Ok, well let's start with 'I'm new to this message board' and 'I don't know a whole lot about cars'.

That being said...

I have an 87 Camaro, Berlinetta I believe. It's a V6 2.8L for anyone who cares or needs to know in order to help me.

Well all was fine and dandy with the car until last night when I drove home from my parents' house. I had no troubles on the way there, but on the way home it felt different. It felt as though I was being weighed down or something, like I had no power. Almost as if the brakes were on and I was trying to drive.

When I would start out any gear (especially first), it would be hesitant like it didn't want to go. After a little gasoline persuasion, it would drive alright though. I stopped at the gas station, thinking maybe I got some bad gas or something. I put about 10 bucks of plus or super or whatever in there to see if it would help the situation. No dice.

So I drive home and park it overnight. In the morning, I come out to go to work and it seems to be worse. When I first start it up, it doesn't idle normally. It will drop like it's going to die and then rev up, all on it's own. It never stalled though. When I put it in first, it is very hesitant and stutters, but it still drives.

My dad decides we should try replacing the distributor cap and rotor. No dice, same deal. Later on, I take it for a ride to see if it would work itself out. By the time I got where I was going (about a 30 minute ride) it felt a lot better. But when I left, about an hour later, it was back to being hesitant and stuttering.

So being not very educated in this area, I am not sure what to do next. My dad does know a guy at a garage and I am taking it there tomorrow to get it checked out, but I figured I would see if anyone could help me out. I would rather not pay a garage to do the work, if you know what I mean.

So anyways, sorry for all the details but I figure details help when trying to figure a problem. Thanks in advance for any suggestions or help you may have.

 

Dirty fuel injectors? Clogged catalytic converter? Look for burns or cracks on your plug wires. If they're arking against a bracket or whatnot, or your exaust manifold, that will cause misfiring, which would result in the hesitating you're describing.

I'm no master tech by any means, but these are things I would suspect.

 

Well, it doesn't seem to be a constant problem. This morning when I went to work, it was doing the same thing again. But when I left at break to bring the car to the garage, it felt alright. And then the guy at the garage said he couldn't get it to do anything of course.

So anyways, I changed the spark plugs and wires (which I was planning on doing anyways) and it seems to be running good. I only drove about a half hour but I didn't have any problems. I guess we will see in the morning, as that is when it seems to be the worst. Which might make sense, as maybe there was some moisture getting in somewhere. But with the new dist. cap, rotor, plugs, and wires, I think I should be good to go.

I'm sure I'll post again if it keeps acting up. Thanks for the suggestions by the way. The cat is almost brand new so that shouldn't be it. And I should probably clean the injectors just for the hell of it anyways. How do I go about doing that? They sell stuff you just add to your fuel right?