i bought a 88 firebird 2.8L MPI for a daily driver 2 1/2 months ago and driven everyday since and has been a good car. the had 207,000 KM when i got it and now has 213,000 KM. it was a 1 lady owner car.

i installed new plugs(gapped 0.45), wires, cap, rotor a couple days after i purchased the car. about a week ago i checked the timing and found it to be at 21 degrees where it should of be at 10 degrees. i set it to 10 degrees and thought i had lost power. when i set the timing it said to disconnect the 1 wire wich i did and it disconnected my tach and with or wo the wire connected the timing was the same. the car has run good untill a couple weeks ago and its getting worse, and am worried of it stalling on my way to work one day.

#1 - it takes about 10 seconds of turning over before it fires up. if the car is turned off and restarted right away it fires up instantly like a new car, but if its left for a hour or 2 then its hard to start again and takes alot of cranks

#2 - when i would stop at a light the idle would somtimes go down to 400RPM and the car would start to shake a bit, the last 2 days its goten worse and seems to be doing it more often. when it idles it goes up and down 200-300RPM too, not a very smooth idle

#3 - when idling and exceleration i can hear a small ticking sound

#4 - it diesels aproxx 2 seconds after the car is turned off too. idle goes down and shakes and dies

#5 - when i first got the car it had some fairly good power but now its a dog

#6 - it seems to be using more fuel unless my gauge is acting up

also i went to go replace the fuel filter tonight and my book said to relief the fuel pressure by removing the fuel pump fuse and running the car till it dies and crank it over a few times. i removed the fuse and the car never ran out of fuel it just ran rougher, after 10-15 mins of idling it to run out of gas i gave up.. how long should it take?

i also looked to see if the computer had any codes stored and there were none.

sorry for the long post

 

You disconnected the wrong wire when you set the timing. Photo in this thread.
https://www.thirdgen.org/techbb2/sho...hreadid=274610

Set the timing again and repost with how it's running.

 

i redid the timing... with that wire off it was at 0 degrees, reccommended 10 degrees but i put it to 12. it runs so much better now, not sure about the starting up but i know it sounds smoother, idles smoother but still goes up and down a little bit like 100-200rpm, and has way better throttle response and power.

 

When timing is advanced TO FAR AHEAD (as in past 14* or more) it is WAY TOUGH for the car to "restart". That's normal on any car, but power of the engine is "way up!".
DO the timing chain test
Get 17mm socket on crank
Pop off cap & look at rotor
Turn over engine by the socket & ratchet
See how long it takes to move rotor.
IF over an inch or more at crank of movement, timing chain is stretched.
New chain helps greatly!
Vacuum issues love to plague a "new car owner" from previous owner.
All your issues are nothing unusual.
Old age wears out lots of rubber hoses & some mechanical parts.
It's abit of effort to bring back to new day one condition but in end it can be worth it.
IF you have the vacuum hose routing map that helps abit in the vacuum problem area. It tends to be on rad core support. Or underside of hood.

 

Hey I ADJUSed my timing and never disconnected the wire o. The firewall what should I do now

 

I don’t think any of the original posters will comment. Warm your engine up and disconnect the est and set base timing.