I got my '85 Olds Toronado out today to drive it to DMV to get it registered. It was running great, I could stop and start the engine fine while running an errand, but after about 20 minutes of driving it stalled out on the highway at about 50 mph right before I got to the DMV (I actually was able to coast the last 1/4 mile or so into the parking lot, haha!) The car would crank over fine, but not fire up agian. Yes, it had plenty of gas in it- I just put in a half tank.

Here's the list of what is done to the car so far:
It has a '67 Oldsmobile 330 V8 swap, great mechanical shape with new timing set and correct cam timing, pulls a steady vacuum of 21 in.Hg at idle.
Brand new fuel pickup, mechanical fuel pump, fuel filter, and a Holley #4160 600cfm carb.
New spark plugs, wires. It has an HEI distributor that I pulled out of the junkyard, the parts on that are old, however I recently disassembled and lubricated the mechanical advance assembly to unsieze it.

The factory ECU and engine sensors/controls are totally unplugged from the engine; it's all being run by the carb and HEI distributor. I'm thinking that the HEI control module may be acting up under the heat, or the ignition coil just took a dump on me. I'll look at the car tomorrow and see if it starts cold or if there is any spark at all. What do you guys think the problem could be?

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1997 Camaro Z28: LT1 with a proper 6-speed gearbox, Centerforce clutch, Bilstein struts, Ground Control adjustable springs, LCAs, PHR, SFCs, EBC Yellow brake pads, K&N intake, Comp Cams 502 (duration 218/224 @.050, lift .495/.503), LS6 valve springs, Pacesetter long tube headers, 3 inch Magnaflow exhaust, custom PCM tune by Wong's Performance Engineering in Vancouver, WA.

2013 BMW 135i: 3.0 liter turbo I6, 7 speed Dual Clutch Transmission, M-Sport package, bone stock.

Sold, but missed: 1996 Bonneville SSEi, 3.4 pulley, Intense intake, Zilla Motorsports ported LIM.

I had the same issue on our 67 Truck. Turned out to be a corroded rotor that only failed after 20 minutes of solid driving, then wouldn't restart at all. New rotor and cap from NAPA fixed it right up.

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Bye Bye:

RIP sandrock

With electronics out it should be easy to tell. All you need is fuel, air, and ignition. Easiest way to tell is dump some gas in the carb, or stick your nose in it, and see whats up.

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~Randall~


1993 Buick Park Avenue - 197k - Some odds and ends done - Simply won't die
1994 Buick Regal - 78k - Bone stock - Always ready for a good kicking
1990 Oldsmobile 88 - Gone to a better place

Do not do this while trying to start it unless you want to remove all of your facial hair.

Yes, a bad lesson learned helping my brother with his 76 Ford LTD. I was only 12.

Sounds like the HEI control module.

I agree with the above post.. Not hard to replace and pretty cheap.. See if it starts back up cold..

This afternoon I replaced the distributor cap, rotor and coil. Car fired up but died about 15 minutes down the road, problem not solved. Also as before, the car has a hesitation problem under moderate throttle, light throttle is fine though.
So I guess that leaves the HEI control module, or should I just go buy a new/remanufactured distributor? The HEI module alone is around $25 while the distributor assembly (does not include cap & rotor) is about $120.

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1997 Camaro Z28: LT1 with a proper 6-speed gearbox, Centerforce clutch, Bilstein struts, Ground Control adjustable springs, LCAs, PHR, SFCs, EBC Yellow brake pads, K&N intake, Comp Cams 502 (duration 218/224 @.050, lift .495/.503), LS6 valve springs, Pacesetter long tube headers, 3 inch Magnaflow exhaust, custom PCM tune by Wong's Performance Engineering in Vancouver, WA.

2013 BMW 135i: 3.0 liter turbo I6, 7 speed Dual Clutch Transmission, M-Sport package, bone stock.

Sold, but missed: 1996 Bonneville SSEi, 3.4 pulley, Intense intake, Zilla Motorsports ported LIM.

New fuel pump and filter do I'd say yeah it's a fire problem.

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2001 Bonneville SSEi. 1598xx mi.
great car. Wrecked


Burnt Bonny.

Note if you pull the injectors to obserbe fuel delivery...make sure you leave the plugs in and disconnect the ign. Believe me

I replaced the HEI control module today; fixed the sudden stall with no restart. But that problem was replaced with another batch of problems : weak acceleration, hesitation and engine stalling (but engine restarts on first try with some throttle), and misfiring to the point where the engine must have been down to 6 cylinders and it couldn't move in gear. I drove the car for about 20 minutes, it started out fine and these symptoms progressively got worse and in random occurance.


I'm going to buy a new distributor...

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1997 Camaro Z28: LT1 with a proper 6-speed gearbox, Centerforce clutch, Bilstein struts, Ground Control adjustable springs, LCAs, PHR, SFCs, EBC Yellow brake pads, K&N intake, Comp Cams 502 (duration 218/224 @.050, lift .495/.503), LS6 valve springs, Pacesetter long tube headers, 3 inch Magnaflow exhaust, custom PCM tune by Wong's Performance Engineering in Vancouver, WA.

2013 BMW 135i: 3.0 liter turbo I6, 7 speed Dual Clutch Transmission, M-Sport package, bone stock.

Sold, but missed: 1996 Bonneville SSEi, 3.4 pulley, Intense intake, Zilla Motorsports ported LIM.

Hesitation, sag, stumble (and even stall) on acceleration? It realy sounds like a bad accelerator pump from the way you describe it, but if the carb is new? Has that new carb been adjusted to the engine? Maybe it is not jetted properly for that engine? Did it run good with that carb at one time or is the carb literally brand new? I assume you have already adjusted the ignition timing beings you had the distributor out?

Just a guess: bad connections at the HEI / HEI harness.

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2001 Bonneville SSEi. 1598xx mi.
great car. Wrecked


Burnt Bonny.

Note if you pull the injectors to obserbe fuel delivery...make sure you leave the plugs in and disconnect the ign. Believe me