Hey guys, one night on my way home from work my cars idle kept dropping along with the volts at every light and wanted to stall, I figured the re manufactured alternator I put in last year went so i replaced that with the alternators warranty but the problems still there. it seems like its running rich and missing. the exhaust manifold right where it meets one of the cylinders is really white which is leading me to think its a failed injector. I checked the injector's resistance and the fuel pressure a couple months ago and everything was perfectly within spec. I've replaced the alternator, battery, plugs, wires, rotor, iac and tps and their pig tails(both within spec), fuel filter, maf, egr, upper intake gaskets, cleaned the throttle body, vacuum lines, and some other stuff I cant think of off the top of my head. i've had code 34(egr temp switch closed) for a while and it never ran like this until now. I just moved back to Connecticut so my code scanners are in the back of a storage unit, I'll try to use a paper clip to check for codes sometime soon but based off of everything I just said can anyone give me any suggestions on what it might be? The car is an 86 Trans am 305tpi, thanks

 

Egr might be getting vacuum at idle because of a bad egr regulator.

 

The white on the exhaust manifold is a leak. that is your problem.

 

That leak has been there since the guy drove my car off the car carrier and the end of the exhaust got caught on the car carriers ramp, don't really think that exhaust leak is the problem

 

How would I go about checking that? I read about testing the resistance but don't think that would tell me if I'm getting vacuum at idle

 

Either disable the egr by plugging the vacuum hose or hooking up a vacuum gauge to it and see if there is vacuum at idle, which it shouldn't have.

 

It only has this problem in gear if that means anything

 

I'm getting code 32 and 33, code 32 is the one I've had for a while but code 33 for maf sensor voltage high during engine idle is new. It has a brand new maf sensor so is it possible for this to be a false code triggered by something else?

 

Have you ever changed the 2 relays on the firewall.1 is the MAF Power Relay and the 2nd one is the MAF Burn Off Relay.You will get code 33 if any of the 3 is giving you a problem.

 

Gonna get those relays now, just noticed it's only on cold starts, yesterday I let it idle in the driveway for 5 minutes and took it for a drive and it was really good except for slighthesitation on the throttle, just drove it two seconds ago completely cold and the thing was backfiring and trying to stall every time I gave it gas, definitely maf related due to the bogging but it's a brand new maf so I'm gonna replace the relays and get back to you, thanks

 

Autozone is giving me the same part every time I search the part numbers for the burn off and power relay, I know there's a misconception that both relays are the same and autozone seems to be backing that theory, any help on getting two different relays?

 

Their all the same, the only difference is one has the rubber mount and the other don't,
even the fuel pump relay is the same.
I don't think backfiring has anything to do with those relays, that's usually Distributor related. I could be wrong though.

 

Just replaced the burn off relay since it was the only one they had, the other is on its way, nothing changed

 

I did the same as your doing, chasing them codes and spending a lot of money on changing sensors and relaysNow I take it to a mechanic who puts it on a scanner,problem solved.

 

if you got a MAF from auto zone ,you DID NOT get a new one. instead you got a POS "cardone" re-man one. they are well known to fail right out of the box. NEW MAF sensors are available, but quite pricy. go to oreilleys and buy a "rich porter" MAF. I gave $450 for mine. and the MAF power and burn off relays DO NOT carry the same part number. I will now provide you with the GM part numbers, as well as the BWD select part numbers for the MAF and related relays. MAF power relay, GM #10067925. MAF burn off, GM#10094701 .and the part number for the MAF itself. GM #14094712. now for the BWD #s. MAF power BWD #R-671. burn off #R-3009. and the part # for the RP MAF is #MA-157. my advice, forget auto zone. now you have the information to buy the correct parts for your car. fix it once and be done

 

Yeah I was reading that they were crappy, don't have any oreillys where I live, I'll go to car quest tomorrow and check prices but don't really feel like dropping that much money on something that I'm not 100% positive is the problem, I got two different relays with different part numbers, none of which match the ones you provided. the one I put in has made no difference. All my scanners, meters, and data logging equipment are in the back of a storage unit so it makes things hard to test. Thanks for the info

 

I got into datalogging a couple months ago and was starting to get the hang of it, unfortunately my laptop and cable are in tool boxes in the back of a storage unit, tempted to bring to a mechanic but driving it to a reputable one would be quite the task

 

It was the maf sensor, replaced it with a bosch reman (I know I know, reman=bad.) Going to check out an 87 Monte ss with a built 355 and t56 tranny tomorrow so I don't plan on holding onto this car too much longer

 

So it was the NEW maf sensor after all,Man that sucks.Did you return it?,I know around here they don't take electronics back.

 

Yeah the maf was only a year old but already failed, sadly it passed its one year warranty by a month so I couldn't return it, I bought a new reman and returned the old one for the core charge and got $60 back, I'm not too bothered by the money I'm just happy to drive my own car again after a couple weeks, driving my brothers 92 rs camaro was starting to annoy me lol