So last Friday i had some problems with my DD lt1 camaro. First, it developed a rough idle, rpms around 500 or 600 which made the car shake a little. So yesterday while driving for about 15 min my car suddenly dropped rpms and came back up. So not taking any chances i pulled over and as soon as I came to a stop the car shut off. I could start the car and the car could idle all day but as soon as I would put it in gear, the car would shut off again. So i had it towed my parents garage around the corner and changed the oil and filter. When i fired it up it ran like a bat out of hell. My oil pressure was up (rather than barely sitting above the red line) and i could put it in gear without any hesitation. So of course thinking the problem was solved I took it back home (15 min away) and as soon as I came to an halt the rpms dropped again as well as the oil pressure. Luckily i could swing into my space before it died. It seems as long as I have my foot in it it stays on but when I get to a stop light it starts to stumble then eventually cuts off. I couldn't find anybody on here that had problems like this so I decided to post. Any ideas??

(started doing this a little after installing a CAI, don't know if it has anything to do with this)

Mods: CAI, SLP LM1

 

I had a similar problem the other night. When I would stop at a redlight the RPMs would fall way down along with my oil pressure. It would start running like crap and act like it was going to die, but if I gave it gas it would come alive. Its been in the garage since then, I haven't had time to look at it (and honestly don't know where to start looking). Surely someone on here as some good ideas!

 

Man I'm with you on that one. I'd hate to spend money on something that doesn't need to be changed. I'm hope its not the oil pump, from what I hear they're pretty reliable though. But I have seen a few guys say they had to mess with the oil pick up or something along those lines.

 

That was the first thing I thought of, even got online pricing new ones. If it is it'll probably have to wait until after the holidays. Money is pretty tight right now!

 

If it only does it while driving check your plug wires, i had the same problem, would idle great but when i tried to put it in gear and drive it would fall on its face

 

Have you checked your fuel pressure man? Do you have a stock fuel pump?

 

Ill run out and check those today but the passenger side wires are a PITA lol. And yea its a stock fuel pump as far as I know. Easy way to check the pressure without wasting gas everywhere? Live in an Apartment which sucks

 

yes i know and mine was the second one on the passenger side. Keeps getting burnt on the header

 

You have to hook up a manual pressure gauge. It shouldnt be too messy, a little bit of a pain to get to.

My 97 has hard starts once in a while and sometimes starts up and idles real low and dies. It will die at a stoplight sometimes too. Its almost 13 years old and shot. Could be your problem who knows.

 

Also make sure you put the elbow back on 100% correctly after your CAI install. If the lip of it is bent under it allowing unmetered air into the throttle body you will have problems.

 

OK so I broke down and got under the car to check the wires and plugs first since those would be the cheapest to replace. And you guys were right, one of the passenger side wires were burned from the exhaust manifolds.So bad, the wires were coming out of the silicone cover. I pulled all the plugs (except 2 & 8...PITA... any tips to get em out would help!!) and all of them looked normal except for one which had a lot more soot then the rest. So tomorrow morning Ill install the new AC Delco Platinum spark plugs and new wires to see if those work.

(And again, any tips are welcome to the best way to remove plugs 2 & 8)

 

ive heard the slp plug tool helps, under $20 in jegs/summitt

 

you just need a short style plug socket with a hex on the outside. then just use an end wrench. the soot and black is prolly from the unburnt fuel fouling the plug, from the weak spark. ive been through my fair share of plug wires, and fouled plugs. good luck

 

OK so I changed the plugs and the wires and the car runs excellent but the problem with the oil and the car dying in gear is still there. Its like as long as my oil pressure is up, its fine in gear. So I'm thinking of running a heavier oil or at least add a stabilizer like Lucas to see if that works. The next thing I'm guessing is the fuel pump or fuel filter, but if the pump was bad it should not work at all right? Instead of being fine at idle, wouldn't it fail completely?

 

the oil pressure is only dropping because the car is idleing lower than normal before it stalls. i used to worry about my lt1s oil pressure being so low w/100k miles, (5-10 psi) at idle, and when i tore it down the bearings looked great. i prolly wouldnt worry about that too much. the fuel filter is a cheap and easy thing you should definetly do, depending on how old yours is. imo, i would look for vaccum leaks 1st, check for small tears or cracks in the rubber boot between the maf sensor and intake. then check the mass air meter.

 

sounds like a vacuum leak...when you put your CAI did you put that tiny little hose with that blue tip back on the intake tube? i forgot to put it on my when i installed mine and did the same thing

 

oil pressure will fluctuate with rpm so don't worry about that

personally I think it's a vacuum leak since when the car is in gear there's more of a load on the motor and the rpm will drop causing it to become too low.

either a bad vacuum line, torn intake elbow, bad tb gasket or something

 

myltwon: yea my buddy called one of his tech guys and he said the same thing far as the vacuum leak. The filter change did nothing at all. But the next thing ill check is the intake elbow cause the one on there is screwed. Wheres the most common places for vacuum leaks in the lt1?

 

Get a can of starting fluid and spray it around the intake anywhere there are hoses or fittings. If the engine revs up any at all you found your leak. Also, how old are your injectors? If they are original it might be time to consider some new ones.

 

Im getting a manual gauge to check my fuel pressure under load cause I think my fuel pump took a dump. But I talked to a mechanic over the phone and he tells me its the opti?? First time i heard that one, I thought those normally crap out at higher rpms