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94 Formula - Loss of power

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  • 94 Formula - Loss of power

    Hi all. I purchased a 94 Firebird Formula several weeks ago for my son to drive. (Every 19 yoa should have an F-body). The car was strong and smooth initially, the first sign something was amiss was an odor of raw gasoline in the garage. I ran all the fuel lines and could not find the source. It had the smell of gas hitting a heat source and evaporating, not a cat smell.

    This week, it began to display a bog or lack of power under medium to WOT. The car feels like we are dragging the Queen Mary. RPMs come up to about 3000 and flatten out in gear. Out of gear, it will rev as normal with a slight note of misfire. I don't have access to a Tech tool and am still looking for a shop that doesn't want $75 just to hook it up and read the codes.

    Any thoughts or suggestions? I am going to run the fuel lines again today and check all vacuum lines.

    FBNE
    94 Formula

  • #2
    Check the fuel pressure regular vacuum line attached to the fuel rails behind the intake manifold. It sounds like the diaphram might be torn, which will give you the odor and a loss of power because you will have low fuel pressure. If you don't see anything, you can get a fuel pressure guage fairly cheap.
    94 Black T/A GT, Advanced Induction 355, 3200 stall, built 4L60E, Moser 9", Baer Brakes, Shooting for 11s...

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    • #3
      Originally posted by Fly by Night
      I am still looking for a shop that doesn't want $75 just to hook it up and read the codes.

      Any thoughts or suggestions?
      94 Formula
      Autozone will pull the codes for free. they won't do any diagnostic work, but they will pull any trouble codes and give you all that info. They also have a free tool loaner program. You can get the loaner fuel pressure gauge and return it when you are done, free of charge.

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      • #4
        If the fuel system checks out, look for a plugged catalytic converter.
        Fred

        381ci all-forged stroker - 10.8:1 - CNC LT4 heads/intake - CC solid roller - MoTeC engine management - 8 LS1 coils - 58mm TB - 78# injectors - 300-shot dry nitrous - TH400 - Gear Vendor O/D - Strange 12-bolt - 4.11's - AS&M headers - duals - Corbeau seat - AutoMeter gauges - roll bar - Spohn suspension - QA1 shocks - a few other odds 'n ends. 800HP/800lb-ft at the flywheel, on a 300-shot. 11.5 @ 117MPH straight motor

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        • #5
          I am leaning toward the cat. Fuel pressure is good. Last night after a short drive the manifolds were glowing red hot. The cat was not glowing, but I am thinking it is not passing much exhaust, so to speak. The sawzall is coming out in the morning. Thanks for the advice so far.

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          • #6
            Originally posted by Injuneer
            If the fuel system checks out, look for a plugged catalytic converter.
            It was a plugged cat. We have a "test pipe" in place of the cat now and it runs better than ever. We are going to put it on a scanner tomorrow to determine why the cat went bad before we install a new one. The shop rate is 75 hour for diagnostics on the scanner.

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            • #7
              The fact the cat may be 15 years old might indicate why it failed.

              Shame to pay that much for scanning. You can dowload free scan software, get a cable (less than $100) to connect your laptop to the car's ALDL connector, and post the data file here for analysis.
              Fred

              381ci all-forged stroker - 10.8:1 - CNC LT4 heads/intake - CC solid roller - MoTeC engine management - 8 LS1 coils - 58mm TB - 78# injectors - 300-shot dry nitrous - TH400 - Gear Vendor O/D - Strange 12-bolt - 4.11's - AS&M headers - duals - Corbeau seat - AutoMeter gauges - roll bar - Spohn suspension - QA1 shocks - a few other odds 'n ends. 800HP/800lb-ft at the flywheel, on a 300-shot. 11.5 @ 117MPH straight motor

              Comment


              • #8
                Originally posted by Injuneer
                The fact the cat may be 15 years old might indicate why it failed.

                Shame to pay that much for scanning. You can dowload free scan software, get a cable (less than $100) to connect your laptop to the car's ALDL connector, and post the data file here for analysis.

                A cable connection my PC sounds like a great plan, any one better than the other for the ALDL to usb cable. The shop cut me some slack on the cat. The wanted to replace the upper/lower hose and quoted $250! I don't think so. That will be the first last time to us them.

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                • #9
                  Cables:

                  http://www.akmcables.com/

                  Software:

                  http://www.ttspowersystems.com/

                  http://www.andywhittaker.com/
                  Fred

                  381ci all-forged stroker - 10.8:1 - CNC LT4 heads/intake - CC solid roller - MoTeC engine management - 8 LS1 coils - 58mm TB - 78# injectors - 300-shot dry nitrous - TH400 - Gear Vendor O/D - Strange 12-bolt - 4.11's - AS&M headers - duals - Corbeau seat - AutoMeter gauges - roll bar - Spohn suspension - QA1 shocks - a few other odds 'n ends. 800HP/800lb-ft at the flywheel, on a 300-shot. 11.5 @ 117MPH straight motor

                  Comment

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