Firebird - Pontiac :: 1994 - Tach Needle Drop To Zero With No Warning And Car Just Dies
Jan 31, 2011
My 1994 TransAm has 70k miles. As I';m driving, I'll notice the tach needle drop to zero with no warning, and the car just dies. Battery is fine, gas tank is full, and it soon starts again and works normally. Friends have suggested the timing belt (or chain?) may be the issue, and one day, it won't start again, or it will break and ruin the engine. She, like me, is an antique -- is it time to take her in to the repair shop, and if so, is it costly?
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I've got a 97 f150 with 4.6l and my factory tach needle hangs up. Sometimes doesn't move at all and I can tap on the tach and it will work ok. Then I check it and it is stuck in the 2000 to 3000 rpm range. Can I take it apart and clean it or won't .....
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I have a 92 fire bird , just got it. Ran fine, idled a little high, but after a bit, it went down. Now, when it idles, it just wants to die when I come to a stop at a red light or stop sign. It dies, unless I keep one foot on the brake and another on the gas to keep it idled up.
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My 1997 Pontiac Firebird Transam Ram-Air with 169K miles is becoming hard to start. It used to start right up with the first key-switch. Now, if the gas level in the tank is below 75% it will not start on the key-switch. However, it would now normally start right up on the second key-switch. However, very recently the car is now needing the third key-switch to start with lower gas levels in the tank. I MAY be noticing a difference in starting reliability with change in temperature. Lower temperatures seem to increase the frequency of starting on the first or second key-switch. Higher temperatures seem to require the third key-switch to start.
This slow to start behavior manifests its self after the car has rested for about an hour or longer. A friend checked a fuel check-valve immediately behind the engine when the. However, he found fuel there. The local GM dealership claimed they could not find the problem and suggested a new car battery and then a tune-up for $1K. I suspect the problem is a fuel pump in the fuel-tank or associated seal degrading. What is the actual cause of the observed behavior?
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I have a 1989 formula firebird 305 v8 automatic that I am having an issue with. I drove to the next town over, on my way back it stalled 7 times, started back up everytime. On the 8th time it completely died. I have power to my lights and everything still just no cranking and starting. Most the time it was stalling was when i started to slow down for a stop it would shut off. Got it pushed home. Had my battery and starter checked, battery was bad, and starter solenoid was bad. changed both and still nothing. The security light dont come on (just when you first turn the key like usual it turns on, but right back off) I have not a clue where to go from here.
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I just bought a used 95 pontiac trans am. It has 121,000 miles on it, 6-speed manual, 5.7L engine, all stock. Well i bought it with oil leaks and they turned out to be worse than i thought so i had to reseal pretty much the whole front of the engine from the o-ring seal to the camshaft seal, etc. That took care of the oil leaks. Well then it started to overheat so i replaced the water pump. Problems solved. Then a spark plug came loose. No prob. Well 24 hours after getting it out of the shop from the resealing i break down.
Now they say i need a new wire harness. No prob. So now I've put $2,000 into the car (that's including new tires). SO ONCE AGAIN WITHIN 24 HOURS OF LEAVING THE SHOP i break down again. So I take it to a different shop again to get a diagnostic. They won't be able to tell me anything until monday but they put on a new air intake boot (without my permission because mine was taped to secure it better and i knew it wasn't leaking air) and it cut off on them again in the shop (so I'm not paying for the boot). When i break down it happens unexpectedly just like I've run out of gas. Well once there was almost like a split second of a lurch but other than that its always been a smooth break down. No bad sounds or anything. And the motor sounds great and the car runs really well until it just stops... Then if i let it sit for a little while it will start back up and go for a little then stop again. No one can really tell me whats wrong with it.
My fuel pump seems to be fine. alternator seems fine (my lights don't dim or anything). Distributor maybe? Or could it be the fuel filter? And isn't there something i can do about the shop? Wouldn't a prudent shop at least run the computer on the car? I don't think they did because at the shop where it is now they said that 6 codes popped up on it. So they want to erase them all and run the car and see which ones come back up. So can't i take the other shop to court for neglect in their work? I mean breaking down TWICE WITHIN 24 hours of leaving them. And then the rest of the afternoon they wouldn't even pick up the phone...
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I have a 93 firebird. it has a new engine ,starter and battery. fuse under hood is good. turn switch lights work as usual .
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I have been having some recent issues with my 92 bird lately. It started minor but now the car will not stay on. It originally started out as I would need to press the gas to get it to start and it would stay on, but now if I let my foot off the gas for anything it will just idle rough and die out. I took it into a shop and they said that I had a bad idle control valve and the pigtails need to be replaced. They also said that some wires were shorted out and they would replace those as well. They replaced the Pigtails and the idle control valve and the car started to work fine again, for about 4 days only. I drove to the store and when I came back out to start it back up it wouldn’t stay on unless I gave it gas.
I had to drive it home giving it gas and using my other foot on the brake so that it didn’t due out. I checked the job they did and doesn’t even look like they did what they said they did. I looked at the botched shrink tube job they did and it just doesn’t look that professionally done. I did call the guy and he gave me an excuse and said that they short must have traveled further and he was surprised that the car was even running when they were done. I of course just hung up the phone after hearing that. I did a little looking around the engine and I noticed that if you unplug a vacuum tube and press on the gas and hold it at 2000 rpm for a few seconds and let off the car will stay on, but the moment I plug that hose back up with my finger or plug it back in the tube slot, the car idles rough for a few moments and dies.
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Wife's daily driver often stalls when coming to a stop. I changed MAP, TPS, Fuel filter; Reputable mechanic changed IAC, Plugs, Wires, Cleaned Throttle Body. We reset computer and relearned idle several times, ok for a while then starts stalling routinely again. What to do next? Owner, driver, wife is getting frustrated with the big money spent to no avail to date and I am worried it will stall at a dangerous time, when she is driving. She loves the car - has had it for 20 years and wants to keep it. I need it to be safe and reliable for her.
1992 Pontiac Firebird 3.1L, Auto, Air
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I have a 2002 firebird that I had the battery replaced on yesterday also had positive terminal and wires changed because of corosion. Ran fine when I left shop. When I went to go out last night car would not start Only clicks when try to start. Dome light works, headlight works, and dash lights work.
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My car is a 1985 Pontiac Firebird
So I was drive around 45mph when I noticed that the accelerator stopped responding, it didn't make any obvious noises. I hadn't run out of gas and the engine was still running. I started pulling over to the side of the road and noticed that the power steering and the power brakes were no longer working. I got it to the side of the road and shut the engine off, I waited a minute and tried to start it again, the engine turned over but wouldn't start. I tried this a few more times with the same result.
I can't afford to take it to a mechanic so I need to figure out what's wrong and try to fix it myself. The car has a slow oil leak. As recently as a few months ago I replaced the battery and had to replace the alternator, since then it has been running fine. I checked the belts and all of them are still there, a friend of mine told me to wiggle the pulleys and make sure they were all tight, I did so and found nothing wrong with them and none of the belts are loose. What could cause all of these things to go wrong at once?
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My 1996 Firebird with 3800 series II V6 engine makes a ringing noise. The noise appears to come from the front of the engine (pulley area) and sounds like an old fashioned fire alarm. It usually occurs after the engine has warmed up and cannot be heard from inside while cruising.
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I have an 85 Firebird V6, 2.8L, tuned port injection, we bought it new and I have changed the oil every 2000 miles, it still runs great, except… The fuel pump gave out, I replaced it with a new Bosch, in the process I tried to replace the fuel filter, the line was rusted, it broke. I had to replace about 2 ft. of metal line with nylon tube, I also had to install a fuel filter with quick disconnect fittings, the filter is not the original but some generic because the original metal threaded fittings are gone. It runs great up to about ½ throttle, if I try to accelerate more than that it loses power and almost dies. If I turn off the ignition and restart the engine it runs fine for a while, full power all the way to full throttle.
I’ve noticed that if I keep the fuel tank full the problem happens less often.My theory is that the fuel pump is aerating because of not enough restriction in the fuel filter because it isn’t designed for that car, if I keep the tank full it is harder to start the aeration and stopping the pump and restarting it stops the aeration for a while. If I could get a fuel pressure gauge and be able to see it while I’m driving that would be great, but how? Also, what does the fuel pressure regulator really do? Does the fuel pump run all the time the engine is running? It also sounded like an electrical problem but it idles well and it is very smooth up to about ½ throttle. Could I just have a bad pressure regulator or does my theory sound like it makes sense?
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I recently bought a 1991 Pontiac Firebird Formula 5.7L TPI with 124k. We was driving it home when noticed it was getting really hot (240-250). We pulled over at a gas station and gased it and let it cool off. We had been driving in the city at about 4 o clock for about 7 miles if that makes a difference. When it cooled we tried again. We got about another mile and the temperature would stay down so we pulled back over. We inspected it. The oil pressure showed really zero but we checked the dipstick and it looked okay. The engine sounded normal and the radiator is fairly new. The fan was blowing. We noticed that after it cooled off if you hit the gas the oil pressure would go up (similar to a tachometer...i thought that was weird). After if got cooled and we got on the open highway the temperature stayed normal and the car performed like it should. We think its the thermostat but are not sure.
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I still drive the '88 Wrangler I bought in Oct '87. She has 171,000 miles. Recently I had a rebuilt motor,transmission, etc... installed. I had the existing carb rebuilt. This summer, while driving at any speed, the tach would drop to zero and the whole car would lurch. Sometimes so violently my seatbelt would lock up. After a couple miles of lurching it would backfire several times. This is very scary.
Here's the really bizare issue - now that the weather is cold, the issue has substantially (not completely) diminished. On a warm day in the 50's it will act up again. I live in Watkins Glen, NY. Yes, I'm a (Indy Car) racing fan. What can I do?
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The car runs fine for several miles/minutes, suddenly the tach starts to climb, up a jump, then up again. This is when the engine starts to run really rough and I pull off the road, let the car cool down and make it the rest of the way to work (about 15 miles).
Here is what I have done: Radiator flush and fill; Oil and filter change; Cleaned EGR and replaced gasket; put in new spark plugs; changed the transmission filter and oil; replaced the O2 upstream and downstream sensors; replaced the thermostat 195 to 180; replace the coolant temp sensor.
The check engine light does not come on (except on start-up check sequence), so it is working. Their are no trouble codes (other than when I removed the downstream O2 sensor to check if I would get errors). The cat converter doesn't glow at night, and doesn't rattle when tapped. The resonator in the exhaust does make a rattling sound, but I don't see why that would be the problem.
I am at my wits end. Any clue what I should try next? The water pump isn't leaking.
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Last fall I had my radiator flushed and at the same time my coolant overfill canister with built in temperature guage sensor was replaced with a new unit. (The service station replaced the resevoir canister with a new unit in the engine compartment, because they felt the sensor is prone to failing after 7 years.)
Ever since, my temperature gauge needle on the dash will randomly drop (even when the car is up to FULL OPERATING TEMPERATURES) showing the engine being cooler than it out to be. In other words the needle drops signifying to a much lower water temperature. After a period of time the needle will recover back to the normal full operating temperature mark on the dash gauge.
What could cause this? Inside my radiator do I have a "diafram" temperature valve that could be failing /"sticking?" In other words could a temperature valve in the radiator be sticking at odd or random times??? I also notice that my heater does not put out the usual full furnace heat that a Passat is know for. The temperature is about 1/3 cooler now that we are into winter temperatures.
Is my heater core clogged?
Could the new coolant sensor in the new coolant overfill chamber not be working well? This whole situation began AFTER my radiator was flushed, and AFTER I had the coolant reservoir canister and sensor replaced.
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I have a 2003 Buick LeSabre Limited, and everything was going fine with it till recently. The Fuel gauge started to go haywire as in the needle would go to full, then go back down to a Quarter, then back to 3/4, then drop all the way down to Empty, this is still occurring. At first I believed it to be the fuel level sensor, but then I started to notice something else.
A warning message came on stating that the oil level was too low, but when I checked the oil level it was fine, and last night when I was driving with the air conditioner on, I hit a bump and the air conditioner stopped working. I pushed the off button, and was successfully able to make the air conditioner to come back on with out having to restart the car.
The horn has also started to go in and out, and I do not know if they are all linked together by a type of computer or if they are separate.
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Well today the tach was not working at all and the check gauge, check engine and glow plug lights are staying on. Truck runs and starts great, everything else seems to work except the trans temp gauge. Did a search for the GEM and could not find anything that indicates the GEM controls the tach and warning lights.
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I travel and often live in a 94 chevy g20 3/4 ton van. Today I started it up and the electrical was flipping out, I got to the end of the road and I smelled electrical smoke and the van died.
I opened up the hood and the piece of wood that I usually wedge between the battery terminals and the metal frame of the van (the battery is very poorly placed and slides around) had slid out of place and the positive terminal had melted a bit and fused to the frame.
After I got it unstuck, I got a jump and it started right back up fine, but now when I turn on anything electrical my gauges drop slightly for a moment and my gear wont shift from low gear (it's an automatic transmission). This definitely won't do...
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'99 Intrigue (3.5L) with 65k miles. The car has sporadic starting problems where turning the key in the ignition turns the starter motor and results in one of the following scenarios:
1) The engine does not turn on.
2) The engine turns on, RPMs drop and the engine sputters and dies.
3) The engine turns on with no problems (like this morning).
It does not appear to matter whether the engine is hot or cold.
Reading forum posts of people that have seen similar problems, several different solutions would seem to be in order:
1) Replace fuel pressure regulator.
2) Replace crankshaft position sensor
3) Replace camshaft position sensor
4) Replace fuel filter
5) Replace spark plugs
6) Replace idle air control valve
7) Clean the throttle body
Since I rather not start throwing money at the car by replacing parts one by one until the problem is gone.
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