Had the camaro (86 5.o v8 AUTO) out a few weeks ago for a bit rip,which it hadn't had for literally a year or so!! all was fine till heading home and the srvice eng light flickered, as it did the engine seemed 2 choke/lose power and it felt like it wanted 2 die, this was at about 10mph, then it cut out, started up 1st time and got me home which was less than a mile away thankfully, kind of kangarood all way home with light flashing intermittantly.
did a error code check following night after leaving it to sit and showed up no codes and ran fine the other 2 times i had it out, however i took it out yesterday and gave it one boot on the way home an it started it's crap again, i pulled over an turned it off for a few mins but was still same all way home, then when got in would'nt hold a rev, was a bit spluttery, would say a misfire but is kinda hard to tell? too me anyway, cuts out if not on the gas, ok ive now had it up 2 a tuning clinic and it went haywire on the diagnostics they think it cud be the ECM or a break in the wires to the ECM ive also been told it cud be vacume leak, MAF sensor Coolant temp sensor, oil pump!? i must add tho, its completely intermittant, always runs perfect cold then once it starts to heat the SES light will flicker then it revs its self then drops and runs lumpy then randomly revs again, altho on way home from tunic clinic trip aprrox 15 miles it ran terrible till i got onto bypass(high way over there ) and then ran perfect all way till i got to my street?? i so dont know where to begin, any suggestions wud be appreciated, thanx

 

it could be a number of things.
even for seasoned wrenches intermittent problems can be the toughest things to pin point.
ECM dying, a major component shorting out, or a wiring problem of some kind.
a vacuum leak or bad oil pump are very unlikely.
vacuum leaks won't cause the CEL to flash, a bad oil pump would kill the motor.

when a vehicle came into the shop where i used to work with the symptoms you describe, the first thing i would do is get it to act up on a test drive and then try to create the event in the shop.
depending on what i thought, i may give the ECM a few taps and twists to see if it would act up.
next i would probably check the wiring. with the motor running, i would lightly pull, tug, and wiggle small section of the harness under the hood.
bad grounds and other bad connections, wiring rubbed thru and shorting on metal parts will usually show up with the wiggle test.

a bad ignition coil, module or pickup coil are possibilities.

an alternator intermittently under or over charging, or putting out too much AC current can cause all kinds of strange things.

 

thank you ive still not got anywhere heres apost of mine
plz help
hey i was wondering if u cud help, my ses light goes goes crazy whilst during a normal start up AND when connecting A and B in ALDL port and as lights flickering (as tho theres a bad wire)the engine drops revs, does this mean its ecm problem or electrical, my car 86 iroc TPI 5.0 has been 'broke' for 1 WHOLE YEAR NOW and its killin me im over in scotland and no want wants to work on her plz help heres a vid
p.s ive changes plugs, leads, 02 sensor, coolant temp sensor and thermostat, new battery.car ran perfect till it was out for a hard drive (which wasnt common) my gut feeling is its electrical i cant get any codes

this second vid is with the A AND B bridged, it wont read a code
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=InNYu...3&feature=plcp

 

:edit:

There might be an issue with the passenger's side of the harness (the trans dipstick side)... Seems like whatever is going on is happening when the engine is torquing to the driver's side (natural rotation of the engine forces the top of the engine to the RIGHT when looking at it from the pulley end when the engine is revved). Possibly somewhere in the ignition wiring. Looks like there is a wire coming apart, which is causing the ECM to lose contact with the ignition module momentarily, causing the tach to drop out and the SES light to come on (SES comes on when ECM "sees" reference pulses that are less than those equal to 400 RPM). I'd check both ends of the wire that runs between the ignition module and the coil... I had mine come apart at the distributor connector.