I or we I should say have a 94 lt1 camaro It has always run fine I never really drive it... I took it out one day with a friend and beat the hell out of it for about 30 minutes or so.... This is when it started to bogg almost like when it luggs in overdrive going into a downshift... then some I guess you would call it spark knock.... or pinging of some sort... I took the thing home nexday got in it cold ran like always strong no problem....car warmed up ran like **** again... Later I'm talking weeks of nursing this thing.. It will break up in the 15-1800 rpm zone then almost clear itself above 2000 .... I beleive it is the opti,.. the hood insulation shows signs of antifreeze.. I ordered the distributor and a new not a rebuilt water pump When I picked up the things I didn't see a dist cap or rotor??? I asked the parts guy to get one.. he told me 259.00 ?? what the hell I hope it includes the dist at that price... I have a account with this place for my service trucks ( I own a heating and cooling co) so I haven't a clue as to the price total far all the parts... simplified
1 is this a opti issue
2 what should a job of this nature cost if done by ones self
3 where can I find info on the change out

By the way the car has 68,000 miles and never toucked I don't know if this will help the brain or not...

Thanks for you knowledge and input Tom

 

I'm not sure how to diagnose your problem but for info on changing out the opti or water pump check out www.projecttransam.com and look to the installs section

 

Someone has to have had the same problem at some point... my wife is not driving this right now do to the weather in NJ but I do want to get this problem resolved shortly... Please if you can contribute to this..... I could use the help Thanks Tom

 

it could be a number of things from the opti, coil, coil wire, or plugs. but if i had to guess, i'd say opti or coil.

 

sounds to me very much like your o2's.

 

good point bunker, it very well could be a bad O2 sensor. i recently had a similar problem that was cured when i replaced both O2 sensors.

 

That would make it pop bang and ping?3 also It does seem hard to start at times and I have noticed a lot of smoke when it acts up I will check it out.... Thanks One question would a light of some sort come on? I would think so if it was a o2 sensor Right?

 

i didn't get a code when my o2 sensor fouled out.