Alright so I’ve knocked a couple possible causes out of the running now, for the last month or so every time I’ve started my 87 gxl, it will start really strong and die immediately, but by die I don’t mean struggle or sputter it’ll start like normal then the revs will instantly drop to zero unless I lightly hold the pedal when I turn the key, and I only have to hold it for like one second. My engine feels live and really healthy, no hesitation or hiccups when I’m pushing it, and no smoke it’s coming out the exhaust. I was having electrical issues, but now that seems to not be the case anymore, in accessory it reads 12v, ~12.5-8 at idle 13.5-14 under load, battery has been draining if I don’t drive it for more than 4 days though. Someone thought it was because my AWS wasn’t working, but today on startup revs shot right up to 3k for the first time in months, and it’s still died, then I did it again while holding the throttle for a sec and the was still kicked and it ran perfectly. I’m at a loss to be honest, it’s not the biggest deal if it’s alright but I’m worried that it’ll turn into a headache. Just to check off everything I’ve done- plugs and wires, tps adjusted, fast idle screw set, got new fuel filter and injectors to go in soon, and AWS started working again and problem still persists. Thoughts?

edit- also the temperature is around 65-80 now as opposed to the 35-55 it was when these problems started

 

ooh! I know this one! vacuum leak can cause this, iirc. smoke test the car and report back. I was dealing with this for awhile too, i fixed it and I think that's what it ended up being.

 

Hey man! did you ever figure this out? I'm running into the same issues and have a new TPS on the way.. not sure if my thermowax could be bad as well. Mine doesnt instantly die like yours though. Yours sounds like a vacuum leak

 

i think mine ended up being a culmination of a lot of small things working against me, i sent my injectors to get cleaned, replaced the fuel sock and fuel filter, and while the UIM was off I replaced a whole buncha rubber lines and now it seems to be going well. I messed with the tps quite a bit and it didn’t really get me anywhere but that was a while ago, I also cleaned some electrical connections including the one for the BAC