Phoenixfire1989

Can someone take a picture and label it for me? i don't understand schematics. I took my car to a performance shop for idling issue..now i get it back and it's tryin to stall..not holding oil pressure..not charging..and overheating. I noticed i have a melted plug on passenger-side by firewall next to distributor. I can't find the melted "wires"..but my protective casing over wires is also melted. the wire to my a/c compressor is melted with the greens wires..but i think that wouldn't affect EVERYTHING. Someone please help! I've added some pictures if that helps.
You see the casing is melted..but didn't see any harm to the wires inside
This is on the driverside..again protective casing is meltedYou can see the protective casing is melted and cracked next to the green wire..this is the back of my ac compressormore melted casing..with green wires.

whitedevilTA

iTrader: (8)

Have you thought that maybe it's actually an internal engine problem? Possibly head gaskets? If it's overheating and the fans are working, and it's not holding oil pressure, it sound like the motor itself to me, not electrical.

Phoenixfire1989

It was ok till they played with it..put a distributor and messed with the idle..engine only has 38,000miles on it..its a 350 chevy crate engine.. =/

whitedevilTA

iTrader: (8)

So what did the shop tell you? And how come they couldn't fix the idling issue?

6SIX6

iTrader: (35)

of you are looking for what the 2 green wires do in the last pic. they are for the power steering. It looks like just the wire loom is burnt in the pics not the wires. I cant remember what that connector is in the first pic at all. Is your motor a TPI or carb??

Phoenixfire1989

Its an elderbrock carb. The shop said the plug was already melted..and someone butt connected around it to bypass it. I looked at old pics and they're right..that plug was burnt. It's concerning them that it overheated the other day at 240F and the antifreeze was boiling out of the bin. This morning it wasn't..but the other problems persist along with backfiring and bucking. They seem to think it's the idle. This is their last chance to fix it..or it's going to pontiac. I won't have them destroy my engine...

whitedevilTA

iTrader: (8)

Well first off, 240 degrees seems too cool for an engine to overheat, unless you have pure water in the cooling system. They are designed to get to 230 degrees stock and I think overheating is around 260 degrees or above. The only thing that would cause bad overheating and/or misfires and bucking is if the timing is way off. Have you messed with it since it started doing this problem? Bad timing will cause an engine to heat up real fast and overheat.

Phoenixfire1989

That's why i brought it to the performance shop. Originally it was idling high...so they said.. but the idle is around where my formula is and that whole car is stock. They told me the car was overheating because my exhaust was clogged..causing back pressure on the engine. Took it to get a new exhaust and they said there was nothing wrong with the old exhaust. My car at it's HOTTEST before wouldn't go over 220..now it's going over 240..which is when i got home and the antifreeze was boiling out of the bin. The antifreeze in it is all clumped and burnt now. What is concerning me..is that they said i needed a new distributor..and they had one for another car laying around the shop they put in mine to get the car back to me faster. Is it the right one? i don't know. I just know the car ran when i brought it to them. Now it's only idling at around 200rpms which is way too low because it's shaking like it's going to stall. My formula idles at around 700rpm. They had this car for over 2 weeks..and $1100 later..this is what i get back =/ I know the oil pressure is low, not just the gauge. It starts going towards the red and starts shaking like it's going to stall.
If it helps any..car has a 350 HO quadra jet engine. rebuilt transmission.

whitedevilTA

iTrader: (8)

Well if it's idling at 200 rpm then the oil pressure being low is most likely because of that. Does it increase when you rev it?

Why don't you try to time it yourself? I hate trusting shops ESPECIALLY with carbed engines, since none of them even want to mess with a carb anymore. It's pretty easy to do if you have a timing light and a buddy. Unplug the vacuum advance hose from the distributor first and have a buddy slowly rev the car up in RPM while your holding a timing light on the engine. Watch the timing advance increase as the rpms go up. Once it stops increasing in rpm as your revving it, it has reached it's max mechanical advance. At this point, you want to set it anywhere from 34 to 38 degrees at full advance while the engine is at around 4000 or so rpm's. Once you get that set, tighten the distributor bolt, plug the vacuum line back into it, and presto. Now if it doesn't idle still at this point, you will want to mess with the idle screw or idle mixture screws on the carb. Good luck.

Phoenixfire1989

I Just got it back and the car is still a mess...but we found that the battery cables are loose. It might not be getting enough power and turning the radiator fan off causing it to overheat. Why it's overheating at 240 and boiling i don't know. They tried to mess with something on the transmission where you floor the gas petal and set it..but it's way off where it should be. Car shifts into 3rd...then stays at 1000 rpms and won't move. Car was bogging down and stalling..in first gear its lagging to shift till it hits 4000rpms..and that's NOT flooring it..then it slams into gear. I'm bringing it somewhere else next friday. Till then..i'm only taking it 10 mins down the road and back.
Thanks for all ur help! this is why i wanted to be a mechanic, these things are frustrating..but i would hate working on NEW cars for a living

whitedevilTA

iTrader: (8)

Sounds like that shop is bad news lol. Good luck with the new shop, and hopefully they can get it back to you soon. And the cable they were probably adjusting at wide open throttle is the transmission kickdown cable. I've had to adjust them before but I don't remember the procedure. I'm sure you could find it on the forum if you did a search. Hope all turns out good!