Well we are having issues with our Camaro. Lately when it gets warm, the thing will sometimes die all of a sudden. Even while driving. First we thought it was the fuel filter, so we replaced that yesterday. Worked great...for a day. Then it died when I was on my way to a friends house that I was watching. I let it sit for fifteen minutes, started it up and got about another block before it died again. I pulled into the parking lot and let it sit for another 20-25 minutes, and then got another block before it died again. SO luckily there was a Checker a block from it had died the final time. Replaced the Fuel Pump Relay and it seemed to have worked fine the last 2-3 miles to the house. I would guess that it had been sitting for around 30-40 minutes before we were able to get it going again waiting for the fuel pump relay. Needless to say dad was on his way back to Highlands Ranch (I'm down here in Castle Rock) and it died again about 5 miles from this house. It seems to only do it when the car is hot. Got to go rescue my dad now and push the car onto a side street. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

Just off the top of my head, I'd agree that it sounds like a fuel-delivery problem. If you have them, I'd grab a fuel-pressure gauge & a "noid light" as well as a DMM. If you can verify that you've got good pressure at the rail, & that the injectors are firing, then it might be time to look at the ignition. Has the ignition module been replaced?

 

When the car dies does it stall out like someone reached over and turned the key off, or does it buck and jerk like trying to run out of gas? If the fuel pressure test port on the rail can be reached, can you push the schrader valve down, does fuel come out? If your pops is there, can he crank it while you check for spark at the cap from the coil? Does the S.E.S. light come on? Do you smell fuel?

If some of theses questions could be answered I might be abke to help you narrow the problem down. I will keep an eye on this.

GOOD Luck!

 

Well we are thinking that it is actually the chip for the ECM. We recently had it updated for the newer and bigger injectors and that something in the chip was failing when it got warm. Some piece of the chip was basically shutting down when the car got to a certain temperature. So we ended up parking the Camaro right off of Founders pkwy. and driving back to Highlands Ranch to get the old chip (not too old anyway). Drove back down and replaced them. Followed my dad back home to make sure everything went ok and it seemed to be fine now. So we will contact the chip maker and see about getting a new one.

As for when the car would die, it depended on the speed that we were going. If we were not close to idle, it would die instantly. If we were at idle (~750RPM) it would struggle to keep between 400-500RPMs. We would be flooring the pedal and it wouldn't go above 1000RPM. If we would shut it off and let it sit for a while, it would be fine again (running length depending on how long we would let it sit). Anyway, got to go eat what's left of dinner, do some homework and go to bed. Thanks to those who replied.

 

I had an old Buick Century a few years back that did the exact same thing. When it was cooler outside the thing ran just fine, once it started to get hot out it would die on me. Half hour to 45 min later I could start it up again and it would run fine for a little while then die again. It turned out to be the fuel pump.

 

Guess what ! The damn thing died again last night. I guess that is what Hot Roddin' is all about, trying to fix a car at 11 o'clock at night. Now we are thinking it has something to do with the coil, distributor or ignition module. Will find out later, but I am pissed because I was supposed to race it autocross this morning. That aint happening. At least I can still drive my dad's GTO . I will keep you guys updated with what we try next.

 

Guess a $5 harbor freight spark tester is in your future. Usually an IGN problem will last more then 15 minutes though so you may want to consider what has been said above about the fuel pump. I'd suspect the fuel pump is the problem but test the spark first since it's easy enough to do.

 

Oh goody, still not fixed. We got a new HyperTech chip put in yesterday, and a new distribnbutor, coil and ignition module all from Accel done today. And wouldn't you know it, it still decided to die on us. We needed to replace the distributor anyway so it wasn't that big of a deal. We are thinking that it is most likely one of two problems now (especially after every other option we thought it was has been replaced by now): Ignition Switch (which will be getting replaced tomorrow) or ECM. The reason we think ECM is because when we went to put the new HyperTech chip in yesterday the ECM was warm. The car hadn't been started since Friday night . I just want this damn issue finally resolved, and hopefully sooner rather than later and definitely cheaper rather than expensive. Just think though, everything after we are done will pretty much be new again .

 

Man that suck your still having problems. I may be able to help you out if your could help me by answering those sinple questions I asked above. As far as the ignition switch goes, not very likely. The ignition switch is a push button switch which uses rods and linkages through the column to activate, This type of switch will rarely cause an intermittent stalling condition, and would never cause the sensation of running out of fuel. The ecm.... maybe, but think as long as the battery has power the ecm will be getting at least 8-14 milli volts for memory. This may be why the ecm felt warm. I don't know if you have really ruled out the fuel system, but it may be a better area to use the shotgun method of diagnostics, instead of replacing high priced ignition electronics on a guess.

Good luck.

 

OOOPS!!!

 

We are still going to test the fuel, but we need a good pipe to keep the guage on while we have the engine running. Then we can see why the damn thing dies. Oh well, dad is paying for most of it anyway .

Oh and as for your other questions it doesn't really buck but doesn't want to go, like it is running out of fuel. We will test some of your other questions when we get the hose up for the guage.

 

damn here i figured it was your ignition module, until i read your last post, be very leery with the accel stuff, my dads been through 5 modules on his truck and i have just saturday taken out my third, the modules test fine but the last two i've had and all of my dads the car struggles to even get to 40 and wont start worth a damn etc, i'll never use accel products again, camaros getting a msd billet unit

 

fuel pump.

 

That seems to be the final decision around here too. We tested the fuel pressure and were getting around 42-43 psi when engine was off. When the engine was on it would drop to 38 (due to vaccuum). When the engine warmed up for a while, the pressure dropped to 16-18 psi . So anybody know of a good place that will replace the fuel pump, as I don't want to have to try that again.

 

The fuel pump is the one thing that I had done at a "stealership" - I just did not want to deal with dropping the exhaust, the rear axle, messing w/ brake & fuel lines... As I recall, it was about $800 about 3 years ago...

 

Well we tried to do it when we swapped engines, and I think we will do it again ourselves this time. We will just have to get the damn tank out this time, or drop it as much as we possibly can.

 

I've done it, and I am not the most mechanically inclined person out here. Although I am getting there, since I just changed my flywheel today . Yup, I think the new FP will do the trick. They usually fail when cold.

 

Every fp i've ever had go out have gone when hot....usually after driving a fair ways out of the close to home range, park it for a few and they're toast

 

Whoa, I just read what I wrote. Sorry, I had a few beers before I wrote that.

Anyways, they usually fail WHEN HOT (not when cold, as I so profoundly wrote it) ! Sorry, I am an idiot, and Paul is right.