88 chevy camaro 2.8 no power
 

I just bought a 1988 chevy camaro rs 2.8L v6 automatic for $800 to fix up for my girlfriend to drive. It has 88,000 miles on it. I dont know what the previous owner did to it but right now it not running to good. Right now it starts hard and has no power at all, not even enough to drive it on the street. It makes a really loud bogging sound out of the intake, idles kinda high. Only thing i did so far was look it over and i noticed that the oxygen (o2) sensor is broke and looks like the previous owner had the top of the motor apart because i see alot of permatex instead of gaskets, so that could be the problem. I do plan on pulling that stuff off and putting new gaskets in but i didnt wanna rip anything apart till i narrowed down what my current problem is. I also replaced the fuel filter and that didnt help much. I was going to do the o2 sensor this weekend, just wanted to get some more opinions to see what else could be wrong here. Any info. would be great. Thanks. I had this posted on my other fourm site hotrodders.com and was told this is the place to go, and i can see that lol and having 3 third gen camaros im glad i joined.
:driving:

Re: 88 chevy camaro 2.8 no power
 

Could be a clogged up cat converter.
Check fuel pressure. 36-44psi or so.
Check the ign. timing & make sure it advances when you rev it.

Re: 88 chevy camaro 2.8 no power
 

O2 sensor will keep the engine from running rich when the engine is warm if it were to fail ur ecm will run in open loop and operate off the MAF ECT sensor and TPS which will cause rough idle. It definitely sounds like the problem is the intake gaskets are missing i had the same problem with a nova Inline 4.1 L6. I thought the motor was dying until i sprayed the intake manifold (plenum) with starter fluid and the idle changed briefly. When u do the gaskets make to do the intake and the throttle body hope this helps...

Re: 88 chevy camaro 2.8 no power
 

i did the same thing i sprayed all vacuum lines and the intake with starting fluid and it didnt effect nothing so im thinking sensor related probably or somthing else, putting a new o2 sensor in this weekend and check fuel pressure.

Re: 88 chevy camaro 2.8 no power
 

Ask your smog dude to check it. I had a problem with idle that no one could fix. Been to several mechanics, with no resutls. When I was waiting in the smog line, it died and I had a hard time restarting it. I asked the smog dude to take a look at it and he hooked me up for about $200. It hasn't run better in over 10 years.

Re: 88 chevy camaro 2.8 no power
 

So what did he do to it that made it run so good? :driving:

Re: 88 chevy camaro 2.8 no power
 

o2 won't fix it, my guess is on fuel system, start by checking fuel pressure, also, what happens if i you rev it while not in gear? Still bog down? And can you describe the sound any better or link a video.

Re: 88 chevy camaro 2.8 no power
 

It makes the bogging sound in gear or in park, engine just has no power what so ever. And it sounds like just bogging down and just sucking in air acting like its not getting fuel most likely. I mean you can hold it to the floor it will rev up alittle and wont do anything, im not positive if these cars have rev limiters but if they do and it dont even hit it. i can try posting a video up this weekend. Also where do i check the fuel pressure at? Any special tools?

Re: 88 chevy camaro 2.8 no power
 

You need a pressure gauge to do it, they run about $40 if memory serves, and I believe they hook onto the schrader valve, if not that, then the fuel lines where they go into the fuel rail, I've never had to do it tbh, you could also try giving it some ether, might be easier, but ether is more for seeing if an engine will start then seeing if it is getting enough fuel for higher rpms.

Re: 88 chevy camaro 2.8 no power
 

check your spark plug wires. if they are burnt it could cause a missfire in one of the cylinders causing a drastic loss in power and it will also make the car feel like it is bogging down. I've had this happen when horsing around town one HOT afternoon. Burned a plug wire on a header. Sucks limping home :(

Re: 88 chevy camaro 2.8 no power
 

So i did a compression test on the engine and the driverside cylinders, #2,4 had 150psi and #6 had 120psi. The passengerside cylinders #1 had 55psi and #3,5 had 45psi. So theres my power loss, im assuming the previous owner bent valves most likely from over reving.

Re: 88 chevy camaro 2.8 no power
 

How reliable are the 2.8 camaro 5 speeds? And he said it was bored to a 3.0?
And wats typical maintenance cost is this a expensive car to work on

Re: 88 chevy camaro 2.8 no power
 

check the valve lash. could be simple like valve not closing properly.