[brooksman9]

Hello, New here. I just picked up a 81 Firebird 305 4-speed. The car sat in someones garage for 13 years. Another guy bought it, got it running and sold it to me. It has 39,000 miles. The car runs good. The problem I am having is after it warms up it will act like it runs out of gas, as if you just pulled your foot off the pedal. I can push the clutch in an pat the gas a little and sometimes it will stay running.I then usually have to nurse it back home. Sometimes it will die and start right back up or it may take several minutes for it to start. I have replaced the fuel pump and all the rubber fuel lines. I also put the original carb back on the car (last guy put rebuilt unit on). I have yet to drop the tank. The PO said it was dry when he got it. My question is: Is there anyhting anyone can think of not fuel related that may make it act this way. I also put a temporary clear fuel filter inline at the tank to look for debree but have not seen any. My next inclination is to drop the tank and check inside there, perhaps the sock is cloging up or something like that. Other people have suggested things such as pick up coil and ignition module but I don't think it would act that way.???????

[brooksman9]

Hello, New here. I just picked up a 81 Firebird 305 4-speed. The car sat in someones garage for 13 years. Another guy bought it, got it running and sold it to me. It has 39,000 miles. The car runs good. The problem I am having is after it warms up it will act like it runs out of gas, as if you just pulled your foot off the pedal. I can push the clutch in an pat the gas a little and sometimes it will stay running.I then usually have to nurse it back home. Sometimes it will die and start right back up or it may take several minutes for it to start. I have replaced the fuel pump and all the rubber fuel lines. I also put the original carb back on the car (last guy put rebuilt unit on). I have yet to drop the tank. The PO said it was dry when he got it. My question is: Is there anyhting anyone can think of not fuel related that may make it act this way. I also put a temporary clear fuel filter inline at the tank to look for debree but have not seen any. My next inclination is to drop the tank and check inside there, perhaps the sock is cloging up or something like that. Other people have suggested things such as pick up coil and ignition module but I don't think it would act that way.???????

[Skip Fix]

I've had weird electrical problems do that before also. Get a fuel pressure gauge you can splice one in a rubber piece of line stuff by the wipers and see if it drops when it does that. Then you know if its fuel supply. Electrical stuff is alot harder to trace down. My Honda took alot of trips to the dealer under warranty to find it. Chevy Vega in college couldn't be found til the wiring harness melted down at the short.Double check there is a good ground from the motor to frame to battery.

[goodtimes1500]

I also had similar probs, finally got to the point where it was even not starting at times. Turns out it was the wiring to the distributor, on the white plug that is plugged into Dist. I ended up splicing it properly and havent had a problem since then.

[Dens71TA]

I had a problem like that on my old 81 Trans Am and it turned out the goofball that rebuilt the engine forgot to connect all the grounds for the computer harness. There should be a black wire on the back of the engine for the distributor ground.

I'd suggest installing a standard vacuum operated carb and distributor and ditch the computer. You'll be amazed at how must more pickup the car will have. The computer is geared for emissions and fuel economy.

[brooksman9]

So what is a good replacement carb for the computer controlled quadrajet that is on it now?Something simple, bolt on, decent power with not alot of adjustment needed.

[David]

Did you try to pull the brass filter out of the carb?



David

[brooksman9]

I dropped the tank yesterday and the sock filter on the sending unit appears to be very clogged and slightly colapsed. I will have to wait til Monday to try and get a replacement from the dealer. None of the local parts houses carry it. The tank itself did not look to bad. Was pretty shiney inside with just a small bit of gunk here and there. I just flushed it out with a hose and began drying it out. Hopefully this will solve the problem.

[brooksman9]

Well that didn't solve the problem. The car runs fine until it warms up. Then it will idle lower and die when you push in the clutch slowing down to make a turn. It will fire back up if I hold it to the floor. It will not pumping the gas pedal. Is there anything that would make it do this electrical such as the coil or pickup coil? Bad plugs? Computer controlling the carb and dist? Anybody got any other ideas?

[gtohurstjudge]

The first thing you need to do is determine if it is spark or fuel you are losing. When it does
not start, spray a little berryman's B12 chemtool carb cleaner in the carb throat and see if it starts. If the engine runs on the chemtool and dies when you quit spraying it, you
have a fuel related problem. If the chemtool makes no difference, you are losing spark. Do
no do this test with gasoline....you will set yourself or the car on fire! Chemtool will
make an engine run, but is not explosive like gasoline.Once you have done this test we can talk about the possibilities.GTOHURSTJUDGE

[brooksman9]

Replaced carb and dist with non computer controlled. Runs fine now.