad or it was dirty injectors it would always run like crap not run great sometimes.

 

what is the normal idle for these cars?

 

Im happy with it idling a 900rpm. When my car is running crappy its not even as powerful as my 3cyl metro. But when it kicks in its putting down the full 230. I just cant figure out what can make it go from running full power like a top to chugging, backfiring, feeling choked out above 3000 rpm, and putting down probably 60 hp, its such a night and day difference in the way it runs it makes me feel like its some big main wire or something that can screw up my whole engine. whatever it is its toying with me, it can see me being happy with the power and makes it weak again LOL

 

I would say the issue is the ECS module, or the MAF. If it were a vac leak it should always run crappy. I would start with the ECS, Ignition module, and pickup coil. in that order. If you change one and it fixes it good deal. If not you need to keep checking for bad parts. Is the car throwing any codes? If so you need to read them and post them up, that will help us diagnose it.

 

i can only get codes out of it when its running good which is very rarely. When its running crappy the check engine light is on, but it flickers and dimms out it dosent stay on bright and steady. I try to get the codes but it wont give any. When i tried to get them when it was running good i got 22 and 24

 

The code 22 is your TPS, this could cause the issue you described. The other code is a VSS code and shouldn't cause the car to run any differently. Does the speedometer work in the car? The last possibility could be that your ECM is going bad.

 

my speedometer cable is stripped on the end so it dosent go into my tranny. I looked on the drivers side firewall and noticed one of the pigtails had some bare wires where it plugged onto a relay or something and when i unplugged it the relay had melted some where the metal plugs on it were, it had a 5 wire plug. It might have been the esc i dont know what it looks like or where it is located. I started my car with this unplugged and it still ran it ran crappy but it still ran.

 

Nevermind i found which one was the esc its the one thats really thin directly on the fire wall. I dont know what the one thats in bad shape does.

 

Could be your MAF burn off relay that would cause issues. Get some electrical contact cleaner and clean your maf, and fix the wires/replace that relay.

 

i replaced the esc and it did nothing to help it out. I unplugged the hookup for the dist so you can change your timing, but when i started it up after unhooking the wire i blew my guage fuse and now i keep blowing it even after hooking the wire back up, i dont know if there is some linking factor between the two or not but i put a 20 amp in the fuse box and as soon as i turn the key on Pop goes the fuse.

 

did you actually unhook the distributor or the brown wire by the passenger firewall?

 

I unhooked the tan wire by the firewall.

 

is this common on our cars the timing wire on the fire wall being eithe tan or brown? mine is brown but i here tan more often. i jsut want to make sure i found the right wire