yep,350L_S_1

I have a 94 Camaro 3.4 a4 and it started acting up... when you start the car it starts normal and idles normal at first. when you put it into gear and start going it will not idle properly. as soon as you take your foot off the gas it starts to die. the weird thing about this is it only does it in gear. when you put it in n or p it idles fine. only in r or d does it start to act up. any ideas? thanks for looking

smithtim

did you get an engine light on this? Also how old / many miles etc., are on the car?

kind of make sense that it bogs when you shift it into drive as your putting alot more load on it... anyways I'd start by cleaning up the usual stuff (wires, plugs filters etc.,) if you haven't done so later and see if that improves the situation. Especially if you haven’t changed the plug wires in a while as I remember on my 95 3.4 I was changing plug wires about every 20K miles


p.s. just a complete off the wall thought: my coworker had a jeep that was doing similar (actually her car would not idle at all unless you gave it some gas). It turned out to be a low battery (problem was that the low power of the battery was not sending proper voltage to the injectors, and it turn the injectors were not sending enough fuel in).. anyways just a thought like I said but if you haven’t changed the battery in a few years it can’t hurt to take a voltage reading at an injector.


wishing you an inxpensive fix

FunkZ

I hear this a lot from 3.4 auto owners. Seems to be too low of an rpm when in D, like 800 or less. Often causes bad vibration, occasionally stalling. You could try adjusting the idle screw up a bit. How long since the trans fluid was changed?

jtblckmaro

There's a little module on the side of the throttle body called an "Idle Air Control Valve." It controls how much air gets to your motor when in idle since your butterfly valve in the throttle body is closed. Maybe dirty or dying? There's also an electrical reset procedure for it, like turn the key to on for 10 seconds, turn off for 10 seconds, on again for 10 seconds... something like that. I'm at work and my books are at home, sorry.
Hope it helps tho.
Good Luck

yep,350L_S_1

I replaced the idle air control valve and it seemed to help but not completely fix it... as far as the battery not producing enough, that makes sense bc the voltage read a little on the low side. almost like the alternator isnt producing enough. i put a brand new alternator in 3 weeks ago and the battery is only a little over a year old. the plug wires are about 3 years old so i will replace them and as far as the tranny fluid, i cannot tell you the last time it was changed. it has 121,000 miles. should i change the tranny fluid? thanks for your time and help

JD

jtblckmaro

Have you checked your fuel pressure? I'm wondering if when the car is in gear the fuel pump can't keep up with the demand of an increased load?

Hope you find a fast inexpensive fix man. GL

Jimmy8881

has your problem been resolved? im having exactly the same problems.