Hey guys, I got a few problems that I need to get fixed fast. Got a 94 camaro that is running shitty on me. It started about a month ago the car started to have bad idle quality and it started to sound rough. Then it got to the point where it would miss and so had a guy come out and use his computer on it and he said it was the optispark. Well spent a couple hours changing the optispark and the water pump. The idle is smooth now and it does good around 2k rpm when you are cruising but when it gets up to operating temp it starts backfiring and spurtering and bogging. It only does this when it is warm (~190 degrees). When it is cool it acts good until you take it above 4k rpm and then it starts missing and backfiring.When you are cruising the rpms surge around 3 or 4 hundred rpm. Is it possible my wires arent on all the way. Plugs bad? Bad fuel filter? Clogged injectors? Another observation was that when I started it up was that it shot alot of gas out of the tailpipe onto the pavement, I know to expect a little but this was more than my carbed 64 wagon puts out and it runs fat.Also the dipshit that hookuped up the computer somehow screwed up my scan master, is it screwed or can it be fixed? All it is now is a blank screen. This car is a little way from stock, here are the specs:
94' camaro z28
auto with transgo shift kit and precision industries 2800 stall
hooker headers
k&n aircharger setup
taylor spark plug wires, i think 8 or 9 mm
granatelli MAF

Please help me fast!!!!!
Mack



P.S. This is for a buddy, I havent got me a LT1 yet

 

have you checked plug wires and your O2s?

 

no I hadnt thought about that, how do you test your o2 sensors? I remeber seeing an article on this before but cant remember where. How would i test spark plug wires to see if they are toasted? they dont look bad and arent burnt or anything. Any other suggestions guys?
Thanx
Mack

 

Sounds like a fuel problem to me considering it is shooting it out onto the pavement. I just have had my car in storage and (stupid me) didn't put in Stabil in it last winter. Upon start up, it would idle like **** and you would have to open up the throttle just to keep it running. Even then it didn't run well. I didn't drive it so I can't relate our two incidents. I did however put some octane boost in it and reved the motor for a while to get some of that through the fuel system and then drove it for a while. It was better and would idle most of the time I was driving it. It still ran poorly though. Now that I've got most of that out and some fresher gas in with some fuel system cleaner, it seems to be improving. My problem was easy to diagnose because I knew the gas was probably bad. Yours isn't so easy but sounds similar. Try some of that octane boost like I did and see if you can get it running a little better. I wouldn't jump the gun yet because you can make unecessary costly mistakes. I would go ahead and get a fuel filter too so you might have $11 in that and the octane boost. Run a couple tanks of gas out and see if it doesn't improve. If not, then you aren't out anything much. From that, try plugs. NGKs are like $20. Point being, don't get in a hurry and buy a bunch of stuff. I would start with the cheapest and start working my way up. My last resort would be to have the injectors checked. Good luck.

 

These guys pretty much covered it dude, check your basics dude, definitely treat your fuel and check your plugs/wires are not burnt, touching anything (headers, etc). 02s definitely will cause you a world of hurt and at temp/rpm stumble/misfires/backfires, etc. Valve lash adjustment can contribute to the misfire/backfire but doesn't sound like your problem really.

Autozone will scan your car for free, and the codes will tell you what the prob can be. There is no magic scanner out there that tells you it's a bad Opti, so whoever told you that needs some training. Mult-Eng-Misfire codes can be caused from a number of different issues up to and including a bad opti.

 

Hey guys!!! I replaced the plugs and put in a new filter and also put in some fuel injector cleaner and octane booster and it ran like a dream. Yesterday I returned it to the stock programming on the hypercrap program and then went and got some more gas in it and took a little trip and it started getting bad again bogging and spurtering and all but then it would clear up and run good, then it would do it again running shitty. We took it out and rompped on it a few times up to like 85 and it ate half a tank of gas and we maybe drove 10 miles. It seems to always be running fat and shooting gas out of the tailpipe. What is wrong?
Thanks,
Mack

 

Ok lets try this again....Do you have an SES light and did you get it scanned? 02 sensors can cause a lot of problems but not sure it'd cause it to spit out fuel, still you need a scan to help diagnose the problem. Autozone does it for free.

 

Autozone does not scan 95 and older anymore! Just tried it!

Im having close to the same problem, mine smells like really bad gas!! And its been idling bad when it gets hot! When its cold it fine and does not smell of gas at all! I have no code, but I just got the car and its been sitting quit alot and only has 44000 miles on a 94! Got any suggestions!!??

 

Welcome to the forum bud. Try not to dig up posts that are over five years old.

 

well thanks 4 the help! Didn't read the dates! Just need help!