A friend of mine recently bought a 3.1 v6 92 camaro, shortly after he got it he realized it was having some issues so off to the mechanics shop it went. The shop hadn't a clue what they were doing because a day later it died on the side of the road and was towed back again. So the running list that I got is this

new alternator
new distributor
new battery
new battery cables
replaced EGR valve gasket and checked for vacuum leaks
new plugs and wires

so basically they ran up a 500 dollar bill and nothing is fixed, great right? So I haven't actually seen the car yet but from what I understand anytime he comes to a red light or even just accelerates to slowly and it stays under 1500-2000rpm the engine gets really choppy, surges, misses and eventually dies. It always starts right back up though and runs fine until the next time it goes to idle. Can anybody shed some light on this for me?

 

Did they check to see if any of the pintles in the EGR valve were stuck open? Did they clean the idle air controller passages or the entire throttle body?

Does the car do this only when hot or whenever it feels like it?

 

Not sure if they checked the egr valve, and im pretty sure they didn't clean anything out. From what my friend has said it does this absolutely all the time. Cold, hot, midday or morning. I suppose the best way to go about this would be to go borrow a scanner from the parts store. Where is the port for plugging the scanner in? and what diagnostic system does it use? fuel injection isn't exactly my cup of tea

 

Before you go ahead and hook up fancy stuff, pull the 4-wire thing off of the part where the throttle linkage is and clean the crud off of it and out of the passage where it mounts. That is what acts as the choke plate.

 

alrighty thats where ill start, thanks for the tip

 

Have you check the throttle position sensor?? MIne did the same thing I found out I had a bad NEW throttle position sensor

 

could you tell me a little more about that? I won't actually get a look at the car until probably tuesday, as I said its not mine just trying to help a buddy out. Appreciate the ideas though

 

I can take some pics of mine. Pm me your email. Will get some pics when I get off work tomorrrow. TPS I stiped the wires so they were exposed. USed a multimeter set on 12 volts.

I cant rember what voltages is suspose to be.

 

update: when I looked at the car and took it for a drive it dawned on me pretty quickly that my friends explanation of the problem was a little off, but thats someone that knows squat about cars for you. Maverick was probably on the right track when he asked me if it did it only when hot. My friend led me to believe that it was an all around bad idle, but actually it seems to only idle rough when warm. Checked the resistance on the injectors had some pretty messed up values across the board. Had him purchase a set of bosch injectors and a couple hours later she was running right as rain. Appreciate all the help and input.

 

A small hint: Electrical problems either come up or get substantially worse as ambient temperatures go up. Which is why things need to be tested both cold AND hot.