Cika

Hello, I flew down here to the flock! Just joined this morning after lurkin ahwile. Im not to much of a mechanic. I can change tire, oil, some basic "take apart, replace, put back together" work. But cant really diagnos problems . This is the first Truely BAD A$$ car Ive owned. Back in 02/13 my wifes uncle(he was more a father to her) sadly died. But days before he passed he mailed us the keys an title to a clean 96 Trans Am WS6 with 94k miles. We had to take a trip to Mesa AZ to pick er up. His meth head junkie son got the keys from the hospital before we could get there. Then took my wife and I over a week of searching and playing detective to find it, but we did. * off to church. Im posting so it doesnt disappear. Lol... for the rest of story
Ok, I got it running good. I changed oil, front pads and of course a set of rear tires. Lmao. Learned real quick tearing *** cost money.
But recently it started running like crap. Loss of power. Kinda like it wasnt runnin on all 8. Like sometimes it catches I guess youd say. It wanted to hesitate to start a bit. It has a real loss of horsepower.
I replaced fuel filter and found a few dry rotted vaccum lines. So I replaced those. It didn thelp really. Then within a week it wouldnt start. The fuel pump went out. So replaced that. The tech that did the pump said the loss of power was due to needing co2 sensors and a new cat. I found it has 3 co2 sensors.
Two on the pipes leading into the single cat and the third behind it before the exhust splits back into two. Moneys tight so I replaced the front two co2's and cut the cat out and put in strait pipe. Figured this would work. I read the co2 sensor behind the cat wasnt that important. Well this didnt work at all!
And I should mention on its way out it would die after driving it. Like if it sat for days it would fire up quick and run great for a few. The further i would drive the better odds it would stall. I would hav eto leave it for hours before it would fire back up.. then looking at the cat it looks clean. Light goes clean through in every
Direction.. so that means its not clogged. Right? Please help? It wont even start now
Two, one on each

Cika

I wanted to add. Im going to be picking up a set of new plugs n wires. One wires burned a little. Not clear through the coating( as fas as I can see). Along with a optispark distributer cap. Are the ones on ebay ok? I am in the hole right now as far as money goes so I shopped around and see I can get all three parts for under $200!
Is it possable the wires causing this all along.

OnA Fan

iTrader: (6)

It could be the coil or ICM as well. Did you check for spark? Also, it wouldn't hurt to check fuel pressure. The replacement pump can be bad. Also, have you had the car scanned for codes?

For opti cap and rotor, you are better off with AC Delco or MSD. Make sure to put lock-tite on the rotor screws, as they are notorious for backing out.

Cika

Thank you so much. God bless you brother! Thanks for the ICM mention! Another tech at work said to replace it. But I lost the job due to my pos cars. To many tardies and absences. Both my cars started dieing at the exact same time. But I couldn't remember the name of the part for the life of me.
And what's your take on Tue strait pipe and the rear co2 sensor behind the catalytic conv.. One tech said my car will run like **** without it.

OnA Fan

iTrader: (6)

From what I've read, the rear 02 is only to check the operation of the cats, and will have no effect on the way you engine runs.

Cika

Yea, thats what Ive read aswell. About the third sensor I mean. Thank you, as I said, Im just attempting this. This is the first car Ive owned thats sweet enough to wanna learn. What about the cat. Every person that I spoke with and forums Ive read prior to hacking it out dont mention it will screw up the running of the car. I actually been told it would add a couple horsepower. But the mechanic that installed the co2 sensors said it still was runnin like **** due to cutting my converter out. I certainly plan on getting a new one, but Im trying to make it run good first. And I didnt know my car was gonna sound like ****! Really it sounds like crap without it IMO. And in WV we have to get inspections and I also fear Ill roll up by a cop thats a mechanic or knows cars and they'll plainly hear Im runnin without it.

Kevin Lee 487

iTrader: (1)

With your description, I'm betting on the ICM as well. Especially since you just rolled the big 100k. Theres a good chance that its the original unit from 1996.

They like to heatsoak on SBCs. Had a similar issue with my 93 Z where the ICM half worked until it heated up and the car couldn't even hold idle after that and immediately die up re-starting it. It also caused massive backfire issues but electronics don't all fail the same way every time.

A new ICM is between $36 and $86 on Rockauto.com. Theres 4 of them between $50 and $70. If you can, take your current ICM somewhere and have it tested while its warm. Secondly, get your cat put back on. If you need inspections, its not worth the negligible gain and large hassle of cutting it out as opposed to just leaving it on there and not having to worry about it.

P.S. if you're considering the Opti, I found a brand new ACDelco unit on eBay for $75 last year when I replaced the one on my old 93.

Cika

"Considering the opti" Isnt the this just the distributer cap basicly? Is there any other type for my bird? I thought the optispark was just the type. Thanks for the help

Kevin Lee 487

iTrader: (1)

There are other setups for an LT1, but those won't work on a stock setup.

And no its not just a dizzy cap. There IS an actual dizzy, its just not shaped like your traditional model. If you're going to replace the Cap, you may as well replace the whole thing anyway. They're notorious for failing.

Granted, you have a 96, so that should be less of an issue, but I wouldn't touch anything down there until you have ruled out the ICM and Ign Coil. Those Optis are a HUGE PITA to replace.