01 Trans Am dying
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Teching In
Joined: Oct 2010
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01 Trans Am dying Got an 2001 Trans Am that keeps dying on me. Car will start ugly but then run fine. Idles in park perfectly and has no issues after the ugly start. Second I drop it into gear(reverse or drive) is starts to stall, car starts to die. Battery meter drops, car sounds like its just lost all power but will go back up a bit just after shifting. Second I start to back up or drive it will start to die again. Often times it will die right there on me. Starts back easy enough. Still wants to die though and will occasionally die multiple times. The problem persists even will driving. The car performs perfectly at higher rpms. No problem what so ever. Problem only occurs
1)Putting it into park or reverse
2)Backing up(will die here a lot)
3)When coming to a full stop at a stop light/stop sign/etc.
4)Accelerating after coming to full stop
5)Accelerating just after starting the car(dies here a lot)
Car only dies after I just started it. Once I am able to get it moving after starting it, it won't die but it will try to when I come to a stop and once again after accelerating from that stop
Car has cam, shift kit, possibly a small stall and I'm pretty sure it was tuned to have no cats on it. After putting two high flow cats on it, it has not been tuned back for cats. Not sure of the details as I bought it with all that on it.
1)Putting it into park or reverse
2)Backing up(will die here a lot)
3)When coming to a full stop at a stop light/stop sign/etc.
4)Accelerating after coming to full stop
5)Accelerating just after starting the car(dies here a lot)
Car only dies after I just started it. Once I am able to get it moving after starting it, it won't die but it will try to when I come to a stop and once again after accelerating from that stop
Car has cam, shift kit, possibly a small stall and I'm pretty sure it was tuned to have no cats on it. After putting two high flow cats on it, it has not been tuned back for cats. Not sure of the details as I bought it with all that on it.
Thread Starter
Teching In
Joined: Oct 2010
Posts: 3
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Car is not throwing codes. Was throwing codes for knock sensor, MAF and MAP sensor. Knock sensor and MAF were fixed however the MAP sensor was not bad at all. Turned out somehow a ground wire on the PCV valve and bad PCV valve was causing the map sensor and a vacuum leak. So we though after repairing it that it would be okay but apparently the problem persists.
As long as your gap is set anywhere between .04-.06" (and otherwise undamaged), there shouldn't be any discernible interference to performance. From your description, it appears that the RPM has a bearing on your problem, which could make sense from either or both a malfunction at the intake/ignition (MAF, IAC, temp sensor, alternator, plug wires/coils) or the transmission (torque convertor, stall, etc.).
Based on this logic, the normal operating level at higher RPM is maintained by either the higher amperage output mitigating an electrical disturbance to a negligible margin, or the inability of the dragging trans to stall the engine at high RPM. I suspect the problem is more likely up front than at the trans because I can't imagine any setup there that will stall an engine (especially modern designs), but then again I'm not very familiar with automatic transmissions altogether. But being that the engine bay is easier to access, you should go over everything there just for a rule of convenience.
Based on this logic, the normal operating level at higher RPM is maintained by either the higher amperage output mitigating an electrical disturbance to a negligible margin, or the inability of the dragging trans to stall the engine at high RPM. I suspect the problem is more likely up front than at the trans because I can't imagine any setup there that will stall an engine (especially modern designs), but then again I'm not very familiar with automatic transmissions altogether. But being that the engine bay is easier to access, you should go over everything there just for a rule of convenience.
