Last week i started to get my 91 Camaro RS prepped for paint. I got up last saturday morning, hopped in the camaro and went and picked up my friend who was going to help. He called over a couple more guys and we got to work hand sanding the car.

After a couple hours of work the guys got hungry so we decided to drop by the local burger joint, Andys, and eat. On the way there, i was driving a little more spiritedly than usual but nothing to serious. It never helps that i live in the country with the long smooth curves, and ample amounts of straightaways. I took a couple of corners, next thing you know i look down and all my gauges are frozen. the Speedo stuck at 80, the tach never worked so it was ok, fuel guage moved from a 1/4 to 3/4 tank, and oil psi stuck at 60, etc. To make things worse, the burger place wasnt open.

So were heading back to the garage to put a little more work in, and i notice that the car doensn't have OD. I let of the throttle, and try to see if it will eventually shift to OD, but to no avail. I drop by to get some gas and while just looking around, i notice i have smoke coming from behind the passenger side valve cover, yet i dont see anything to make it smoke. Great......

We finally finished sanding, ate, and i drove my non-OD, frozen gauged Camaro home.

Im in college so im only home on the weekends. I checked it today and everything was the same. But tommorow i do get my primer sprayed on and next week i get my paint job. Its going to be yellow, black louvers, and a black hockey stripe on the side. I also got a Z28 spoiler for $40 in superb condition.

Guess ill save up for a rebuilt tranny and ill try to beef it up a litte. Also gives me a chance to change the rear main seal....

Just had to rant to let off some frustration, this car is trying to nickel and dime me to death..

 

the gauges thing is kinda normal for our cars being how old they are and stuff, my old gauge cluster had a slow gas needle and would only move when it hit the 3/4, 1/2, and 1/4 marks so it was pretty unreliable, my new one is fidgety though and its all over the place lol the oil thing boggles me though, maybe you jarred something in the sending unit or its got a bad ground

dont worry, im incollege too and all i can say is these cars are so worth it

 

I was used to the gas gauge acting up, but when they all messed up after that drive it kind of disturbed me. But yea i understand what your saying. My first vehicle was either my Camaro or a 97 Dakota V8..I'm still hoping i made the right decision.

 

im on my 4th car at this point, sold my 81 lifted C10, sold a 93 del sol and just got out from under my brothers lancer payment so ive got my camaro and thats it, theyre fun plus even with my 2 primered panels i still get looks and compliments going down the road

if you had a M/T i could provide a little more insight on those, ive just torn apart and reassembled my 4th t5 at school and the next one im doing is my own.

have the gauges fixed themselves yet? if not id suggest figuring out why, the speedo shouldnt have stopped unless it slipped out of either the tranny or the cluster, or it snapped. Your tach runs off your speedo with a little attachment on the back of the cluster if i remember correctly too

 

the smoke coming from behind the rocker cover is probably from oil leaking out from under the rocker cover. Change the gasket and tighten it down.

You can get a used gauge cluster from a salvage yard cheap, >$50. That will probably fix your problem, and even if it doesn't, at least it wasn't expensive.

When is the last time you checked your transmission fluid?

 

i appreciate all the help and no the gauges are all still stuck. I might do some looking around on it today, to see if the cluster is all good.

OK, ill go ahead and pick up the gasket that shouldnt be a problem.
I usually checked the fluid every week. It was the friday before the incident when i checked it. It wasnt dark or burnt smelling. But i havent checked it after..Guess i need to go ahead and check it.

 

If your tranny fluid is low your car can sometimes slip out of OD, and if it's low enough it won't even enter OD. If it did lose enough fluid to not enter OD, you definitely need a transmission pan gasket.

 

I am thinking you need to check your wiring. Behind the engine, near where your smoke was coming from, is your torque converter lock-up wire. This is your od. If the ecm is bad you will have no gauges, no electric fans, no tc lock-up, and possibly no engine operation. If you can get a hold of one, try swapping ecm's. Check your wiring harness behind the engine. If I remember right the tc lockup wire is tan....
Good luck!

 

Another update. I checked the tranny fluid and it was way darker than before. A redish black color. It didnt really have a smell, but i can tell the color was off.

drknow, Ill check the wiring too. My car still running fine, and my fans are still working but ill definetly check up on that too.

I have to wait until friday to do some more work, im heading back to school soon. But ill do a bit more looking around.

 

I need to ask a couple of questions. I'm probably gonna go ahead and get the Tranny rebuilt by my uncles guy who builds racing transmissions.

I want to go with a different torque converter and a shift kit. Im trying to find a converter that will support my future mods (Port/Polish heads, Cam) but also okay for my current setup. Anybody have any idea of a good converter?

I think for the shift kit ill go with a TransGo kit.

 

TransGo or Pro Built Automatics makes great shift kits. B&M's arent too bad either and get a converter from a 95+ s-10.

 

So the 95+ TC are good to hold up to those mods? I go to the track too, im just trying to make sure its good. If so, that should save me some cash.

 

I had thought that my problem was going to be solved by changing a fuse but i was wrong. I checked them all and they were good. I also made a mistake about the fluid, i guess it was because the room was kind of dark. I checked the fluid today and it was pink-red, not burnt at all.

I also couldn't find a brown wire behind the motor, does anyone have a pic of the TC lock-up wire?

Also got another symptom~Whenever i turn the lights on now, it makes the beeping sound as if the car were off. Any suggestions please?

 

I would get under the dash and check on the wiring

jiggle some stuff around and see what happenes

check to see if the plug in on the side of the trans is connected

 

OK, i did all that, nothing changed. Looked at the plug and it is connected. Im pretty frustrated with the car, think im just going to sell it off, im tired of its problems.

 

if it were easy everyone would have one of there cars.

buy a helms manual and figure it out

a sense of accomplishment is better than a car payment

 

Trust me, ive been through enough with this car. I don,t need to fix it it to "feel good about myself." Ive sunken money into it and everytime I get it somewhere close to good, something else breaks. Keeping the car now that I'm in college is not financially smart. But I appreciate your help and input.