Corvette simply shut down while driving.

[Chase]

Gentlemen, I have a 1988 Corvette automatic 350 Twin Port. While driving at a crawl, my Corvette simply shut down and even though it would crank, it would not start. I had it towed to my mechanic and looked at the distributor. He cleaned the hot wire going into the distributor and cranked it on. Voila...good as new! Then about a week later, I was driving in town and the same thing happened again: the engine simply shut down--no chug, miss, shake, stall, or anything. It was as if the key was turned off, or I ran out of fuel. I towed it back to the mechanic who is pretty knowledgable. We replaced, the distrubutor cap, rotor, ignition module, and coil; checked the pressure in the fuel rails (50 pounds) and tried to start it. Nothing. The we followed the power and saw where we're getting power to the coil, but we're not getting any power to the spark plugs. We also checked the gears on the distributor and they seem solid. Might I have a grounding problem? I did notice, on occasion, particularly after I hit a bump, the dash lights would brighten. This might be something exclusive to the dash without any relationship to the engine losing it's power to the plugs. Could I have a ground issue somewhere? Thanks for your help. Chase

 

[roger longman]

I think you'll find it's Tuned Port......Roger.

 

[JrRifleCoach]

Has your mech checked the ignition control module inside the dist?

 

[Hib Halverson]

With a car that old, there's a good chance your occasional loss of power is a wires and connections issue.

Start with checking the engine controls ground. It's a big bolt, screwed into the engine block near the oil filter. It will have a number of black wires leading to it.

Remove the bolt, clean the surface on the block. Clean all the connectors and clean the bolt.

Reinstall the bolt and tighten it well.

Then road test.