Alright....I'm getting really tired of my camaro in general and it is becoming no fun to drive. It is very responsive and has tons of power when I'm driving it, but whenever I come to stop at a light or a stop sign my car will die with no real warning...it just shuts off. I just replaced my idle air control motor, and that helped it run...but now it still isn't running right. I'm getting tired of dumping hundreds of dollars into this car just to get it to run right. Just to let ya'll know, I have a L98 TBI, 65# injectors, no fuel delivery problems at all. Oh by the way....this seems to happen more when I'm running my stereo system...could this power draw effect the car enough to stop it from idling correctly? I have the caprice cop car chip...not custom, which I'm sure isn't helping, but I don't think that's the whole story. I can't think of what could be causing this. Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

What does your volt meter read when in drive and stopped? If it goes below 10 volts or so then you need to up grade to a higher amp alternator.

Steve

 

Does it sputter and die? Or just completely dies in one shot?

 

Well I've determined that it isn't anything to do with my radio...though when I am running it, it does seem to die more often. My volts will vary between 15-10 volts. My car will stutter...like a big miss, and then die...but sometimes it will die so smoothly that I don't even notice the fact it dies. I am getting fuel, and spark, but is there anyway to determine what exactly it is? I'm beginning to think that it is something in my ignition system. Is there any way to analyse what this could be? Any advice would be great.

 

I would put a fuel pressure gauge on it, strap it to the window, and drive till it dies. Watch the gauge to notice if the pressure drops.

Does the car do this while stopped and idleing? If so, check the spark. Just because its working at one time, doesn't mean it wont shut off.

After you check those things, and determine that its not it, then we'll get into the really hairy stuff.

 

all right i would check the ignition module and the map, and possibly the coolant sensor. all of these like to fail when the engine is warm, also check the grounds for the ecm,meybe the injector quad drivers are over heating. but now i have some questions for you. i have the exact same set up in my car, how does yors run at idle, mine runs rough as hell, and i just cant figure it out, does yours run smooth at idle?also mine seems to be very weak too

 

Well, mine has had this problem for a long time but only when Idling. It stutters and runs rougher than my friend with a carb and a huge lopey cam....my idles will jump all over the place from around 1200, down to 500 and it's different everytime I come to a stoplight. But other than that idling problem, my car runs very strong. I put up a 14.7 @ 98mph with my old slipping tranny, but I feel almost embarresed everytime I come up to a stoplight and it keeps on dying...normall I can throw it in neutral and rev it up to about 1500, and it is fine. I have done the fuel pressure thing....stays right around 12psi with tiny fluctuations, but nothing to warrant a fuel delivery problem. If your car is running weak then make sure that you changed your ESC module, knock sensor, and get some sort of chip. I ran actually slower the first time I went to the track with my L98 than with my L03 16.3 @ 86 mph, but those three things made a big difference. How do you check things like the ignition module and map???

 

Have you checked the obvious like vacuum leaks or partially pluged IAC port?

Steve

 

Yes...no vacuum leaks...in fact I have all new hoses because of another problem that I had about 3 weeks ago. At that time I checked fuel pressure and everything was fine. My IAC is what was wrong 3 weeks ago and after I changed it my car actually runs, but still it would die. This problem is very strange, it's been happening a long time now, and I can't find anyone who can even diagnose this....I'm beginning to wonder if my chip out of the caprice isn't all that good, can't think of much else.

 

Spark + fuel + air = Fire One of those is missing. Gotta find out why your losing spark.

 

well i allready changed those,i even changed the one in the distributor too, and yes mine runs like you say rougher than a carbed, cammed motor, but i couldnt run a 14 if my life depended on it, what did you do for exhaust?well im not sure how to check the map for this particular problem, but if you can get ahold of a scantool watch the map voltage to see if it sticks when you brake, also try changing your brake booster vacume valve and check your brake booster for vac leaks(some of them you will have to hit the brekes to get to hold vacume but that normal)

 

hey mister vw dave its spark+air+furl+timming+compresion=combustion

 

For my exhaust I have 1 3/4 inch headers going through a 2.5-3 inch y-pipe, 3 inch catco converter, through 3 inch hooker aerochamber catback. Well I think I realize I'm missing spark but after changing everything in my ignition except the distributor itself, it still didn't help. Also, every SINGLE sensor on my car has less than 3 thousand miles on it, except my TPS but I'm throwing no codes at this time. Is there any sort of vacuum that kicks in below 1500 RPM's??? That is when my car has a problem, and it doesn't happen all the time either, sometimes I have a nice rocksteady idle. But most of the time my car will violently surge forward a few times and kill itself. Alright, sorry this post is so long, but thanks for the help so far.

 

well1500and below is when the engine has the most vacume, so its more likely to run worst the closer to idle it gets if theres a leak. also check the map to see if its diaphram is cracked you never know(it should hold vacume).

 

If it just dies at a stop then I would start looking at the following areas such as the ignition module OR the coil. You didnt specify when this happens. If it only happens when it is fully warmed up, then I would start with those items.
Another item would be the fuel pump. We are starting to get to the warmer time of year in most areas of the US where fuel pump failures occur. Check your fuel output with a pressure gauge.

 

vwdave, one word.

Thats the only part of your post I could understand.

You might laugh at this one, my car did the same exact thing when I did the motor. At the time, I did the headers and changed the o2. What happened was the car burned the wire off.

Hell, I'm out of obvious ideas.

 

its spark plus air plus fuel plus timming plus compression equals combustion, you said "spark+ fuel+air= fire" ,,well fire is all you would have, and fire doesnt move pistons. without timming and compresion too a motor will not run. i was just correcting you as not to misslead anyone because its more complicated than just air , fuel, and spark( no offence)

 

i had a similar problem... turned out to be the TPS was outta whack. solved the stumble and no idle problem completely...