Hello everyone i bought a 97 z28 with 67k miles. I took it to a local mechanic who had it for about 4 hours and looked over it and only found that the water pump was leaking slightly. Recently i noticed the power steering seems like it goes out if I'm not moving. The car smells like gas and i notice a loss of power pretty bad and it backfires a lot and the gas pedal feels a lot different. If anyone could give me some advice. Could the power loss be from the water pump leaking on the opti or something else i should check. Thank you.

 

If the water pump is leaking, the coolant is probably dripping on the serpentine belt and making it slip when you load the power steering pump by turning the steering wheel when the car is not moving.

The coolant may also be dripping on the Optispark distributor, and that can eventually lead to failure of the distributor. It may cause misfiring and erratic engine operation.

Where do you smell gasoline - under the hood, near the fuel tank, out the exhaust pipes, in the passenger compartment?????