Ive recently bought an 89 camaro that sat for five years before i got it,ive tuned it up plugs,wires,coil,cap,rotor and still after about 10-15 minutes of drive time it backfires badly and loses all power then dies.Im not getting a service light or anything,so no codes to provide.Also after the tune up was complete it developed a very rough idle.


Tune up consisted of an MSD coil and wires,BWD cap and rotor and OEM plugs.


Im not sure if this makes any difference but ive put premium gasoline in it.

 

does the Service Engine Soon light come on with the ignition in the ON position?

 

Yes the service light comes on at the on position.

 

carburetor or TPI? stock or non-stock? have you checked your timing?

 

well if I were you and the car had been sitting that long, I would replace the air filter and O2 sensor for starters... then see where you're at...

 

No i didnt have it when it sat,the air filter is K&N and it looks fine,O2 sensor will be checked out today.

This is a stock TPI the only aftermarket parts on it to my knowledge are the parts ive put on.The MSD coil and wires are about as far as ive gotten.

I did just discover yesterday that my cooling fans dont come on,so thats getting fixed today as well.The timing did get adjusted yesterday the idle smoothed a little bit,but it still isnt making the power it should and still the backfire problem exsists after about 10-15 minutes of drive time.

Could the premium gasoline be causing any of my problems,is there anything i should have done to the car before putting that in?

 

did you put the car into limp mode in order to set the base timing appropriately?

 

<---- First camaro what is limp mode lol

 

lol... you bypass the ecm, either by ground the AB ports or by disconnecting a wire next to the distributor... once you do this the RPM will drop and will almost sound like a wide lope...

 

I think the guy who is helping me did that but i will double check to be sure.

Also he disconnected the Mass Air Flow sensor and there wasn't any difference in the way the car ran with it connected,could this be part of the problem?

 

OK so ive replaced the O2 sensor and it seems to have helped a little bit,idle is alot smoother but im still getting a serious backfire at about 3500-4000 RPM.When its in drive and moving i get almost no power and when it reaches that 3500 RPM mark it backfires and nearly dies.

Going to take another look at the timing tomorrow just to make sure it hasnt jumped.

 

My car is doing the same thing, almost didn't make it home thursday night.
I didn't push the RPMs to high since I didn't want it to backfire.
Plugs 6 and 8 were arcing really bad and I have a nasty vacuum leak.
Was going to fix it today but it started to get chilly when I got back from the parts store.

 

time for some new plug wires... get something that is at least 8mm...

 

Ya, I bought some MSD Streetfire 8mm wires. I have a set of 8mm wires on now, but with the heat from the headers and 7 years of use the boots are all cracked. Didn't notice it till I looked at it thursday night when I was fixing a coolant leak in the Dennys Parking lot.

 

Ive got brand new MSD 8.5 wires on it,all properly ran and nothing is touching anywhere.

Im going to try replacing the Mass air flow when i get paid see if that solves anything,unless someone can suggest something different.

 

7 years!!!!!!!!!!... geez I change mine every year...

 

I've had the same plug wires for at least 10 years. The ceramic coating on the headers helps, as well as the Made For You looms keeping the wires routed away from them.

 

All the ends on the wires were falling apart. Put some MSD 8.5mm wires on and all is good now.

 

test the MAF before throwing money at it...