Hey all, I'm new here and recently my 91 Camaro RS V6 has begun acting up and I was looking to get some insight or advice. Recently the cylinder #4 plug wire came loose and bogged the engine down incredibly, and the process took me some tinkering and test driving to nail the problem down. While driving it would feel like something would slip and bang while trying to accelerate heavy, along with feeling kickback in the pedal. After diagnosing and tightening the cylinder #4 plug wire it ran much better (obviously) but still gets choppy and stutters when getting up to speed. Is it possible that when driving it with the cylinder #4 plug wire loose that I caused damage to the timing belt or gears? The car drives great with no major issues otherwise. If this is a dumb question I apologize, newbie Camaro owner and tinkerer. Any advice is welcome and much needed, thanks!

 

The 3.1L has a chain

 

Yup, no timing belt. Sprockets and chain.

Short answer to your question: no. Not a chance. Put it out of your mind. Wouldn't even matter if it had a belt; answer is still no.

Might want to just change out all the spark plugs. Especially if it hasn't been done for awhile.

 

Thanks for the reply, do you think it's possible I wore the spark plugs by running it with the loose wire? Prior to this it ran buttery smooth, now there's noticeable chug and stutter. The spark plugs were replaced four years or so ago.

 

"Wore" isn't exactly the right word. More like, if they weren't firing, misc deposits can build up on them, which then would prevent them from firing properly, even after starting to get correct electrical pulses.

Doesn't too much matter what their condition was 4 yrs ago. What matters NOW is their condition NOW. It's entirely possible that they could have been replaced a week ago and STILL been corrupted by external circumstances.

 

I understand, thanks. I may end up replacing the distributor cap, plugs, and wires to see if that improves anything and takes away the random chugging.