My camaro has set for a year as I got some parts powder coated and saved for some other mods. Well I charged the battery, put new plugs in, tossed in some new crane fire wires.. the car just won't idle and sounds like it is missing... Any ideas? Someone saida vaccum leak, but after careful examination it can't be. My fater suggest the chain since it is old may have jumped a tooth as it sat for a year and then I tried to start it.. Now it runs, but sounds like crap and won't idle or run under 1500 RPM, but above 4000 sounds perfect. When I put the car down fopr the year it ran like a champ, not one problem...

 

You might try dumping a bottle of Heet in the gas tank. You never know, you might have water in the tank, besides, heet costs like $1. Also, is it fuel injected or carbed?

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91 Z28
Come see The Vicious...

 

Brian,

As Vicious asks, what engine/year/fuel system do you have? There are a lot of possibilities, and the different systems each have their own potential causes.

I would not suspect a timing chain if it is running well at higher RPMs. Late valve timing will generally hurt high RPM performance.

------------------
Later,
Vader
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"Fear is how I fall, Confusing what is real..."
Adobe Acrobat Reader

 

Brian, did you look at the inside condition of your cap & rotor and/or check the base timing? If you want, shoot me an email and I can take a look at it for ya. I'm down near the Int'l Airport off Semoran.
eighttfourta@aol.com

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DR Stevens
1984 Trans Am 305HO L69
1991 Firebird 305 L03

 

The car is fuel injected and is the following:

2.8 V6
Dynomax Cat back
MSD Coil
Crane 8.5MM Fire Wires
Ported Plenum
Catco High Flow Converter
Accel 200+ Ignition
B&M Shift Kit
Super Chip Stage 2
Custom Conical Intake
KYB Rear Shocks
Battery relocated to the rear
Rebuilt tranny
Hurst Dual Gate Shifter
GT Grant Wheel
Cragar Rims 235 60 R15's
1994 4th Gen Power Seats


Waiting to be done:
1.Coyles Double Roller Timming Chain
2.Urethane Bushing Kit
3.Hooker Original 2.8 Headers
4.KYB Struts
5.Remote battery terminals


Ceck out my site http://www.geocities.com/overlift

and here is my intake pic
http://geocities.com/overlift/Dcp02084.jpg
here is my shifter pic
http://geocities.com/overlift/Dcp02083.jpg

 

I installed a new cap and rotor.... The onld one did not look bad, but each terminal hada nice 1/4 corrosion layer that was where the rotor would hit it. Also the rotor had some burnt mess on it, but overall I did not hink it was bad, but the car sat for a year and it was like 6 months before that the last time I saw a camaro rotor so Iwhat looks good now could be horrible to have.. I will charge up hte battery and try it...

So now it has:
new plugs
wires
cap/rotor
plenum gaskets

 

I'm curious to know the answer to this question as well, I'm having a very similar problem... I just bought my car and can't figure out why it runs like crap...

You say it doesn't idle, but is it also life threatening to pull out into traffic? I know it is for me.... no pick-up whatsoever...

I've checked the EGR (good), plugs (pulled 'em out, looked great, replaced with Bosch Platinum anyway), wires, rotor and cap (looked pretty good, just a little worn), cleaned the TB and IAC and checked for codes... the only code I got was 44 (lean oxygen sensor) but it's self correcting cause the light only stays on for about 10 sec... i also reset the ECM

All that did nothing... All I have left to do is run the tank dry and fill with 89 and injector cleaner (one of the injectors may be messed up, causeing the slightly lean condition...)...see if that helps (crosses fingers) I'm also going to replace the O2 anyway (I have an extra lying around)...

All that probably should have been a new post, but I hope you can see what I've done to try to solve a similar problem and learn from it.

In summary: Try Heet and cleaning the TB and IAC. If that doesn't work... :shrug: Good luck.

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1985 Camaro SC - 2.8L, auto.

Mods:
Removed air baffles

Maintenance since I bought it:
Bosch Platinum Plugs, Radiator, Water Pump, PCV, fluids and filters

143K and 'The Beast' is still running strong

 

Brian,

Check fuel pressure. Your FPR may be regulating a bit low. You should also consider the possibility of an injector that is clogging or has a poor spray pattern.

You can performa a power balance test to try to locate the offending injector.

Start the engine, allow it to reach operating temperature, then unplug the IAC electrical connector while the engine is idling. Unplug the electrical connector from one injector and monitor the engine RPM as it is disconnected. The drop in idle RPM should be relatively equal through the firing order. Replace the electrical connector and go on to the next injector. You need to realize that the ECM will sense the RPM drop and attempt to compensate by adjusting the IAC, which is why it was disconnected in the first place. Compare the RPM drop at each cylinder. Don't forget to replace the IAC connector. If one or more injectors caused little or no change in RPM, it is not flowing fuel at the correct rate. NOTE: This test will not be accurate if the ignition system is not in good order or compression is low on a cylinder.

------------------
Later,
Vader
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"Fear is how I fall, Confusing what is real..."
Adobe Acrobat Reader

 

Unless my foot is on the gas the car does not run so the injector test is out. The car started quick with the new cap and rotor and sounded a lot better, but is running funny where RPMS zoom, ect.... I just want to get the car where I can drive it in and out of the garage under it's power not my pushing so I can get it back on track.