Hey I have an 87 gt fiero with the 2.8. I bought the car about 2 months ago and it has been a headache. The guy i bought it from lied about a lot of stuff being new. We have it running and at idle it seems strong but I took it out for a test drive and its so sluggish! You cant even tell when it is floored cuz it goes nowhere. It has a new engine in it but it sat for a year. We have replaced the plugs, wires, throttle position sensor, distributor cap, & rotor button and set the timing. Any ideas???? We are thinking it may be a fuel issue. I put like a 1/4 tank of gas in it when I got it cuz it was about out so I dont know if it could be bad gas still or maybe fuel filter?? help please!!! I just wanna drive my car! lol thanks a lot! -k8
If not any of above as already mentioned or you've already checked all that stuff then does the exhaust smell of rotten eggs? If so then cat if blocked. Had same issue with mine, slowly got worse until it wold not even move under it's own power. replaced cat and it's been great ever since.
Easy way to check is remove the O2 sensor from the ex system(put something there like a plumbers fire proof blanket to prevent exhaust from burning wires etc) and try it. Noisy as hell but if it improves then that's your problem! ------------------ Dave
If not any of above as already mentioned or you've already checked all that stuff then does the exhaust smell of rotten eggs? If so then cat if blocked. Had same issue with mine, slowly got worse until it wold not even move under it's own power. replaced cat and it's been great ever since.
Easy way to check is remove the O2 sensor from the ex system(put something there like a plumbers fire proof blanket to prevent exhaust from burning wires etc) and try it. Noisy as hell but if it improves then that's your problem!
This guy does have a point.
My 88 Formula sat for some time before I bought it. The Squirrels filled my converter and muffler with nuts.
Mine would not run at all.
I took the EGR valve off and it ran. I took the exhaust off and found the nuts.
Like the guy said, it will be noisy without the EGR valve on it!!!
[This message has been edited by VikingRedBaron (edited 04-11-2012).]
awesome thanks a lot guys!! i will try to check it out tomorrow!! The cat was clogged so we hollowed it out already (forgot to mention that in my original post) but i kno something built a nest in the exhaust because a bunch of stuff kept blowing out when we first started it. After we did that and put the exhaust back on it has good flow and no crap is flying out but is there any chance that the muffler could still be causing the problems and needs replaced? I planned on replacing it soon but I am working on a tight budget with having 4 vehicles right now. I bought a fuel filter and im gonna replace the fuel lines tomorrow cuz after looking at it the lines are rusted and the filter is pretty beat. Thanks again I will let ya know! -k8
This car sat for a long time. everything I bought for it so far needed to be replaced. The plugs were bad the wires had holes and the check engine light was on because of the throttle position sensor now its not. It wouldnt even stay running before I did all that.
If the timing does not fix it but it seems to idle and rev fine at stand still, jack it up and make sure all the wheels spin free. I had an 88 that sat for a long time and one of my calipers was sticking it ran great but had no get up and go.
I thought I would update this post since i kinda forgot about it. Well the problem I was having should be fixed now and I'm slowly getting the car back together. I got side tracked with getting my Cavalier ready for shows last year, bought a TrailBlazer, and I just bought an 85 fiero gt notchback too that has 98k miles on it and runs great but needs A LOT of body work. But anyways...I am hoping to get the 87 back together in the next week or so. Because of all the problems we were finding (mostly caused by stupidity of the previous owner) we decided to tear down the motor and found a severely bent pushrod. He had everything way too tight!(thank u again previous owner!!) It has since been replaced and I'm almost done repainting the plenum and valve covers red because the loser painted them orange for some reason and didn't sand them first so i could literally blow most of the paint off with the air hose....what a mess. I can't wait to get it running again so i can work on finally getting it painted. The 85 is a blast to drive but the cops aren't a fan of it lol first time I took it in town I got warning for "driving like an idiot" (his words) and somehow I tailgated a car even though there was no one in front of me....? explain that! Lol he just pulled me over cuz of how it looks and I really can't blame him, its pretty hideous right now. Ill get some pics posted soon!
If you haven't timed the car, yet, just so you know. The illustrations of the ALDL port shown in most service manuals have the image upside down to what it's installed in the Fiero. The two ports you want to connect are the lower two on the passenger end of the ALDL. With those connected, you will also get the check engine light flashing out any trouble codes.
