Started bucking.. died
 

My '94 has now been in the shop since Thursday after I had to get it towed.. and the guy still doesn't even know whats wrong with it. So I'm hoping for some advice here.

The past few days before it crapped out I noticed idle was dropping a bit low and actually stalled once or twice due to dropping a bit low. Otherwise ran fine. Then one Thursday as I was getting into I think 2nd gear it kinda started bucking on me as the rpms would dip and then shoot back up.. it only did this for a couple seconds then jumped right back to normal and I continued to drive home. A few miles later coming out of a stop light this happened again, except this time it wouldn't quit, I couldn't accelerate, and I just pulled to the side and killed it. After waiting a few minutes I tried starting it and after cranking it a few seconds it just barely decided to start and it would rev between maybe 150-300rpm.. throttle was useless. After letting it sit another maybe 15 minutes same thing except rpms came up higher and I could somewhat get it to rev.

At that point I took advantage of AAA and got it towed. Last I talked to the guy in the shop, it seemed all he knew was that I had a cam in the engine. :icon_shrug:

sounds like your fuel pump took a dump, Or possibly even broke the catalyst apart inside the converters and they plugged up...

I second the fuel pump idea. Easy place to start. Usually if cats plug up it will idle fine but die or really bog under load.

thanks guys. that was actually am initial thought of mine.. it was acting as if it wasn't getting fuel and there was actually fuel under my car where I pulled off unless that was coincidence. but then first thing the guy said when I talked to him he said fuel pressure was fine. I guess I need to double check.. he's supposed to call first thing in the morning.

as for cats there are none. it was also reverse.. idle was off but no noticeable issue under load

If its not fuel related, its ignition related. TFI/PIP/Coil/Ecm, in order of failure rate.

ok so just got a call and indeed he said the code ran for bad pickup ignition (i'm assuming pip). i've recently replaced tfi and coil already. he said it was going to cost about 500 and they were going to get me a new distrib/cap/rotor. i looked up and i can just get a new pip for $20?? Is it easy to replace just that or do I need to take out/apart the distrib anyway to replace the pip?

Yes, you have to take out/apart the distributor, but its rather easy. All you need is a roll-pin punch and a hammer to take the gear off the bottom. Then the shaft comes out and you disassemble the PIP area under where the rotor would sit. Would take me 10 minutes. Someone who's winging it, maybe an hour. Do not pay 500.

To replace the pip you need to remove the dizzy and disassemble it by taking the roll pins out of the shaft.

well what they were quoting me was.. 1 hr labor so far @ $90... $250 for new distrib/cap/rotor (huh??), and then another hour or two labor to put it at around $500. I guess he was thinking with the age of my distrib, rather than disassemble it and replace the pip, put it all back together.. might as well just drop in a new distrib. the distrib should come with a new pip correct?
so first off i dunno where he's getting 250 for the distrib.. i should be able to get one for around $100 it looks like. and then it should be very straight forward to just pull the one one and drop in the new one right?

Yeah pretty simple. No need to have them do it if you're confident.