I just got a 88 iroc for my first car. My dad has had several 3rd gen camaros and the best Mechanic I know can do anything, but we are having a problem with the cold start ran when we got it perfectly fine but now won't run. Wants to start but bogs and dies. Could it having something to do with the vats? I'm not sure if you have any ideas on what I should do it would be greatly appreciated and I will give more info if needed.

 

Does 88 even HAVE vats? My 'bird didn't...... (got a chip in the key?)

Also, do you have the ninth injector on the drivers side? that's for cold starts.

 

Yeah my iroc doesn't have the chip on the key does that mean it doesn't have vats and I will check for the ninth injector when I get a chance

 

VATS wont let it start...period. No chip, no VATS. And if not all molested, you should have the 9th injector. You also should have a Cold Start Injector Switch on the front of the intake. Connector looks like another injector plug. Right beside that you should have a Coolant Temp Switch. Ohm the temp switch out using the chart. If its bad, the car will act like crap.



Blue arrow is Coolant Temp Switch
Red arrow is Cold Start Injector Switch

 

If it bogs and dies after start-up when giving it gas, it MAY be the Mass Air Flow Sensor. Try unplugging it and then start it up and give it gas. If it doesn't bog and runs well, chances are it's the MAF. Reconnect and clear the code and get a new MAF. Stay away from the remans and buy a new one. Pricey, but worth it.

 

where can you get a new MAF sensor from?

 

Sorry to jump in here, but I have been having a similar issue with my car (1987 TPI) ever since I put the new engine in. Went from 305 to 350. I did address the PROM and I don't thin the problem is in the tune (although I guess it may be)

On a cold start the engine runs very poorly and bogs down bad! If hit the accelerator too hard it will stall. I can give it just enough accelerator to bog it down for a few seconds, but not allow it to stall, until the engine catches up and will go from almost stalling to WOT almost instantly. If I feather the accelerator I can very gingerly pull out of the driveway and get going. after about a min or two the engine starts to level out, and once it reaches operating temp its as smooth as silk.

I assume the sensor on the left (or blue) is for the temp guage?

I have tried replacing the the "cold start switch" (red) although thats not what Napa called it, but that didn't change anything. A friend of mine said something about an air temp sensor in the plenum, but I think he was talking out of his ***. And I imagine that if there was a problem with the "Mass" that it wouldn't matter how warm the engine was.

As for the 9th injector: I have very little concept of why/what the 9 injector is about. I never had this problem before replacing the engine. So I doubt the injector just stopped working. Although I did replace the other 8 when the engine went in.

Again sorry to interrupt but,.. I did it anyway

P.S. I'll try the mass anyway. That should only take a sec.

 

I believe VATS was an uncommon option for 1988, so very few 3rdgens had it. But it was on all 3rdgens in 1989. So if there's no chip in the key of an 88, then it does not have VATS.

The Cold Start Injector, or 9th injector as it's commonly called, was used with TPI from 1985-1988. For 89+, the PROM was programmed to compensate for cold starting, and that injector was eliminated.

The image in the earlier post shows the switch for triggering the 9th injector, but that's not the injector itself. The injector itself is located on the driver's side, below the fuel rail, and it plugs into the intake manifold through the mounting flange of the long tube runners. It's fed through its own little tube, connected directly to the rear of the fuel rail. Here's an image I pulled off the net showing the Cold Start Injector. I wish it really was that easy to see with everything assembled, but it's not, so look carefully.



If you're using your 87 305's TPI assembly on your 350 with a PROM for an 87 350, then that injector should be there(unless you removed it and plugged the holes), so be sure it's connected. However, if you're using a PROM for an 87 350, but the 350's TPI assembly is from 89+, then it doesn't have a 9th injector, and the 87 PROM doesn't know that and can't compensate for the lack of it, hence your cold start issues.

So look for that injector and verify which years your TPI assembly and PROM are for.