Sputtering when warm?
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 103
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From: Upstate NY
Sputtering when warm? I didn't drive my car for about 4 days. When I drove it yesterday, I found that it was sputtering (misfiring?). It only seems to happen when it's warmed up for some reason. When it's cold, it seems to be running fine (but maybe I'm imagining it). I watched the tach and don't see the RPMs go down at times of sputter, but it definitely feels as if not all the cylinders are working. The Check Engine light doesn't come on either. I've searched this forum but haven't found anything similar. Can anyone advise?
Thanks.
Thanks.
Could be a # of things. I assume you are referring to the 95 Firebird? You need compression, spark, fuel and timing to run correct. You need to figure out where the problem lies...LT1's have a few problem areas bad rings, plugged injectors and the all dreaded Opti spark.
Nate
Nate
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 103
Likes: 0
From: Upstate NY
Originally Posted by Nasty N8
Could be a # of things. I assume you are referring to the 95 Firebird? You need compression, spark, fuel and timing to run correct. You need to figure out where the problem lies...LT1's have a few problem areas bad rings, plugged injectors and the all dreaded Opti spark.
Nate
Nate
I just drove it again for 15 minutes. It seems the problem is getting worse - don't know if that's any indicator of what's going on or not. Now at idle, the RPMs fall below 1k and it feels and sounds like it's about to die. The problem is def. more pronounced at lower RPMs, I noticed just now. You're saying I should just start eliminating things that could go wrong one by one? I may just bring it to a mechanic so he can tell me what's wrong with it and then fix it myself.
Thread Starter
On The Tree
Joined: May 2007
Posts: 103
Likes: 0
From: Upstate NY
After writing the last message I put the car in the garage for the winter. A week ago I drove it again (now that the weather has more or less stabilized). I cleaned the MAF sensor that was gunked up with oil from the K&N air filter, which I replaced by a paper one. This didn't do anything to solve the issue but at least it's clean now.
I then replaced the spark plugs (not fun!) and voila, the sputtering and hesitation totally went away.
Now, a couple days later, I can't be so sure that the problem has totally gone away. Maybe I am just being paranoid but to me it still feels like every once in a while it misfires. It's nowhere near as bad though as it was before but something just doesn't seem right to me. But, if the spark plugs made such a huge difference, what else can be the cause of the misfire?
I then replaced the spark plugs (not fun!) and voila, the sputtering and hesitation totally went away.
Now, a couple days later, I can't be so sure that the problem has totally gone away. Maybe I am just being paranoid but to me it still feels like every once in a while it misfires. It's nowhere near as bad though as it was before but something just doesn't seem right to me. But, if the spark plugs made such a huge difference, what else can be the cause of the misfire?
