ok so I got my car running last friday found out my ignition coil was gone and the timing was off! well I got it back and the car has no low end at all! I can't get the damn thing to take off from a stop, the tires won't spin or nothing...and to add to that the exhaust out of the tail pipe is really hot! Like can't touch it hot!

what could be causing these problems...cat maybe
I need help as I'm still trying to keep this as my daily driver and street car/strip car!

 

did u set the timing with the est wire unhooked?

 

yeah, got it at 10btdc!

 

The symptoms, including the hot exhaust, sound just like retarded timing. It's not caused by the cat but it may overheat the cat and ruin it. A clogged exhaust will hurt higher RPMs more than low RPMs, so I really don't think exhaust is the problem.

If you're sure that you did the timing procedure correctly, then there's a couple ways to verify:
1) Check the timing again *without* the EST disconnected. It should now read significantly more advanced, since the computer is now adding advance. On my car (different car with a 2.8L) the computer usually commands a total advance at idle of 18 degrees.
Note: I'm not suggesting you actually set the timing this way, because that 18deg figure isn't reliable. The computer might move it so it's only a sanity check. It should instead be set with computer advance disabled according to spec.

2) hook up a vacuum gauge with computer advance functioning. Reasonable timing should be fairly close to where you get the most vacuum, although that point will probably cause knocking so it would be a little more retarded than that. Keep in mind this is with the computer advance active, not disabled.

Method 1 assumes your timing marks are correct, and will verify that you correctly disabled the computer advance.
Method 2 could reveal if your timing marks are wrong, which can happen if the harmonic balancer has slipped.

I'm having trouble trusting your timing from the symptoms you've described. It really seems like it must be retarded.

 

i actually did that on 4th of july! the timing was a little advanced so i used the TL and set it to stock 10*btdc...it still has no get up all! the ecm does it's job once the est in pluged back in. advances it up like it should...i haven't checked the exhaust since I set the timing...but it bugs that it won't get up!

 

ok well just ran a lot of test on my car even took it to a gm/ac delco approved specialist! Compression is fine, fuel pressure is good, back pressure is good, ignition is good, timing is at 12* btdc instead of 10* btdc (that stopped the hot exhaust), trans is shifting and there are no codes to be found on the ecm at all!

So anybody have an idea of what it could possibly be that keeping my car from frying the tires? could it possibly be the torque converter? I know someone has experienced this problem before! this site has helped me with a lot of stuff but this I need to seriously figure out!