Well I went out this morning , I put the dist hold down bolt back on , cranked her up , she cranked up just fine , ran for a few min , I backed out the driveway , ran just fine , not missing or anything , then it died , and wouldn't start back up , I had to push it all the way back up the driveway . Any last mn suggestions before I call the damn tow truck !?!?!?! I swear I wont touch an engine on a car after this again .Im threw , unless I can get it running .

 

Did the dist come lose again.

 

No , it never was loose . I just talked to a mechanic about it . He says it may not be the timing . It could be something else . He found it unusual the car ran just fine backing out of my driveway then just died . I dont have anymore time to work on it though .

Thanx anyway bluerocket

 

do you have gas? did the wiring connector come off the distributor?

you always need help , but then your cars does run better than mine

 

Easy, there big guy! it may just be a broken wire or sumth'n.
Never work on cars again? - So . . . if you make a pass at a girl and you get your face slapped - are you never going to mess with women again? sounds like a dull life.

 

Good point on "life"! So yesterday nite, when you had the car running, you didn't go for a ride, you just let it run in the driveway? Did you get a timing gun yet? What's odd is it wouldn't start back up. Did you check for spark? Always check for spark on more than one cylinder to make sure you don't find a bad wire or something. You know how to check spark with nobody to help ya, right? Engine OFF, put a screwdriver in the plug wire. Lay the screwdriver down so that the handle rests on something, AND allows the metal screwdriver shaft to come close to an engine piece. The engine piece should be visible from the driver's side window... such as, the windsheild cowl. Then you crank the engine, and just watch the screwdriver (without touching it of course) to see if a spark leaps from the shaft to the car body.

Did you botch up the firing order? Nah... that wouldn't make sense, cause your car would be running like ***.

 

My Lord , that sounds like my life !!! heh . For real , I've had a few girls turn me down , then the real hot ones like me , I dont bother with them . Then find out later they were really interested in me !

I just wonder if its the fuelpump or something , or something to do with the fuel pressure . B/c it was running awesome , better than it was before the pick-up coil went out , then it just died

I say never work on cars again because I phucked up my injector swap I did , cross thread the fuel lines . I guess thats kinda like females , I got turned down by a few .When I've went out with a few . Hey I have changed my radiator , thermastat , starter , powersteering pump , heater blower , cap and rotor and wires , coil .Guess Im good for a few things on a car :sillylol:

 

I didn't wanna go drive it lastnight and break down in the mosquitoes lol . The mosquietoes down here right now , well some of them are carrying deadly insefulightus (spelling) , and they urge people to stay in at night if they can .Not to long ago they found some mosquitoes not far from my house that had the disease in them .

 

I know but I :hail: you guys ! Yeah I have gas .No quero taco hell gas !

 

Is your SES light still on, does the FP kick in at all? This brings back memories of a week ago. I was driving then bang nothing.
Check the fuse on the passenger side fran rail its a 20amp inline fuse in a small black case. (This is TomP's help to me)

 

No Ses light on , I went ahead and had it towed in today . The mechanics can't find out whats wrong with it !!! Dad bitches at me :nono: , you shouldn't worked on it . Me- "I didn't do it " ....Im farkin 23 years old , I think I have the right to work on my own car


Atleast my radiator swap Friday was successful !

:lala:

 

Think of it this way; you probably just uncovered a problem that would've come up sooner or later. And there was no SES light when you put the key from "off" to "on"? Joe, glad that helped you with your problem!

 

It was the timing with the combination of my wires crossfiring that caused it not to start . I was in such a hurry I just slapped mhy wires back on there and didnt think about it . O-well , atleast my distributor re-build was successfull . I did put some greece on the shaft and changed the pick-up coil .But my re-timing was unsucessful LoL I thought it was running good before when I had it running , MAN is it smooth now !!!
I luv f-bodys !

 

Ya'll arent ganna belive this !!!! I went out to drive my car again , make sure it was ok . I started it up , it started running rough and died , then it didn't wanna start . Well I know your not suppose to do this but Dad in the neighbor were telling me to do it anyway ( I hit the gas and it started ) . Took it around the block , it died when I got to the stop sign , put the gas and got it to start again , then when I turned the corner it died . I pumped the gas again to get it started and it dided a few times on me and I did not get it started for a few seconds . I took the next corner almost to fast so it wouldn't die As I got ready to pull in my driveway , it died !!! Me and the neighbor pushed it in the driveway . He ( who is an electrition and really knows his shiztuz when it comes to cars , we worked on it for an hour and 15 min and never got it started . He turned the dist around , and we tried to get the timing right .I cranked it for an hour and 15 mins while he keep turning .We checked for spark , changed my cap ( the accel one had a loose post on it ) he tried to set the timing and it would not start up , it backfired alot . And I swear one time it did the loudest backfire I've ever heard in my life . I bet Karl heard it in SO CAL :sillylol: I didnt know a car could backfire that loud !Im really stressin about it I have to bring out some humor in it to Keep me from pushing it in the river !Agh ..Im stressin guys .Now my damn poptart is not coming out of the toaster ...WHAT NEXT GUYS ? Sorry guys , I had to vent some .

 

ttt , still cant belive she's dead

 

That mechanic you brought the car to before- did he say how far off the timing was? A few things to check...

#1, that you're tightening that hold-down bolt tight enough

#2, that youv'e been using the correct #1 cylinder for timing the engine. That's the frontmost PASSENGER side cylinder, no matter what anyone else tells ya. V8's have it as the #1 driver's side, but not our 2.8/3.1/3.4 V6's.

#2a, that your harmonic balancer only has one notch in it for setting timing. My harmonic balancer, in fact, 82-86, has 3 marks. On 82-84 2.8's, all three are thin, so there's no way to determine the correct mark easily. On 85-86, one of the three marks is wider, and that's the one for the #1 cylinder. Make sure you've just got one mark!

#3, that the notch on the harmonic balancer for #1 TDC is accurate. When balancers get old, the outer ring can slip due to the rubber "middle" ring deteroriating. Remove the coil wire. Remove the #1 plug. Put a long phillip's head screwdriver in the plug hole. Turn the engine clockwise using a breaker bar and a socket on the center bolt of the crankshaft pulley until the screwdriver won't rise up anymore.

There's TWO spots where the screwdriver will rise up: TDC on the compression stroke, and TDC on the exhaust stroke. You want TDC of the compression stroke, obviously. So, if the screwdriver is as high as the piston pushes it, but the mark is nowhere to be seen, turn the engine some more. If, when the screwdriver drops down and comes back up, the mark on the balancer STILL isn't aligned with the 0 degree mark of the timing tab, then your balancer is shot.

#4, when you do verify the #1 piston is at TDC of the compression stroke, remove your distributor cap. The rotor should be pointing somewhere between the #1 and #2 terminals of the cap. Remember that the cylinder # ordering goes clockwise, 1-2-3-4-5-6, so as you look at the #1 plug wire attachment on the cap, the cap terminals are labeled "...6-1-2...". By the rotor pointing between #1 and #2, that's your spark advance; see, as the #1 piston is at TDC, the rotor is already past the #1 cap terminal, which means the #1 plug fired BEFORE #1 TDC. Hope that made sense! If your rotor points between #6 and #1, you've got the timing retarded way too much.

#5, you were unhooking that EST connector to time the car, right?

#6, try the ultra-scientific-and-high-tech test: The wiggle test. While someone cranks the motor, you wiggle all the harness wires going to the distributor and coil. NOTE: I DIDN'T SAY TO TOUCH THE COIL/PLUG WIRES!! Wiggle the 4-pin connector to the module, the 2-pin harness between the ignition coil and module, and the harness with the gray connector on the coil. You could search for that chart I posted, too, to Overclk and 5.0_10, for testing out each harness wire: https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=103866

Good luck, I'm going home!

 

Thanx so much Tom !!!!! I appreciate that !!!!

 

Hey Wayne, you better be carfull, i need to drive my car, If my car don't start tommorow, I am coming straight to you

 

:sillylol: :sillylol:

I can't even work on it today . Im sick as a dog . I just re-gurgitated my breakfast ! ughhh . Im calling the towtruck b/c I need it fixed for tommorrow . This chick in art class has been sitting real close to me , and before class we talk in the lounge on the couch and she sits pretty close to me , I think I got something from her !

I was thinking about the car though , the car was having the same symptoms before I even messed with the distributor and changed the pick-up coil . It died on my a few times that day and was hard to start and kinda backfired .

 

Wayne,
Two things.
I THINK
you screwed up a wire in your path from coil to distb. (made it fragile, not good contact, stretched it.....etc)
and the hose at the base of the distb. (driver side) is not good anymore.
A vacuum leak will cause the car to stall while backing up.
Mine still stalls in the AM backing up, no vacuum leaks (that I can tell), but, once I solved several leaks, that backing up/stalling problem became less troublesome.
I thought the Space Shuttle had landed and caused that sonic boom
Keep trying to learn, you'll get the cute girl, too!
Electrical gremlins are NOT fun!

 

maybe your "cold start" injector connection at the back of the intake came undone

 

What wire on the driver side dist. ???? I know of the connection on the pass for the Module, but WTF is on the Driverside? I recently rebuilt my Dist, and I don't remember any wire, let me go check...

 

Karl , HEY man ! ...Im feelin a little bit better . When I get to feeling ok Im ganna go out there and look at my coil to cap wire .and give her a try .Yeah , I think I know what hose he is talking about 85 , its at the bottem of the distributor , I think kinda by the hold down bolt .Looks like my distributor rebuild WAS a success afterall . I just think I have another problem . You were right the distributor rebuild is not hard Karl .Thanx man !

 

Isn't it fun to discover how "easy" it could be....
It's a HOSE BY THE BASE OF THE DISTRIBUTOR, DRIVER SIDE.
If that is worn, loose, off, CRACKED etc....
You'll have lots of engine running havoc to contend with.
Use 1/2" Heater hose, lots of motor oil (to help slip over outlet on engine).
Even tho I did a great job on my vacuum hose during the 3.4 swap, the tranny removal ruined it.
I ended up removing the top intake manifold part and gaining much better access for that area.
It was a joy a minute project.
Way better idle & way better engine vacuum increase at idle, too.

 

FIGURED OUT WHAT WAS WRONG WITH IT !!!! , well my neighbor did . He came over a few hours ago and said " You know I was thinking I kept seeing a blue spark coming out of your coil , but I wasn't sure , then I got to thinking about it today , when your coil gets heated up ,its not working . Just like the first day after the radiator swap , I drove that car for 45 min around town , did not die until it was nice and hot , came home parked it , then started it again and would not start , a few min later it started .And I was looking at my coil earlier , it has some funny black lines on it . That coil is only 2 months old guys !!! Ya'll remember when I got it , I know you do Tom b/c I was talking to you about it alot ! Well , I think tomorrow Im ganna buy me an ACCEL coil .Try a different brand ya know . I'm satisfied with my injectors which are Accel so far .Despite my wires not holding up on the EGR side , Im satisfied with those to .

 

I can't say it often enough.
Accel does make really good stuff.
Wayne, AT NIGHT TIME, start car, open hood.
IN DARK, no light
Let us know what happens.

 

Karl , man can you belive my MSD only lasted 2 months ?!?!?!?! I had it mounted on the firewall , I had it mounted good and steady , did not wobble or shake easy . Im ganna try to get my money back from MSD .

 

Does your coil glow?
I like the bad spark plug wires & such....
Lightening!

 

I have not seen it , but I think my neighbor said it was glowing .It was getting dark on us when we quit working on it the other day so Im sure he saw it glowing I was cranking the motor while he was turning the distributor trying to get the timing right . Tomorrow after I get and install my new coil he is ganna come over and bring his timing light . I can learn how to do timing now ! Man ! I will have a totally brand spankin new ignition system them , minus the plugs and wires , well the wires are only 5 months old ! And did it all myself !

 

I am SO MAD AND UPSET about my car now guys I dont know what to do . Here's what happend today . I got the new coil on it . It STILL DIDN'T RUN !!!! So I checked out my cap and rotor (my new accel , it was kinda loose on there and would not stay real tight .So I went out and bought a bluestreak cap and rotor . PUt it on there , still wouldn't start . I had it towed in , Me in the neighbor tried EVERYTHING . Well I was suppose to get it back this afternoon but I didnt , they said My new coil which is a HYPERTECH was bad and the car started more often with the AC DELCO cap and rotor than it did the other .So now they want to keep the ac delco cap and rotor on the car ( WHICH I CANT BLAME THEM ) The car is running now , it just sounds like crap .So now I have spent $54 bucks on a hypertech coil , when I prabably didnt need it . $40 on the gm one that the shop bought , another $15 on a new cap and rotor , plus the ac delco one AND ITS STILL NOT RUNNING GOOD . I have to go back down to a cheap fu(kin AC delco coil and ugly *** fu(kin black rotor . I just told mom and dad , "look im real grouchy b/c of my car , im tired and I dont feel like being bothered lol . I have spent all this money and all along it was prabably the wire that connects to the coil , electrical wire , they think thats what it might be . I would love to be in one of those BIG rooms right now where they put you in a velcro suite up agains carpet walls and let you run and jump and stick to them . Id just go balistic

 

Well, keep the Hypertech coil lying around; when your car is back to normal, you could put it on, and see if it's the problem. I doubt it though. They probably just took a coil from the back shelf that they "knew" was good, put it on, and hey, look, it runs! I doubt it's the coil or the cap or the rotor, it must be a flaky wire.... but wait, your MSD coil only lasted a few months? Yeah, give 'em a call, send it back, they'll make good on it. Did you ever try those tests I gave you?

 

They said my Hypertech coil was weak . was not putting out the voltage it should . BUT , Im thinking ok , if the wires going to it are crapping out wouldn't make it week ? I don't thinks this mechanic is too good. Im ganna talk to him Mon and try to give them that shi((ya$$ ac delco coil back .That hypertech coil I bought today is a freakin 55000 VOLT COIL !!!!! I will also e-mail or call MSD about getting my money back on my coil . I forgot about those test you told me Tom I've had so much on my mind lately ! School exams , trying to get my car fixed , Art pictures to finish , trying to locate art teacher to turn in portfolio , blah blah blah .. I feel like im going in 99 directions .

 

On a side note . The towtruck driver today begged me to sell my car to him . He said I'll even pay cash right now .He said , i can't find a thirdgen for sale in good shape like this . I was thinking I have one ! :lala: :lala: :lala: :lala:


I tried to find me an Accel coil . Thats what I REALLY wanted , but could not find one anywhere . Then I went all the way out to Bump phucking Egypt to Thunder Racing to get that hypertech coil .It's WAY on the other side of Baton Rouge from me (like 20 miles away ) .

 

I wonder, is it even possible to test voltage of a spark coil? Hm. That'd be one hell of a voltage meter! Unless they just "checked for spark" and visually decided that the spark was weak. Keep us posted... good luck w/school (unless you're done by now, too)! And that's cool w/the tow truck driver... haha, maybe you'll be taking him up on it if the car never runs again, eh? I doubt that'll happen, though. Hey I wonder how your engine grounds are? Like the braided strap at the back of the engine, the battery-to-engine ground wire... the coil grounds to the engine block, so that might affect spark output...

 

Well , I still have not got the car back . The whole time I have been thinking " I have bad electrical wires somewhere , Id put money on it that my wires going to the coil are bad . I was right , they found it today , they changed a bunch of crapped out wires . They took if for a spin and broke down like half a mile away from the shop . They said they still have some wires to change .I talked to the manager of the shop , which my Dad knows pretty well I said " Well , ya'll changed the coil , cap and rotor , ignition control module and pick-up coil , I told the guy at the counter my whole ignition system was new . Well they changed EVERYTHING anyway . I said , that seems highly unlikely to have all those bad parts at one time . He said "your right " , well take care of you , bring all YOUR new parts back tomorrow and we will put them on .In away all this is kinda funny (not in a humourus way) because at school they had a BIG explosion 15 feet away from where I park my car . They are building a new education building and the company's office trailer had some tanks of acelytiline -(spelling ? ) in it , one of the tanks was leaking and when someone walked in it and hit the light switch BOOOM . It killed two people and sent debry everywhere .They have not cleaned it up yet , because they are investigating . Well I went to go park in that lot today and right where I park my car is a BIG piece of debry , it would have hit my car and tore my car up !!! If my car would have been running I prabably would have been at school that day working on some drawings !!! The blast was so bad it broke windows in the homes around the school and jarred a closed lock door open .A guy living 6 miles away from where it happend felt it . If I would have went to school that day , my car would have been 15 feet from that building and would have prabably gotten severe damage and my windows blown out !

Not done with school yet .Almost wed is my last day ! ..And this week will be rough b/c the lot I park in is closed due to the investigation and that big hunk of debry sitting by my parking space I always park in . I will have to walk about 2 miles to class !

Oh , Tom , I just read your post again , they did say something about my grounds . I dont remember what they said , Im dumb when it comes to electrical stuff like that .

 

Drag part is you're learning like I have.
The $$$ way.
I've been there.
It's a BIG CLUB, lots of members
In the end, the car runs again.
Electrical Gremilns suck.
Know any winning lottery numbers, too?

 

OHHH I hate those grimilins I had to kill of 8 of em before I could drive my Camaro legally.

 

Hopefully the repair bill won't be as big, then, if they're going to take care of you. And that's the reason I didn't buy an oxy-acetelyne welding setup... you've gotta be so damn careful not to cause a fire. Can't get grease on the hoses (pure oxygen will make the grease spontaneously combust), if the acetelyne tank falls on its side, the valve gets eaten away- forget that!

 

Tom , check your e-mail . ....My repair bill was $750 It had a bunch of $hit wrong with it .

 

Does the car run right?
Accept it, then.
It sucks, but, it was beyond you.
Ask and see what you can learn, what went wrong.

 

ohhccchhhh At least, well it better, run a lot better than before. Sometimes you just gotta do, what you gotta do though you might not like it. What all was done?

 

well , 650 bucks , but thats still alot ...But I really can't complain . The car is driven ALOT . School is an hour away . I imagine doing 70 and 80 on the interstate all the way there for 4 years just cooks wires .I have about another 2 years left b/c I changed my major . On the way home , the car died 5 times at the same stoplight . I thought $hit !!! . I got home and popped the hood , and a hose coming off my EGR valve had been disconected and they did not hook it back up . Im wondering if they slipped a supercharger or turbo under my hood while they were at it . My car seems quicker ! But I do have a more powerfull coil now . I;ll send my MSD blaster coil back to MSD sometimes next week .They will either repair or replace it . I will keep it in my car for a backup .

 

I'll type out my receipt tomorrow . I left it in my car and my car cover is on the car .

I don't feel so bad now about the car , that I tried and could not fix it . I don't know how to mess with electrical connections and wires and don't have any desire to .I like the hair on my head .

 

Here's what was done : , the bill is so farkin high though b/c of labor !!!

-changed all injector wires
-changed wires which lead to coil
-changed connectors on coil
-changed to bad plugwire boots

these had to be done b/c too much fuel was dumped in the motor after all the cranking and no turning over it messed these parts up :

-changed oxygen sensor
-changed sparkplugs - DAMN , all that gas fouled out my BRAND NEW Bosh platnum plugs !!!
-changed oil - there was gas in it


Most of this I could have dont myself but it had to be done before it was driven home from the shop .

Well atleast I have my car back !
FELT SO GOOD today driving it !!!!!!!

 

That makes all that money worth it, doesn't it?

That's easy stuff, huh? Makes you wish you had another car so you could play around and find the probles yourself, huh?

 

Hay man the same thing happened to me and I would have rather spent what you did to fix it, but no, mine jumped time after 139K and I drove it about 2 hundred more miles, adjusted the distributor, then went home another 80 miles, smelling sourcrout (spelling) all the way (burning pistons so I was told) and yanked the engine then decided it would cost more to fix it than a new engine so I up graded a little, In my eyes you had it easy! Wish I was that lucky, I miss that 2.8!!!

 

isn't that odd, the man has a 350, and yet he wishes he still had his 2.8, and all the other v8 guys wonder why we love are cars, and spend so much on our "puney" V6er under the hood.

 

Well , I could not have done the wires going to the injectors or wires and connectors going to the coil .I dont know how to mess with electrical wires lol ....My Dad said the same thing , wasn't that money worth it just to get your car back though ? ...The car had not been running in like a week and a half .

 

You would be surprised what a new 2.8 and new tranny with shiftkit and my mods would do . I know its not like having a V8 or 350 .But if you drove my car , then I told you the mods , you would be asking , and what else ? You dont have power pulleys ? A chip ? Or gears ? My new coil is a hypertech , I could feel a little more pickup just from that I think . I also dont have the accel cap and rotor because it crapped out on me . I have a bluestreak now .

 

yea, sometimes you have to buy stuff to get your car running, like my, my wires fell apart in my hands and the only place open was Super Trak, and I had to go to school and work the next day. No way was I able to borrow mommies car I had to buy MAG Plus 7mm wires, when I was going to buy MSD 8.5 Super conducters a week later, but the old ones didn't want to last that long. Thats the way things work. In a few weeks, i'll invest in some good wires before my Accel coil blows those 7mm wires