I have a 1992 Camaro with the 305 TBI and it has not been running well. I have the time to fix anything because I purchased a newer Camaro.

The car started acting funny like it had no power. It has 197,000 miles on it and had been running great up until about 196,000. It seems that now when ever you put a load on the engine all the power seems to die off. Like if you try to spin the tires it will come close to dying. I can put my foot on the brake and hit the gas and sometimes it will be able to spin the tires and other times the power seems to just drop off. I have taken it to two different mechanics and they have done nothing with the car. One of them just told me that my timing was off and that I needed to just get it timed, and the other one rewired the computer harness because he said that there was a loose wire in it and he also replaced various vaccum lines and checked some of the sensors. I have replaced the O2 sensor and have tested other various pieces of the engine. I had to replace the coil, the ignition module, the intake manifold gasket. If anyone has any ideas about things that I can do to get this car running right again please let me know because I would really like to get it running and in driveable condition again. Thanks.

 

my buddy has a 97 camaro and the same thing happened to him and it was a clogged cat, after he got a new one he gained all his power back, plus some he never knew he had

 

check for vaccum leaks

 

Sounds about right to me.

 

I tried something which I was told would tell me if it was the cat. I pulled the O2 sensor and left it out while I ran the car around the block and some of the power returned but it would still almost die when a large load was put on the car. I had the cat tested previous to all the work that I did and they told me that normal was 3 lbs of back pressure and that I had 6 lbs. They also said that the cat wouldn't be causing the problems that the car was having.

 

Actully the Cat could be causing the problems that you are experiancing. Pull off the Y pipe and run around the block on open manifolds...I think you migh be pleasently suprised (so will your neighbors if you do it at 6:00am ). I would also do a fuel psi test and a compression test, as well as check the condition of the secondary ignition system..i.e. plugs wires ect...

You could hit the cat with a rubber mallet, if it rattles around inside...you most likely found the problem

Later,
Erik