need help with my 94 camaro

its making a grinding noise on passenger side, i know my fuel pump is going out..what else could be the problem?

could the catilytic converter be going out?? or how can you tell?

?????????

Grinding noise? Could you describe it a little better? Check under the car and make sure nothing is rubbing or you aren't dragging something. Then see if the exhaust is rubbing. Also, check the brake pads, maybe they are worn down so much its metal on metal. A fuel pump on its way out shouldnt grind.Also, if your cat is clogged it would heat up and cause major performance and gas mileage loss. It could be loose though and rubbing against the chassis. But check the brakes, exhaust, and undercarriage. Can't think of anything else that could grind, hope this helps.

Check your heat sheild or the plates by the exhaust manifold under the hood, could be loose, causing it to rattle/grind when you accelerate.

If it's the cat, you can find out by getting a rubber sledge and hitting it, if it rattles, your cat's dead/dying.

Grinding noise? Could you describe it a little better? Check under the car and make sure nothing is rubbing or you aren't dragging something. Then see if the exhaust is rubbing. Also, check the brake pads, maybe they are worn down so much its metal on metal. A fuel pump on its way out shouldnt grind.Also, if your cat is clogged it would heat up and cause major performance and gas mileage loss. It could be loose though and rubbing against the chassis. But check the brakes, exhaust, and undercarriage. Can't think of anything else that could grind, hope this helps.
on the passengers side floor gets really really hot. when you have the car on and standing on the passenger side that grinding/raddle noise is coming right under the passengers side door. and yes the gas miles suck really bad i have to put $10 in almost everyday. i was told it was my catilytic converter going out and my fuel pump. Now i have to put it neutral when i come to a stop light or to any stop, or else it will die.

on the passengers side floor gets really really hot. when you have the car on and standing on the passenger side that grinding/raddle noise is coming right under the passengers side door. and yes the gas miles suck really bad i have to put $10 in almost everyday. i was told it was my catilytic converter going out and my fuel pump. Now i have to put it neutral when i come to a stop light or to any stop, or else it will die.


Def sounds like you have a major exhaust leak or your cat is going bad. That would explain the grinding noise(possibly rubbing), the horrible gas mileage and the car wanting to stall out. I would go ahead and have the cat checked out/replaced and see if it helps. Goodluck!

Sounds like all the symptoms of a clogged cat. $10 a day for a v6!

take that beast off

best way to tell if your cat is bad is just pull it off...

run an open y-pipe, it will be loud, but if the car runs fine then it was the CAT.


replace it or put a pipe in its place and run it ot the mufffler.


as for your fuel pump what symptoms are you getting for that?


things that killed the mileage on my 3.4L were bad o2s, if yours are stock they are likely bad, may consider wanna replacing them.

best way to tell if your cat is bad is just pull it off...

run an open y-pipe, it will be loud, but if the car runs fine then it was the CAT.


replace it or put a pipe in its place and run it ot the mufffler.


as for your fuel pump what symptoms are you getting for that?


things that killed the mileage on my 3.4L were bad o2s, if yours are stock they are likely bad, may consider wanna replacing them.


Thats no test. When you remove the cat and run the Y pipe your severely changing the flow of the exhaust. It will feel slugish anyway. There are 3 ways to test for a bad cat.

1: hit it, if it rattles it's bad
2: temp. SHould be no more then 100 degrees difference from inlet to outlet
3: backpressure gauge on the upstream 02 Generaly at idle shouldn't be more then 1.5PSI. no more then 3PSI at about 2500 RPM



or just change it and stick a high flow in it's place. They are cheep enough and easy to find

Thats no test. When you remove the cat and run the Y pipe your severely changing the flow of the exhaust. It will feel slugish anyway. There are 3 ways to test for a bad cat.

1: hit it, if it rattles it's bad
2: temp. SHould be no more then 100 degrees difference from inlet to outlet
3: backpressure gauge on the upstream 02 Generaly at idle shouldn't be more then 1.5PSI. no more then 3PSI at about 2500 RPM



or just change it and stick a high flow in it's place. They are cheep enough and easy to find


Alright for those of us not working in a speed shop that can test inlet and outlet temps of our cats or use a backpressure guage...

Its easier to go out in your driveway, unbolt your CAT, if the cat is bad to thepoint where its blocking exhaust flow !cat will wake the car up like crazy.

Will the car be ideal for perforance and racing? No, of course not, open y-pipe on a 3.4L is not good. But will it show if the CAT is bad?

yep...

what will it cost... $0 if you have some normal hand tools.



whats it gonna cost to do a CAT, probably like $150 for parts and labor. And what if that is not the only problem.



3.4Ls are good cars but lets face the facts, most on the road have 100,000+ usually need more then just one thing fixed, and are owned by people who don't want to drop $150 on their car in a heartbeat.



My way may not be the most scientific, but under a condition with a budget, I'd say its a bit more practical.

It's not practical if it doesn't work. Only way that it might work is if the converter is 100% blocked, in which case the car wouldn't start. Like I said, When you unbolt the cat and run it the car is going to feel VERY slugish. Someone could mistake that slugish for the cat NOT being bad.

think about it. Slugish performance from a bad cat, slugish peformance from droping the cat... how can you tell anything from that?



The other thing that you have to wonder if it is the cat is why did it go bad? did a missfire kill it? is the car running rich and flodding the cat with gas? Is the car running lean and heating it up? There is a lot to it

This is the problem with DIY. you either need the correct tools and know how to do it or you need to throw parts at it untill you figure it out. If auto repair was easy enough for everyone to do then people like me would be out of jobs.

I'm not trying to say that it's can't be fixed at home. but if you can't correctly diagnose the issue how can you expect to fix it.


Just get under the car and beat on the cat. I'm willing to bet that it will rattle and you will know that it needs to be fixed. If not, short of having a shop check it there is no GOOD way to find out if it's bad

I'm willing to bet what killed the cat was 11 years and probably 100+k miles...


and a car will start with a partially blocked CAT, I can gurantee it to death, happened on my car. Pulled the Cat, car worked great, then I gutted the Cat, put it back on, car drove great until I saved and got it fixed.

read again. I said that a car will not start with a 100% blocked cat.

read again. I said that a car will not start with a 100% blocked cat.

most cats don't get 100% blocked, they break up and part of the honeycomb goes sideways and partailly blocks the exhaust.


Causing the problem where the car witll start and idle fine, even cruise fine but if you really romp on it, it seals up the exhaust and bogs it down.

once more. I didn't say that they will not get partialy blocked. You need to actualy red what I do type instead of just seeing what you want. Unhooking the cat is NOT a test. test it right or don't test it at all. your not going to get any results otherwise. the ONLY time thatwill work AS I SAID is if the car will not start. Even then it's recomeded that the 02's are removed instead of droping the exhaust. there are reasons for this that we as professionals understand. You coming in and saying otherwise does not make it right. your looking to allow enough exhaust gas to exit without dumping all of it direcly after that manifolds or Y pipe.

You forget...

she is not in a shop...


I doubt she has a o2 sensor socket.


If we had money to do full diagnostic tests, we woudln't be doing it ourselves we woudl get it checked out professionally. but assuming she and others are trying to save some bucks... I try to offer some solutions that are free...

is my way the best most scientific way? nope. Will you walk away spending no money with my way... yeah...


we are v6ers, not looking to dump tons of money into our cars, if we were, we woudl have bought v8s instead.

that has zero to do with it. I could care less about how much money one has. If they want answers to car repair questions then they need to be able to get them. Spend the money at a shop to have the cat tested or test it yourself. It's all there is to it. Same goes for anything repair related. if your ABS light comes on. Take it to a shop or fix it yourself. If you AC goes out, take it to a shop or fix it your self. Want to save money and fix it yourself? great! don't have the tools to diagnose the problem? thats an issue. Good luck fixing any problem on your first attempt without knowing what teh case is. Same goes for this. there are only a few options.

Test the cat 1 of the 3 ways that I suegested.
replace the cat.
gut the cat.
Take it to a shop to diagnose.


It's pretty simple. Telling someone to test the cat by pulling the pipe off is like telling someone to see if your getting gas by dropping the tank. It doesn't tell you the problem.

Like I told you. hit the cat. if it rattles it's bad. If not then testing is beyond a DIY'er without more tools and testing equipment.

Just because "you are V6ers" doesn't mean that you are not held to the same rules of car rapair as anyone else.

Its not about "being a v6er" its about being on a budget.


We will use your example of an ABS INOP light, you said take it to a shop to get it inspected. Probably $50-120 jsut to see the problem not including repairs.


when in reality what you should check your brake lifghts, if they are good then what you do is take your car to autozone, get the alternator tested for free(or use a multimeter if you have one, handy tool for DIYers, $20) and see if its working right. Good chance its out, since our cars throw a ABS INOP light when the alternator/battery is charging low.

Saved yourself a $50-120 diagnostic fee. More money to mod, race, or just gas.


My way has worked on one of my cars, and a few local guys cars, and even others on this board.

In my opinion, you should exhaust all free methods of deciphering problems before you start throwing money at a car.

And what happens when the Alt is good (BTW you can't test that by hooking up a scaner or using a DVOM) and the 3rd brake lights are good. Where do they go from there? Aside from checking fuses, wheel speed sensors for good contact ect ect?


Stop changing your stroy. First it's "us V6 guys" then it's "us guys on a budget". make up your mind on what excuse you would like to use to shoot down the correct way to repair a car.


So whats next. you have now wasted a lot of time "testing" for the cause of the ABS light. Whats your next move?

Guess your right...

we should take our cars to you the professional and give you our money...

question is... what if it was one of the simple problems I did list? if so you saved money on a diagnostic fee.


If you haven't tracked your problem down after those, then consider taking it ot a professional. There was no harm done you didn't waste any money testing those things out.


PS autozones generally have a little cart that wheels out and scan and load test s your bat and alt. So they do have a "scanner"

It's not a scanner, i just was pointing out that a DTC scan as well as DVOM will not test a battery or alt...

.. but this is what I am saying. without the correct tools, equipment and know how you can be pissing into the wind. Sure some stuff is easy. Anyone can change parts and solve minor issues. But when your actualy looking to find an answer to a problem it can be complex. Thats when you either throw parts at it untill it's fixed or take it to someone that can do it the first time.


That brings me back to the cat.

DIY test. Hit it, does it rattle?
yes, cat is bad
no, cat passed rattle test but might still be bad.


Now what? you can either replace it anyway or have a shop find out if it's bad and go from there.

Well, im blessed to have some knowledge about cars, plus i have a bf thats a mechanic. But hes a ford guy and doenst really mess with chevy's lol! But the cat is cloged. Its VERY loud and we are getting it fixed today. The fuel pump is going bad, when it gets down right below half tank its making a humming noise. So I'll replace that myself, we are taking the car to get the cats fixed only because we dont have a lift at the house. lol

The duel of knowledge between MustangEater and HBH....who shall win? :p

If/when you take your cat off, start it and drive around with no cat. It sounds sooooo gooooood, ahhhhhhh...

Well, im blessed to have some knowledge about cars, plus i have a bf thats a mechanic. But hes a ford guy and doenst really mess with chevy's lol! But the cat is cloged. Its VERY loud and we are getting it fixed today. The fuel pump is going bad, when it gets down right below half tank its making a humming noise. So I'll replace that myself, we are taking the car to get the cats fixed only because we dont have a lift at the house. lol


Jsut to warn you for the fuel pump you will have to drop the tank...


Or its commone for peopel to cut an access hatch to get to it. Do a search on it if you want more info. Makes it alot easier, though never done it myself.

yeah we'll just jack it up and do it, the cat is a lot harder to do. but fuel pump isnt going to be so bad.

The duel of knowledge between MustangEater and HBH....who shall win? :p

If/when you take your cat off, start it and drive around with no cat. It sounds sooooo gooooood, ahhhhhhh...
it would??some ppl tell me doing that or putting exhaust on the car would make it sound crapy....

Well, when my cat went bad, I took it off and replaced it with a high flow one. But in between the process, I put the jack down and took it for a spin with no cat. It was LOUD, but very beefy in my opinion. Probably scared the **** out of some of my neighbors.

hmmmmmm, (lightbulb) gave me some ideas to try for a bit hahaha :wink:

Just because the pump makes noise doesn't mean that it's bad. A good fuel pressure gauge (available cheep at autozone or online) would be a great tool to keep with you. It will fit any GM and most Chysler/dodge/jeep ect cars. See what your actualy getting for pressure under a load. If the pump was bad it would be showing a drop in pressure at heavy load.


dropping teh exhaust sounding good is going to be a matter of opinion. In mine it will sound horrible especialy at high RPM, it will also hinder your performance greatly shifting your needed power out of reach.

I was just talking about no cat, and I only drove it for a few minutes like that, you shouldn't do it any longer than that.

yeah we'll just jack it up and do it, the cat is a lot harder to do. but fuel pump isnt going to be so bad.


Its not too bad...

but if you jack it up you are going to have to drop the rear axle, suspension, exhaust, then the fuel tank...

to cut the access hatch, you just need to pull the back floor carpet, cut a hole and you can get to it. I have heard people do it in 45 min.


If your boyfriend looked into it he may choose that method. I only mentioned it because its sort of an "f-body thing" that peopel who don't own the f-bodiess know about.

also look into getting a walboro aftermarket hi-flo pump, drops right in like a stock one, but is better and costs less then a replacement one from autozone.

if it was my car I would cut the hatch. You can do it VERY clean if you try. On customers cars I pull the tank. It's not "hard" there is just a lot more involved to get it out. If you do it that way just remember that when you tighten up all of your suspension bolts to tighetn them with the car on teh ground or the rear on jack stands so that the suspension is loaded.

ok got the cat fixed, it was horrible, when they were cutting it off it was full with shavings! and now the muffler has some in it so im probable going to have to get a new muffler. err always something with that car, then i have to get new tires, they're already showing wire.

ok got the cat fixed, it was horrible, when they were cutting it off it was full with shavings! and now the muffler has some in it so im probable going to have to get a new muffler. err always something with that car, then i have to get new tires, they're already showing wire.

Search the local sections of f-body boards...

always seems like someone is selling used wheels/tires for cheap.

I got these wheels for $60 all 4, and had some life left on the tires...


http://memimage.cardomain.net/member_images/10/web/514000-514999/514505_210_full.jpg


another example a guy locally is selling a set of camaro chrome 5-spokes for $275, and the tires only have like 8k on them.