1999 camaro z28. A little history. Recently my t56 went out, had a rebuilt one drop'd in. everything ran well. recently (2months) i've been having problems with the motor missing a bit, figured it was ignition some how. so i've replaced the spark plugs with the oem acdelco plugs have them gap'd right, new ignition wires (coil to spark plug) everything is hooked up correctly i've checked hundereds of times perhaps. last week i had a problem with the security light being on and the car not starting. rip'd the steering wheel off got to the ignition cylinder and realized it was a wire that had fray'd from the turning motion for the key. went to disconnect the battery to take the steering apart for ignition cylinder/ignition switch problems(perhaps) and i assume when the shop put the negative for the battery back on while working on the transmission they used a air tool to tighten the bolt (its a side post) it was a circle... so i couldnt get it off i took the positive off hopeing that that wouldnt launch the air bag into my face when i d/c'd it from the steering wheel or when put it back together. it worked put it all back together and it ran fine. still missed a little bit figured i just keep working down the list most of the parts are original they need to be replaced anyway. when i disconnected i had to reconnect it and it surged a few times from the tightening of the bolt i know this wasnt the brightest thing to do but assumed it would work. after this my gas gage which was fully functional quit working. it said i was empty and assumed it was, but the tank would only take 3 gallons... and then it started to over flow (because i knew my gas gage was right i didnt think it would overflow). the gauge being funky now gives me a check gages light when it assumes i'm low on fuel.

now the problem is yesterday when i was driving around this long sweeping corner before a hill it was hesitant when i pushed on the throttle, but would maintain its current rpm's and hold it's speed... didnt think a whole lot about it till i got to the hill... tried to give it some more gas so i wouldnt lose momentum and it just shuddered. got to the top of the hill put it in neutral and noticed it wasnt idling at the 750/1k ish it usually sits between it was more like 0-400rpm range. let my speed carry me off of the highway. where i stop'd to see if it would subside, it didnt. so i only live about 3/4mile away from where i was figured i'd rive it home and start tearing it apart, only it wouldn't move from that spot. it died on me when i tried to give it gas while already idling very low and hardly at all. the motor was shuddering. after it died i got it to turn over again after 3 long trys and it starts only to shudder and die after a few seconds. there's no check engine light. i dont know if this could be from the power surges, some computer problem with the gage saying there isnt gas when there is... i mean fuel pump? fuel pressure regulator? i havent even heard of anyone with the same symptoms (although some very similar) the people who do have somewhat of the same problems there cars all seem to idle fine. mine doesnt even do that. just looking for any ideas or easy ways to diagnos it w/o paying the ~210$ i was quoted just to look for the problem.

 

Did you check the senors? Try cleaning your MAF or replacing it. I'm not sure about all the electrical stuff though. Maybe your BCM is messing up.

 

no work on the sensors yet, i'm going to go through that tonight hopefully. i picked up a fuel filter (hopeing) i couldn't imagine that's it but perhaps. gonna check the resistance on the fuel sending unit also hopefully depending on how much time i have. it's my daily driver so i need to get it moving... also i've heard well what i thought was to be piston slap commin from my motor... never really thought about it till i just read a tidbit of info. but it doesnt change with the rpm increase from the motor. it's a random tap or jutter that's always there. anyway could this be the timing chain? because that would def. be causing this problem. BCM seems likely aswell b/c of power window problems. i'll give that ago tonight aswell if time allows.

 

check fuel pressure. may need a new pump.

 

changed out the fuel filter... no pressure was in the line at all. turned the ignition to the on position. still no pressure. the security light for the vat is still on. but the car will crank over now that the new filter is on. cranks first time everytime which is a little bit of an improvement... it just shudders and dies still. is that the only possibility..
i can hear the fuel pump engage when my brother turned the key to the on position in the dash. but still it didnt have any pressure at the valve under the hood.

 

There should be 58psi at the schrader valve under the hood. If it is less than that then get a FP........

 

Sounds like your fuel pump has taken a ****. Change it.

 

went and got a Fuel pump today... and it works again. still have to crank it over twice befor it will run almost every time.... but it runs after its on and it runs well...

 

i replaced just about everything in my car except motor and tranny i mean whole igntion system ecm and all plugs wires sensors knock module went to a lt4 cause i had headers installed thought maybe it was the over sensitive lt1 module retarding my timing it wasnt i know i have a lt1 and yours is ls1 which i also have 00 Z28 but i was goin from rich to lean conditions to no power after 3000 grand to barely idling just kept changing (the symptoms i mean) and at the end it was fuel pump not not operating correctly .. finally it read me 10 psi on the guage when i decided id check it again... i replaced the opti first....pain in the a.. and all it was was fuel pump 2 garages couldnt figure it out ...good luck it cost me more than i paid for the car to finally fix it. the car cost me 4 grand lowmile 96 lt1