Ok, I do have a big issue with my 1987 Camaro IROC-Z 305 TPI, manual.





Any time the car gets warm/hot, the engine stalls immediately when idling (in fact as soon as I open the clutch, the rpms drop immediately and below 700 it dies if I do not keep it alive by hitting the gas).





At first I thought it was the idle control valve because when installing an "empty valve" (no valve head) it ran (at 1700rpms in idle of course). But same behavior as previously with a new valve, checked wires and a replacement ECM.



So my new guessing was that the valve is not the issue but the heat is.





I read all stickies to cooling and that explained a lot to me already. I would say the issue is worse when running off the highway (in Germany at 80 - so more or less high load) or in traffic with outside temp being at 80 and up.

• My Center Air Panel Deflector is fine.
• No trouble codes in the ECM.
• Coolant circuit was flushed and refilled 50:50 (which, what I think, improved the behavior)
• Nothing blocks my radiator.
• I do have factory A/C and the two fan installation (although I don't know yet if really one is directly electrically controlled by the ECM - I need to check that). But the A/C was deactivated (no drive belt) by the previous owner.

What is to be checked/replaced is:

• Radiator cap.
• Thermostat.
• And I do want to bypass the throttle body part of the circuit, although that has nothing to do with my issue.

I would say: Except for the missing drive belt of the A/C and an aluminum radiator (for what I can say it is), my car should be stock (but you never know what the previous owner did).





One thing I need to add is: when coasting I do have a lot of backfires coming from the exhaust...But I do not know if there is any connection.





And one more thing: You might wonder why I cannot just check if it overheats: My gauge is not working proberly. But that is another thing I will post in a new section cause it is not really linked to my issue here. So fact is: I cannot not tell about the engine heat when the issue occurs.





Sure, I need to check/replace my thermostat first and also I read something about the timing (which could also cause backfire)...but what I cannot tell and what would be great if you could help me with that:

• What really happens when the engine overheats? Could it be that my engine stalls just because it gets to hot? As the "open IAC" valve keeps it alive I am still searching for that connection -> but it only happens when hot and it seems to be no secret that heat is an issue for the 3rd Gen...

 

I would clean ur motor out to get the carbon out with seafoam then put a fuelpressure Gage on it and and let it idle and warm up watch the pressure as it dies.if ur pump is going bad the pressure will drop then the car will cut off could also be a problem with ur coil or the module in the distributor

 

Thanks. I guess I will have to try that as well. I just thought that fuel pressure should be all the same and not be related to a heated engine (pump in the gas tank). So it seemed unlikely to me...but you never know.

 

Could be what was suggested but .......Checking your timing and setting it to its proper degree if necessary is first in the basic procedure below.
Then you reset the IACV (using the proper procedure)
Then you set the Minimum Idle Speed.
You will need a digital tachometer to set min. idle speed. Preferably on a digital timing gun with that tach. feature, that will be used to check/set timing.
Those are the primary features the ECM is USING to keep your car running. If there off there is a problem. There may be other problems but doing this gives you a solid base to work from.


If you want detailed information on the procedure just PM me.