87 Fiero SE

I'm buying a Fiero from my Brother IL for cheap because he had one problem with it. He said it died on him as he was pulling into a parking lot and downshifted. He said he had a pretty good roll on it and tried popping the clutch but it didn't work. He had it towed to a shop where they started it right up and drove it around for three hours without a problem. ??? Can anyone tell me what that could be about? Also I'm going to have to transport it. Would it be a problem to tow it with a car dolly from U-haul?

Would it be a problem to tow it with a car dolly from U-haul?
No problem at all.
Dollies leave the rear wheels on the ground so it is not suitable for towing a rear-wheel-drive auto transmission.
But a manual trans is fine. Just leave the trans in neutral, and follow U-Haul's instructions for fastening it down.

As for the engine dying........ a faulty ignition coil could cause this..... or possibly the bump at the parking lot entrance knocked something electrical loose...

Well the car still starts up and dies aprox. 15 minutes in. Idling, not moving anywhere. We started it, and let it idle for a while and it died on us. Then we tried to start it back up but it wouldn't fire. After letting it sit for a bout 4 hours we tried again and it started again.

Talk about a frustrating problem huh? Hard to diagnose a problem like that without throwing parts and $$ at it. Good luck!

I bought one of those cars almost new in the day. Always treated me good. Sold it to my buddy and one day it just burnt to the ground...or should I say melted LOL.

May be an ignition modual problem. The ignition modual is under the distributor cap. Get an AC Delco replacement one as others seem to be crap. If you replace it make sure you smear on heat sink grease on the bottom of the modual (available at Radio Shack).

The modual overheats, killing the engine. The car cools down and it works for a while.

Also there may be an ignition coil issue, but I'd do the modual first.

May be an ignition modual problem. The ignition modual is under the distributor cap. Get an AC Delco replacement one as others seem to be crap. If you replace it make sure you smear on heat sink grease on the bottom of the modual (available at Radio Shack).

The modual overheats, killing the engine. The car cools down and it works for a while.

Also there may be an ignition coil issue, but I'd do the modual first.

Agreed.
FWIW any new module, even a crap one comes with the heat sink grease in a tiny tube included with the part.... there is no need to take a special trip to Radio Shack........

Another "vote" for the module. My '86 did exactly that. I found that when I took the module "in" for testing, it would "reset" something inside (passed the test) and it would function normally for a while. A new GM modle cured the problem.

Jim

Thanks very much. I guess I'll start there.

My father said that he had a chilton's manual on it and says that the manual wants him to clean with a rap and solvent....What is a rap, and what solvent? Alcohol?

My father said that he had a chilton's manual on it and says that the manual wants him to clean with a rap and solvent....What is a rap, and what solvent? Alcohol?
I think "rap" is a typo, and they mean rag, or shop towel.

What needs cleaning?

I use clean all-cotton rags.... freshly-washed torn-up T-shirts are preferred, or decent paper towels will do.

You can buy lint-free tack rags for things like bodywork.

As for solvent...... if I have to get rid of greasy dirt, I use paint thinner (Varsol), or, depending on the part, a spray can of brake cleaner, or sometimes, carburetor cleaner.

Alcohol, gasoline etc will work but are too dangerous since they are flammable, vapor-harmful and tend to evaporate far too quickly.

Well we've replaced the module and got everything back to where it was, but we started it up and it ran for 8 minutes and died. I suggested taking the pos battery terminal off for about 20 minutes and after that started and it ran for half an hour and we shut it off. any other suggestions?

Agreed.
FWIW any new module, even a crap one comes with the heat sink grease in a tiny tube included with the part.... there is no need to take a special trip to Radio Shack........

The part I ordered from Car quest did not come with the grease, so ultimately had to go buy that seperately.

The part I ordered from Car quest did not come with the grease, so ultimately had to go buy that seperately.

Really? That really sucks...... it should have come with the grease, or else the part is useless!
Personally, I would have complained to Carquest about it :(

I have had the odd time where Carquest (or Napa etc) gave me a box of parts where some components were missing....... imo had obviously been raided for components in the past.

Okay, so I'm not sure that the problem is resolved. After replacing the part it still died on me, but after disconnecting the battery for about 15-20 minutes it ran untill it was actually shut down.