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Please help! Can anyone solve this mystery???

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Old 07-16-2008 | 06:44 PM
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Please help! Can anyone solve this mystery???

Please read it all!!! Hi guys. I bought my 92rs about a month and a half ago. It was running fine and always started until about a week ago. While driving the car just started to kind of smoke then when i let off the brake it jerked. While sitting at a red light going up a hill the car just shut off. Every time i tried to start it it would crank put just wouldnt turn over or start but it sounded like it really wanted to start. I took it to car x the next day and they said i had a bad iac motor, a vacuum leak, and throttle body gasket. They replace it all costing me about $570. It ran fine for about 4days until i went outside one night after the car had been sitting all day but it did the same thing as before, it just wouldnt turn over. When i did get it to start after about 20min of trying, it idled high at around 1400 in park. When i put it in drive it idled at 700 then when i took my foot off the break instead of a slow roll the car actuall acceled slowly going up to around 25 mph. I have a new battery so its not that as far as starting. Can anybody solve this mystery please!
Old 07-16-2008 | 07:12 PM
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From: Clarkston, MI
Car: 1992 Firebird
Engine: 350 TPI
Transmission: 700R4 with B&M shift kit
Axle/Gears: 3.23 zexel 4th gen
Re: Please help! Can anyone solve this mystery???

I hope you didn't pay $570 for that. It would probably take any competent mechanic about 30 minutes to fix that. The throttle body gasket very well could be the only vacuum leak on it. If your car kind of has a mind of its own like that, I might check the throttle position sensor. Those things have a tendency to jump and stick and deliver more fuel to your engine than you tell it to. As for how it smoked and stalled with a jerk, then didn't turn over later, that's messed up lol. Sounds like your engine seized up, but you got it started so I doubt that's it. Anyway, I don't know about the smoking, but it sounds like a fuel pump to me. When I had one go bad, it would feel like it jerked to a stop when you were going, and it will crank but it won't start if it's not getting fuel. It could even explain that crazy stuff your car is doing. To check if it's even turning on, just turn your key to the on position and listen by the gas tank, you should hear a whirring noise for when it pressurizes the fuel system. I just don't get the whole smoking thing...
Old 07-16-2008 | 08:04 PM
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Re: Please help! Can anyone solve this mystery???

its not the fuel pump because i can here the hissing in the tank. As far as the smoke its not alot. Its kinda like what come out the exaust in the winter with your heat on. What is really getting to me is how it kind of accels on its on slowly and how this problem is not consistant. And when my local autozone hooked the computer the only codes that came up were the fixes that i mentioned earlier. I also got an oil change so that cant be it. Anybody thought of anything yet?
Old 07-16-2008 | 08:36 PM
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From: Chttn PE Canada
Car: 83 ' Pontiac Firebird
Engine: LG44BBl
Re: Please help! Can anyone solve this mystery???

Depending on the color of the " smoke " you are experiencing it may be engine coolant in the cylinders to to a leaking head gasket or a crack in the head from a previous Overheat

This may cause the engine to hesitate as if their is water in the gasoline

symptoms include loss of power , poor idle and sluggishness , best way to determin is to check for STEAM in the exhaust , it is white in color & sweet smelling , instead of the blue or gray oil or fuel smelling kind etc .
All three are unfortunately the bad kind

my nickels worth , had this occur with a motorcycle engine



also may like to check for spark
could be in the distributor

just went through trouble shooting it last three weeks
https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...ebird-w-t.html
Old 07-16-2008 | 08:54 PM
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Re: Please help! Can anyone solve this mystery???

loss of power, sluggishness and poor idle aro all symptoms but only when im getting it started. After i get it driving for about 5-10min it starts running normal. But i will get the head gasket looked at because i would hate to have that blow if that is a problem.
Old 07-16-2008 | 09:39 PM
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From: Clarkston, MI
Car: 1992 Firebird
Engine: 350 TPI
Transmission: 700R4 with B&M shift kit
Axle/Gears: 3.23 zexel 4th gen
Re: Please help! Can anyone solve this mystery???

I had a head gasket go on a car I had, but it only burn between the two and three cylinders which only resulted in a loss of compression in those two cylinders. In other words, do a compression test on your motor, check for the white smoke, and also try looking in your radiator with the engine running. If you see lots of bubbles coming up, it's a good bet that's your problem. Head gaskets suck, but there's a lot worse that could go wrong.
Old 07-17-2008 | 02:13 PM
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Re: Please help! Can anyone solve this mystery???

also when trying to get it to start pressing on the gas does not help what so ever. It has no effect at all. Jus wondering if that matters
Old 07-17-2008 | 04:23 PM
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From: Fox Lake, Illinois
Car: 1991 RS
Engine: 350 TBI
Transmission: 700r4
Axle/Gears: 3.08 lt. slip
Re: Please help! Can anyone solve this mystery???

Try the fuel filter
Old 07-17-2008 | 05:18 PM
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Re: Please help! Can anyone solve this mystery???

ok so today i fond out that if i hold down on the gas then turn the key to start it, it will start but still have the idle problem and sometimes the white smoke.

So you guys think its the:
head gasket
fuel filter
or possibly the distibuter

Is there any other possible things that can explain why tha car will slowly go up to around 40 mph w/o me touching the gas. I just have never heard of such a thing.
Old 07-17-2008 | 06:05 PM
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Re: Please help! Can anyone solve this mystery???

i was just looking at my engine and notice that that little hose/tube that goes from the carborater to where my valve covers are was loose and jiggling. That explains the inconsistancy of the problem im guessing sometime the hose would be on and the air would get to the engine and sometimes the hose would be loose and not get the air to the engine making the car only run when it got hot. Does anybody know why i might still have the idling problem or should i just let the car run for a minute and see if the hose fix takes care of the idle problem too?
Old 07-17-2008 | 08:36 PM
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impaled's Avatar
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Car: 1985 Camaro and 1996 Mustang GT
Engine: 350 4bbl/281
Transmission: 700R4/4R70W
Axle/Gears: 9" rear/8.8" 4.10
Re: Please help! Can anyone solve this mystery???

Originally Posted by 92rsBOY
i was just looking at my engine and notice that that little hose/tube that goes from the carborater to where my valve covers are was loose and jiggling. That explains the inconsistancy of the problem im guessing sometime the hose would be on and the air would get to the engine and sometimes the hose would be loose and not get the air to the engine making the car only run when it got hot. Does anybody know why i might still have the idling problem or should i just let the car run for a minute and see if the hose fix takes care of the idle problem too?
and the previously mentioned throttle body gasket .

unless the engine has been swapped, you would have fuel injection (TBI, TPI, etc).


so is it carbed of fuel injected?
Old 07-18-2008 | 11:52 PM
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From: Clarkston, MI
Car: 1992 Firebird
Engine: 350 TPI
Transmission: 700R4 with B&M shift kit
Axle/Gears: 3.23 zexel 4th gen
Re: Please help! Can anyone solve this mystery???

Also, check the connection to your iac. Today I disconnected mine and drove around because I was testing something and was a little bored, and seemed to idle higher and it even felt like it wanted to speed up a bit, even though it never really accelerated to the degree you are talking about.
Old 07-19-2008 | 01:44 AM
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From: Boringville, USA (Ishpeming, MI)
Car: 1982 Camaro Z28
Engine: 4bbl 305
Transmission: 700R4
Axle/Gears: 10 bolt posi
Re: Please help! Can anyone solve this mystery???

It accels on its own prolly because its running too rich, my Z28 does the same thing when the choke isnt engaged. It will rev up real high by itself and i just give it gas and its back down. But even with the choke set the car will still move a lil by itself when the brake is released (in drive of course).
Old 07-19-2008 | 02:03 AM
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Re: Please help! Can anyone solve this mystery???

Ok, First of all, we need to know wether this is an Fuel injection engine, or a carborated engine. There is no iac (Idle air control) valve in a carborated car.

So I am going on its a fuel injected car. Now you say when you hold your foot to the floor it starts, OK when you hold your foot to the floor in an Fuel injected car, it cuts fuel supply to the engine. If that makes it start that means your flooding the engine. (Not your fault, cars fault.)
Then that could be a couple things, simplest is to check the TPS (throttle position sensor) That could be actiong up.
or try these,
(copied from Wikianswers)


1. Injectors - Are they leaking
2. Pressure regulator - is the pressure at the fuel rail the right pressure?? (40psi for most fuel injected cars)
3. TPS- throttle position sensor- is this reading accurately...there are several different styles of these
4. Air flow meter - these also come in several varieties varys from mass air sensor / simple vane meters.
5. during startup there is a seperate circuit called the throttle bypass valve - this also may not be functioning if the flooding is occuring rapidly during startup. If the car starts and runs for a while than floods. this is probably not the culprit. 6. ultimately the ECU could have a problem as it is the link in the chain that ties everything together....though not likely.
Old 07-21-2008 | 05:22 PM
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Re: Please help! Can anyone solve this mystery???

if you decide you need a new fuel pressure regulator I just found brand new aftermarket old stock one for $9.90 at www.remartautoparts.com
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