That mechanic is the kind that makes my job more diffucult in dealing with customers ( I am a mechanic as well). Sounds like he just wanted to through parts at it until the problem was fixed. People like that give mechanics a bad rep. As stated above, get a new honest mechanic.

 

Well, guess what, it's not the ECM or Prom. I replaced both and it's still not running right. I have the car at an electrical shop now, they are looking at it. This is the third shop looking at this problem, I hope they get this resolved - according to the shop, first step is to check the grounds and sensors and then will do a compression test to check for burnt valves if the electrical problem is not found first.

...anyone got a match !!!!!!!

 

u sure its not the ecm/prom? what did you replace what with? lots of junkyard ecm's out there are bad from sitting. or if its the wrong prom it will run bad too. find an identical car, and borrow the whole ecm with prom. see what happens. hey, remeber 89's the odd ball yr, no 9th injector and still maf. come to long island, we could test it with mine.

 

The mechanic swapped my ECM with a new NAPA ECM and my stock Prom...nothing. Then I ordered a stock Prom(3506APYR) and Memcal from TBI/TPIChips. The mechanic put the new Prom in my original ECM, nothing again, then put the new Prom in a new NAPA ECM, nothing again....

This is driving me nuts...I will give the electrical guy a few days to analyze and see what he comes back with...keep you posted

Thanks for the offer.

 

if there is a way to 'test' your orig. prom, i'd do so. We took a prom from a 350 gta (we bought an 89 firebird formula 305 engine, but we think the engine has been replaced to the 350), and the car is running like a top.

In the shop now to get 3 sets of fog lights with '7 color led accents' and the lights are 2x brighter than the headlights. Gullwing steering wheel going on soon too.

 

the prom should have a little sticker with numbers on it, then find the numbers on here or somewere online to match it..

 

Tell you what, I'll sell you my 305 trans am w/ rebuilt engine and new paint, for not a hell of a lot more than you have spent trying to fix that thing, and then you can call it a day

 

Ok, so my 89 formula is throwing code 33, and we go through the motions finding out what is wrong, and it is the ECM, so we go to autozone and replace the ECM, keep the original prom. Ran better but far from perfect, and started throwing 36 code, burn off relay... hhhmmm, so knowing that we had replaced the MAF already I replaced both he MAF relays and looked into the possibility that the motor had been swapped. Go to a junkyard, and find a GTA with NO miled on it, and see the EXACT same motor that is in mine...GOLDEN! I pull the ECM with PROM, bring that bad boy home, with ecm...and install all parts into the car..BINGO, no codes and it runs like a champ as I said earlier. So, beware of autozone and their "remaned" ECMs" also be sure that your displacement is correct if you recently bought the vehicle.
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...e/100_2588.jpg
http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v4...e/100_2592.jpg

 

Sidebar...Here is what theMAGICALheat needs for the KITT red & blues! Wig-Wag flasher relay

 

If you're at wits end, do the coolant temp sensor. the one for the gauge and one for ecu are different. the one for the gauge is on the side of the head and the one for the ecu is towards the front of the intake. if you put a scan tool on it an look at the value for engine temp it will tell you if it's a problem...it was 95 degrees out when i checked mine and the computer thought it was -32!

 

Ive been on vacation the last week but here is an update. I picked up my car from the electrical guy who looked at my car before vacation. He found the firing order was wrong, the six and eight wires were crossed. He also performed a compression test and pulled the injectors from the manifold and checked for spray pattern - Both test checked out fine. I had the plugs changed and had my timing put back to 6 degrees. My guy thought the wrong firing order was the cause of my bucking problem so he stopped at that problem. I took the car for an hour ride, it ran like an animal and thought my problem was solved.

....Well, the bucking came back when I was at a stop and launched out of the hole...once again at 1,500 RPM's it starts to break up and run like crap, as soon as I let off the gas it will ride ok for a while but start bucking again. I can't figure this out for the life of me...

 

Hmm dont know if this has been checked out but I had a slight bucking issue aswell that kicked my *** doing my motor swap all because my tps sensor was starting to fail at the connector.As the engine got hot the wires wiggled loose in the plug itself but not bad enought to throw a constant code but if you put any pressure on the tps and meter it you see it going crazy from wot to closed.I bought a new plug end and soldered new wire to it and replaced my tps since it was hacked and elongated for adjustment by the previous owner and that solved my problem that time.Then I had other mishapps that gave similar bucking symptoms,clogged iac,bad injectors when they got hot,bad cts sensor..thought the car was -32 and intake air was warm so it ran super rich..,bad fuel pressure diaphram..not the regulator lol and then from all the month of screwing around chasing lil bugs..the o2 finally quick lol and clogged the cat aswell..Now shes buttoned up and frying tires and breaking the parts i was expecting it to like my tranny and rear end lol

 

FINALLY !!!!. The problem was found. As I said the other day the firing order order was crossed but also found a few vacuum leaks that go to the canister purge and the HVAC. My electrical guy doubled checked the timing and found out that the timing was at 12 degrees, not 6 degrees as we thought. I assume this jerk did not disconnected the EST wire or he bumped the distributor when he was tightening down the bolt and never rechecked the timing.

I gave a piece of my mind the the mechanic who originally checked out my car and asked how could he screw up basic things like the firing order and timing. He apologized as he said he did not work on my car but others in the shop had their hands in my car, he did offer me a comp for the troubles but I refused as I said I will never bring my car back to him again.

The moral of the story is to get a second opinion and find a trusted mechanic...or do it yourself.

The car is running great now, too bad I missed out on the summer driving season.

 

Glad to hear it Koz!!