trouble starting
 

Hey i Have a 87 NA, the car starts then dies right away unless i hold the ignition for a sec or so longer even then sometimes it stalls after a couple secs, once i get it started it idles at 1500 RPMs i turn the car off and start it right away and it seems to idle ok and drive fine. whats wrong with my car??? Also i installed a pacesetter header and a "CAT" from summit racing a couple weeks ago with the stock cat back, dont know if that might have anything to do with it or not.

Thanks,
J GREENE

Have you done anything to the car lately that would cause the dreaded vac leaks?

nope just the header and CAT.

^

The next questions have to be- what are your compression numbers?

How old are the plugs & wires?

How does your BAC and air bypass solenoid valve check out per the FSM?

question 1 - dont know ill try and check today
question 2 - spark plug wires are about 6-7 months old
question 3 - im lost on that one im still kinda a newbe

The BAC (bypass air control) valve is mounted on the left side of your dynamic chamber, with two coolant hoses, and an electrical plug (green/blueish-colored) attached to it. It is instrumental in maintaining a "normal" ideal after startup. It is controlled by the ECU (your computer) which uses a "duty cycle" to control idle air. It is also active on startup and at low cruise speeds & throttle transients. Download the Factory Service Manual at TEAMFC3S.ORG, section 4A, pages 4A-62 and 4A-63, which will run you through the steps for checking it out...

One of many things that could be wrong, but take 'em one at a time :)

ok thanks ALOT ill try and check all that stuff today and let ya know tonight!

ok all i have been able to check so far is the resistance on the BAC valve, it says it should be 10.7-12.3 and i get a reading of 13.

also i was able to check the air bypass solenoid valve, it says it should be 9.2-11.3 and i get a reading of 11.5.
dont know if that is useful info or not ill try and get the rest tonight.

^

did you install the O2 sensor on the header?

All right, those numbers are good, the meter's zero sounds like it was off a little, but no big deal...

yes i instaled the o2 sensor, i instaled the header like a week befor charley hit us then didnt drive it much in the 2 weeks we had no power, then drove it for a couple days and drove on a 2 hour trip and it started.