Exhaust smells and lack of power
06-27-2008, 11:02 PM
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Exhaust smells and lack of power I have a 94 Trans Am GT that just had a new walpro fuel pump from nasty performance put in it about 1 month ago. Before that, the fuel pump was going out and my fuel pressure was low and the car had no horsepower. So I have this guy who works on my car because he knows a good amount about gm cars and he only charges like 40 bucks an hour and is reliable. He put in the fuel pump and the car started right up on the first crank. So I thought everything was fine. The horsepower still wasn't what I thought it would be but I didn't pay much attention to it. The next day I took a long trip that took about 4 and a half hours. I got to my destination and then turned the car off. I got up the next morning and it wouldn't turn over until like the 3rd try. Once it turned over, it would often sputter a little and the exhaust smelled really bad like gas. It was getting into the car and now the car smells like gas. Anyways, the problem went on for a while and it got to the point where I would turn the key and have to pump the gas pedal to get it to start. And eventually it got to the point where it would just click when i turned the key, it wouldn't even turn over. So i bought new spark plugs and haven't had the chance/time to put them in. They are NGKs, but none of my old ones are arching or anything. I had one arching a while back but needed a secure spark plug wire, it had fell off lol. So like a week ago I go to start the car and it starts right up. I checked my fluid levels and my coolant is fine, a little (slightly) low on oil, and all other fluid levels are good. I may need to add some oil, but don't know how that would correlate. So now the car starts almost every time on the first crank but the exhaust still smells and i have like barely any horsepower at speeds higher than 30mph. off the line it seems really strong. but im just so confused with why im losing power and why it smells so bad. my exhaust tips are getting black often too. before i pay a **** ton to have some shop check it out, i want to see what i can do with advice on the forums. PS. i had a tranny go out on this car, so i had to put a used one in but the car shifts great. is this possibly a tunning issue? let me know if anyone can help. thanks.
06-29-2008, 08:10 AM
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I read your post, did it mention a fuel filter? Learned the hard way chasing down these isuesand I always start with the least expensive part and go from there.
06-29-2008, 07:39 PM
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yea the filter came with the new pump i had put in. so its not that. i was looking at the engine, just doing normal fluid checks and i saw coolant on the top of my battery and below the coolant housing like in the front passenger side wheel well. I tried to find where it was leaking from but didn't have the tools or a flashlight. maybe coolant is getting on the opti?
06-29-2008, 07:44 PM
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ok so 5 months ago i had the car taken in because my I pipe fell out and they didn't tell me till after they did the work that they couldn't fix a car that doesn;t have a cat. and at the time obviously i didn't have one on. (which i loved). so they put on a free flowing truck cat that i could basically see through for free and said that i could get it taken off and sell the cat.. haven't gotten around to taking the cat off because then i would have to retune prolly, but i don't think the cat is clogged. it may be tuning issues...but im dumb with tuning stuff. i tried unplugging the maf and no difference.. the engine has 30,000 miles and the car itself has about 118,000. it does seem like it is running with less power. but as i stated above, i just discovered some coolant leaking so now i have to deal with that situation. could they be related? i really need to get these plugs changed i think.
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07-08-2008, 12:25 AM
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in the exhaust pipes? i have hooker exhaust, so ur saying they are inside the pipe itself? Where about on the car? I just found a small crack in my radiator housing where the coolant was spewing out of the crack when the car got hot and so i think that is why the car is running rich....could that be the cause of the smelly exhaust?
