I did a bad thing during my last two semesters of college, & I let my Camaro sit for about 8 months. It got started fairly often, but I'm definitely an idiot for doing that to her. But anyways, after realizing my atrocious mistake, I have gone through the car and done everything I can think of to make her drivable again: replaced all the fluids, changed the oil filter, cleaned the air filter, changed the fuel filter, siphoned out the bad gas (the reason it was garaged in the first place), ran fuel injector cleaner through it, etc...


But my problem is that it still won't idle. At first it would act as if I were pumping the gas over & over... rev real high then almost die, rev high then almost die, repeat. Then after the general maintenance it quit doing that. But now it simply will not idle. If I give it gas, even just a little, it runs like a champ. Smooth & beautifully. But if I let go of the accelerator, it just dies. The tach needle just drops like it normally would, only it doesn't stop at idle rpms, it just goes right to zero. It's as if there's nothing telling the motor that I want it to keep running.


Anyways, I have a free weekend after class is over today & I'm trying to run through some things that I can do to fix the problem. I am going to check for vacuum & gasket leaks, but are there any particular places that are common problems? I am also going to clean the throttle body, though I'm not sure how much good that will do. Let's see... I'm going to try replacing the IAC as well. Is there anything else I should look at? I'm sure this is a fairly common problem, so I'm hoping to get it fixed this weekend. Any suggestions?

 

Those are the best places to start before just throwing $$$ at it and the TB cleaning.

Unless you want to throw some $$ I know how to catch

 

Whenever you did all your maintenance did you replace or check your pcv valve? If not then pull it from the valve cover and shake it. Should be able to hear the ball inside rattling.

Also your EGR valve could be stuck open. You might want to make sure it is moving freely whenever you give it gas.

Another thing would be to check your Throttle Position Sensor

Run around the engine and make sure there are no major vaccume leaks. Should be able to hear them...

When it dies does your check engine light come on? If so use a paperclip to read the codes it stores and that should help...

 

Might be your MAF sensor. I just rebuilt my motor and had problems getting it to idle after putting it back in. The only way it would say running was to unhook the MAF. Got a new one and that fixed it.

 

I'll definitely check the EGR valve & TPS, too. Thanks for the suggestions. The engine light doesn't come on, & the MAF is less than 2 years old. When the old MAF broke, it just idled VERY roughly, nothing like it's doing now. But I'll check it, too, just in case. Thanks for the suggestions, guys. I'll be working on it soon & I'll let you know how it goes.

 

Ok, so after a thorough diagnostic, the problem is in fact a vacuum leak. I think I found the guilty hose, too. It's a very tiny hard line that comes from what my Chilton's manual describes as my tank pressure control valve, & runs up into the intake manifold somewhere. It was broken clean in half. I'll see if I can't get it replaced tonight & we'll see where I'm at. Thanks for the input so far, guys.

 

Got it fixed. You guys were very helpful.