Ok so i have a 1988 pontiac firebird trans am i have replaced everything on her cept pistons, crank, cam, push rods, springs, and valves. everything else is brand new. So i am trying too time her and the closest i can get too were she will run by her self is at about 600 rpm. if i try to advance or de-advance while she is running at the 600rpm she kills herself. So im wondering, could not having the EGR(Exhaust Gas recirculation) Pipe itself missing cause this rough idle?

 

what pipe do you mean, the egr crossover is built into the heads and intake manifold,

Also, did you remember to disconnect the est bypass when you tried to set the timing?

 

are you saying you got heads without the heat crossover for the EGR? the only pipe that I can think of is on the V6, but it's been so long I don't remember what exactly the pipe by the EGR does...

 

The pipe i mention is a hard pipe that goes from the little black box on the passenger side of the car and runs down behind the block and next too the transmission back towards the actual exhaust. it was bent in half and destroyed from coming off of a trailer bed ripped it off with the exhaust. also been messing a little bit and right now all she wants too do is start up get to 1200 rpms makes about a full rotation and then dies and when i ably throttle she will die instantly. i pulled the fuel rail and check all injectors(including the port injector) all fire and push fuel. resistance on all injectors are at 16ohms. And for the timing what is the est bypass? never heard of that before. Also what else could cause things of the nature. Like what type of sensors. i just found out that the sensor for the Mass air is bad would that cause it not too run?

 

the pipe part, that is sounding like part of your AIR system...

 

That is the air injection pipe. It carries fresh air to the cat so it can do it's job, same thing happened to my 89, I replaced it with a piece of heater hose.

If the maf was bad it probably wouldn't start at all. It is controlled by the 2 oval relays on the firewall, wouldn't hurt to replace those they're probably 20+ yrs old.

When the est bypass is disconnected it prevents the ecm from making adjustments to the spark timing allowing you to properly set the base timing to 6 degrees
it's a single wire with a weatherpac conn on it that pops out of the wire loom near the a/c blower.

hope this helps

 

It did was able too get her too run and idle and stay at 1000rpm also just a word. this car doesn't have a cat previous onwer removed it and replaced with a cherry bomb(Which got ripped off when we moved it) Disconnecting that bypass made it stay were it was supposed to be. Thanks alot. Also anyone know a place were i could get a new door. All the junk yards i've called locally dont have any f bodies on there lot. Also on the MAF portion is it normal too work at time and not work at all cause sometimes she will fire up and stay at 1000rpm and other times will jump up for a rotation and then die. could the MAF cause this?

 

Unplug the maf and see if it runs any better. I would still recommend that you replace the maf relays bad ones would cause issues like yours even tho the maf itself may not be bad, and they're cheaper than a new maf, 15 dollars each give or take.

 

Found my back up MAF my mom had purchased before the car went down and it did the trick. no more rough idle. But i di find out today that the reason i was getting such horrible timing was that the person who owned this car before me and my mom had actually put it in wrong it was 2 teeth off or so so my timing markers wern't lining up. Went by the finger test(and damn shes got alot of compressions lol) and by ear. i will be pulling the crank and cam out later down the road when i have the money for it all. So far though so good. Also i cant seem too find it in my book. what is the base cold cranking amps for this car? Cause im exchanging this battery thats in it right now cause it only has 600 somethin cold crank and dies really fast. I have too jump her everytime right now when she cold. and the alternator is good. And one last thing on my TPS is it normal for it too hit 4.44DCv and WOT?

 

600 cca should be fine, but the parts store should have that information in their computers.

The tps should be at .54v closed (give or take) and around 5v at wot, it may need some fine tuning, but your in the ballpark.

 

K weird im going with a bigger battery for cranking power she tends too be greedy at startup seeing if that'll fix that. And good for the TPS yea im sitting a .54 right know at closed and at WOT 4.44 so i might need too fine tune a little more too get it loser too the 5.0 but thanks. You guys been a huge help.

 

Just a Update my TPS sensor was bad. which was why it was giving probs at startup it wasn't tellin the ECM the right amount of fuel replaced it and she fires up after a couple cranks. Almost got her done too put in her new interior today just got some fuses too replace tires seals and she will be ready too see the road again after 4 and a half years of sitting. Cant wait.