So my camaro has been sitting over the winter, with the occasional drive around the block the last few months while I tried to sort out a torque arm issue.

I got the torque arm sorted, so today I finally was able to take her out for an actual drive. At first, something seemed very wrong. She was struggling to idle and I was hearing an odd chirping noise coming from underneath the car. I figured the idle struggle was because the fuel trims had been reset as I'd disconnected the battery, and left to take it around the block. Immediately I had issues returning to idle, where as I'd be coasting to a stop and I'd shift into neutral, as the rpms would drop to idle, they'd just plummet to 200 and then die. This happened every time I came to a stop or slowed to make a turn (so about 6 times). My AFR gauge was reading super rich as well (like 12.7 cruising at part-throttle). By the time I made it back home though, everything seemed somewhat normal. AFRs had climbed to mid 14s, and she was idling no problem. I shut her off to check underhood and make sure that nothing had become disconnected or worked its way loose, but everything was as it had been.

So I took her back out to see if it was just a fluke. Fired right up and idled fine. Took her on the street and drove fine. Decided to get on the freeway and opened her up on the on ramp, again, everything was fine. As soon as I shifted into 6th though, I got four loud pops out of the tailpipe. Continued down the freeway to the next exit (about a mile) and when I downshifted to fifth I got another pop. On the way back home she would backfire randomly. Sitting at idle at a light mostly. Didn't seem to do it much under load, but I got a few at part throttle and cruising.

Only thing that has been changed since I parked it for the winter was disconnecting the exhaust between the headers and the over the axle portion (and the torque arm obviously). The exhaust has been sometimes a little leaky, though it's never caused any sort of noticeable problem.

Any ideas? Where should I start looking?

Thanks!

Edit: After doing a bit of online research I wanted to check the spark plug wires and found the number 5 plug boot was slightly touching the header primary. I'm assuming this isn't the cause of the issue, but what are your thoughts?

 

If it was arcing thru the insulation, most definitely could cause it due to raw gas going into the exhaust and lighting off occasionally, usually explosively.
The more it is warmed up, the worse it will be.
Kinda like yours is doing.....

 

Hmm. I pulled the sparkplug and weirdly enough, I found a bunch of corrosion on the terminal and inside the boot. Cleaned it up and I shifted the wire so it should pull the boot further away from the header primary. It's too late to start the car now but I'll try her out tomorrow and report back.

Thanks!

 

MSD wires are a pain to get off. It is really a pain to get them snapped on. Very hard to even tell if they are on all the way. Really shouldn't need those tin sleeves. Getting rid of them will help immensely. Put a little dab of die-electric grease on the end of the plugs. We had those wires. I cussed them every time we checked plugs. Got a set of Fire-Cores with the pro mod boots. What a difference. Audible snap every time you easily put them on, and one twist, they pull right off every time. Hands down the best wires on the market IMO. Yeah they are a little more expensive. Worthy every penny if you have a nitrous motor. IMO the only other wires worthy are the ultra 40 moroso's.

On another note if your exhaust is not hooked up like it was. Erratic back pressure could be the culprit. Check all your plugs and wires. If that don't do it ,put all the exhaust back on and see if that takes care of it. The half open exhaust may be messing with the 02 sensors freaking the computer out.

 

I'll take a look at getting a new set of wires. Of course since I relocated my coils everytime I need a new set it has to be all custom lol.

As for the exhaust, it's hooked up how it's always been. It's always been a little leaky, and it's possible that something is tweaked different than how it normally is and is leaking more than before, but it's honestly hard to imagine its leaking THAT much as to cause an o2 sensor. I'll get it up in the air and take a look though.