I have had occasional recurrign issues with the car since i purchased it,and one issue seems to be getting worse. 305 tpi

Problem 1- Today as i was going to the store maybe 5min away the car was giving me a very rough idle, running probably around 800-500rpm, sometimes going up to 1000 maybe to 1200. It has done this once before, the idle goes up and down very quickly and the check engine light turns on and off really fast. The car got to the point where it was just dying on the way back everytime i stopped. Then it got to the point where it would die when i took foot off the gas. I had to start the car with my foot on the accelerator as the car would die if revs were near 1000rpm. I managed to get her home. Perhaps 4 hours later car seemed to start up fine and seemed to idle fine. When i first start the car goes up to like 1300rpm or whatever the cold start is then goes back down to 1000rpm. I let it run for a few minutes and seemed fine, i moved the car as i had to push it in before and it seemd fine. Will do more testing later as its late. As i said before this happened once at the lights and it went away, today was much worse. I forgot to mention this only seems to happen when my car doesnt show the check engine light after a short period of time. Normally the car shows check engline light soon after driving a few feet.

Note- two injectors were slightly damaged when trying to do the manifold gasket, the plastic cap on one was cracked and the other one had half the side brake off. Though when i put them in last year seemed to work ok. If you believe this to be a problem would anyone know what inejctor is needed and what cars i could find them in as i cant afford new. i beleive we fixed the cap that was missing pieces, but the cracked cap was still put back in.


Problem 2- I have tried honestly 6 times to get the valve covers to stop leaking. Brand new fel pro gaskets each time. I have tried with aftermarket covers which were too tall so a pain to get in, i tohught maybe sicne they were so tall didnt seat right so got l82 corvette valve covers and have tried twice with them and still leaking oil.

Problem 3- Sometimes ever since i bought the car in May 2007 id would be driving and all of a sudden car would turn off. as you can imagine can be quite scary as its happened when ive needed to slow down and brakes become inaffective after abit. I cant really explain it more then the car jsut dies, theres no loud noise or anything motor just shuts off.

Problem 4- Often there is hesitation off the line, car on the highway was running great, not sure about now though.

Problem 5-The rear defrost, i know its not engine realted but ddint know where it was suppose to go, when i push the button it turns on for maybe 10 secs if that and then makes a loud buzzer noise and turns off. then each subsequent touch of the button makes that buzzer noise.

Well i think these are the main issues at the moment, and well if anyone knows a good but cheap body shop in toronto, ontario, canada then would you let me know as i was hit twice in july. Only my neighbour told me. i appreciate any help that can be given as i cant afford to take it to a shop and need a car. I can do some things but will be getting my fathers help. tom hes going to show me how to check the fuel pressure. I am unsure how to see what the check engine light means. i know it gives codes but where is the ecm located and i heard something about a paper clip shorting it out to give the code. thx in advance for your help.

 

need some more info on the engine .tpi? tbi ? carb?305 or 350 or v6? what year?we need this info to help, glad to help , but need info first, later jimmy

 

lol sorry i cant believe i forgot to put that its a 85 305 tpi. with 700r4 tranny. no mods to it

 

ok, go to the homepage on here go to how to adjust iac and tps great article. probably need to clean iac passages with carb cleaner, dirty passages can cause iac to stick. causing symptoms you described. as for valve covers ,see if they have the rubber gaskets, they work a lot better , if youre going to use chrome valve covers take some fine sand paper and scuff up the area where the gaskets go .chrome is notorious for leaking.as for engine just turning off, sounds like the module in distributor is getting hot.rear window defrost prob. a short on the glass.later jimmy

 

for the valve covers the gaskets are rubber, my dad got home from work and we drove the car around the cars physically shutting on and off fairly rapidly he thinks it might be a short in a wire running to the starter, going to check that out tom.

 

like they said before it could be the ignition module getting too hot seeing as i had the same problem, or possibly the rotor. in my 86 i thought it was the ignition module but when i took apart the distributor cap i found my rotor was all burnt and chipped. so who knows, also check your timing and make sure thats correct aswell

 

would the ignition module get that hot so quickly like it only took maybe 2min, we drove out of driveway and up the street turned the corner and it started to turn on and off at the stop sign.

 

depends on how messed up it is , but typically it wouldnt happen that fast, that maybe sounds like a timing issue, check your timing

 

it has been set at this timing for awhile, it cant change can it? but would that partly explain why the motor shuts off. the motor used to randomly shut off, but now its shutting on and off quickly. do you think i could have bad grounds? really appreciate the help guys going to bed will be testing tom.

 

what do u have a tpi, tbi or carb?

 

it is tpi, my father traced the wire to the starter but it appears to be fine, he said the solenoid is loose but he doesnt believe thats the problem. The car will run fine for abit like he took it around the the block a few times. then later when i just started it and went to fill tranny fluid it was acting up. The engine seems to die and get power again in cycles each time i heard a click noise, hte problem gets worse with time and then the car dies. subsequent restarts of the car shorten the time the engine stays running until it wont run unless one is giving it gas. My father is unsure of the issue but thinks it may be something shorting out. any advice is appreciated.

 

check your ignition timing to be sure, my car used to turn off on me alot because its timing was too advanced, make sure its set to 6* btdc and be sure that u disconnect the connector on the passenger side of the engine, its tan with a black stripe down it

 

well distributor appears to be worn but does not appear to be broken, replaced the ignition module which didn't help, tested the fuel pressure and its holding at a solid pressure. so out 80 bucks and still no further. check the motor on the throttle body and it appears to be fine. i think its called the iac. need help. for the computer how does it work. is there like a main computer and then it has a chip or something? and is there anything fo computer i could get off another car? most likely another gm?



Update- so ive replaced the pickup coil the ignition module and the iac, nothing has worked. desperately need some help ive recorded the engine running and will upload later. i cant afford to be changing all these parts already at 200.

 

bump, help still needed.

 

I would relook at the starter/solenoid, there should be no looseness there.

My guess is you are looking at a loose (open) wire/connection. Idle the car and move/wiggle some of the wires and see if the engine dies.

Look for burnt or bare wires at the fuel pump relay connector.

check ground wires at bolt above the oil filter.

unplug and replug the connectors (engine off) one at a time and see if any make a change.

More looking and thinking will get you farther then throwing parts at the car.

Are there any check engine codes?

 

well its giving code number 22 if i did it right which i believe i did. which is the tps. is there any way to test it?

 

I have an 86 Iroc Camaro with 305 tpi
Your problem sounds worse than mine although mine is similar to yours, when I am stopped at a stop light my car will randomly shut off, no sounds or anything, just shut off when the rpms get really low. Has never happened while driving.

My check engine light also comes on and when I checked the codes it said my problem was with the EGR valve which I have replaced before a while back.

Maybe we have the same problem?
Its happened to me between 7-15 times in the past year including today, which inspired me to search these forums for a suggestion and this is the best recent similar topic I have found.