Alright, i have a 1996 Z28, didnt do anything to the car aside from intake and exhaust, it has 140,000 Miles on it, the water pump and distributor have both SUPPOSEDLY been replaced...

i was driving along normally, and all of a sudden the car dies...it would immediately crank over, but wouldnt fire up...after about 45 seconds it would fire right back up and then there was no telling when it would cut off, it varried from 15 seconds up to about 2 minutes...i also noticed when i would get down on it even slightly the tach would bounce wildly until it would meet its actuall RPM, i took it slow, got a friend to follow me home, and it sputtered once, but never cut off again. The nexy day i started it, it warmed up fine, and revved fine with a normal tach reading, two days later i was going to move it so i started it again and was letting it warm up, went inside to fetch a glass of water, came back outside about 4 minutes later and it had shut off. Then i restared it without a problem, got in and drove it to the shop where i was going to fix it at, which is roughly 15 miles from my place, and it drove completely normal! I've heard of a problem where the seal on the back of the opti wears and it eventually kills it, i do have an intake manifold leak and its running twoards the opti, maybe this is my whole problem? I double checked my wiring harness and whatnot, jiggled it around and nothing effected the running of the car, i DO know one of my friends was trying to do me a favor and tune it up one day while i was out, a part he happened to include was a new thermostat and the poor guy didnt know where my opti spark was, so i knew damn well he dripped coolant on it when i saw the nice little puddle under my car, i did thank him and clean it off the best i could, this was about 4 weeks prior to my incident. Anyways, enough of my rambelings...any input or ideas anyone has about this situation would be GREAAATLY appreciated! thanks for reading...
-Jon

(while im at it replacing my opti spark and fixing my intake leak, im going to do a camshaft upgrade )

 

I would say probably your opti is shot, but you never know...by the way im a hop skip and a jump from you, what kind of car do you drive (Z28..trans am, etc?...black, white, red etc.?...mods? I was just down there tonight and saw quite a few fbodies.

 

its a red 1996, t-tops, im ussually in a summit cap, i live in culpeper right off of lovers lane just past the cycle shop

 

My '96 did similar things (minus the fluctuating tach) and it ended up being the wiring harness. The pigtail which plugs into the coolant temp sensor (the one in the waterpump) went bad. It would die out on me, and sometimes I couldn't get it restarted.

Just something to consider,
Thomas.

 

I'll check into that one, thanks

 

Have you had it scanned for codes?

 

get it scanned. i bet it's the opti though. look up under the water pump and see if the weep hole on it shows residue from leaking. they will leak then take out the opti. or your friend could have taken the opti out. doesn't take much.

 

why would the coolent temp sensor cut your car off?

 

Trying switching out your ICM before you go the expensive route. ICMs can overheat, and it probably did do too the weather.

 

The PCM uses the reading from the coolant temp sensor in the waterpump to adjust fuel mixture. I hooked up a scanner and monitored the sensor's readings. I could shake the wire and the readings would jump all over the place and cause the engine to die. I replaced the sensor and had the same problem. I ended up replacing the pigtail and the problem was resolved.

Thomas.

 

sorry, i left out that i DID have it scanned, and there was nothing out of the ordinary from the scanner, i have a new ICM and Distributor on the way, im going to give it my best shot and see how it goes, i will let you all know, thanks for your input.

 

if its not the ICM its the opti, i've chased this ghost before.


http://web.camaross.com/forums/showt...setup+shop+LT1

 

well my intake manifold is off and im underway of repair, parts are on the way and i will keep you posted on what happens

 

updates?