My car started acting up a little tonight on the way home, its the first time its ever done this. I was driving at about 55ish or so and it started jaring forward and backward like it had a slight miss or something, then i immediately put it in neutral and free rev and its perfectly smooth, so it was doing this all the way home even when i was going 35 or so, put when i was going 55ish it would kind of shift down, like it was unlocking the torque converter or something.....its never had any problems like this really. What do you guys think, fuel system? igntion? trans?

Just changed the fuel filter about 10k mi ago, its got a vortech trex external pump, and just changed the wires about 2 weeks ago, and the plugs about 10k ish ago, i believe it has the stock opti.....please help

 

How much miles do you have on the car? I would do a fuel pressure test first to see if you have fuel getting there. I noticed you said you changed your wires, I'm assuming you changed your plugs also. I'd check everything else before the dreaded opti. Cheapest way out first.

 

sorry just edited, i changed the plugs about 10k mi ago....its got 96k now.

 

go do that pressure test then. Then maybe recheck wiring and maybe the coil....theennnnnn the OPTI.

 

Air intake leak past the MAF maybe??? This just happened to my beater car. The Air elbow ripped after the maf and the car would just surge when trying to cruise steady. Not enough air getting drawn through the maf, causing the car to adjust, or at least try to. Hope you get it figured out.

 

Mine did exactly the same thing and it was ignition related. Under load the car 'chugs' along and exhibits the same characteristics as what you described. I had a burnt wire, couldnt see any arcing or anything, but upon checking the wires, found #6 nearly burnt in two. I suggest you have some sparkplug wire issues, if those check out, then id move to the opti.
-good luck. Remember to post again with what you find and the solution-good for everyone's future reference!

 

well i drove the car this morning for about 20 min, and then later for 10, and then even later for another 10 min, all 3 times it had a chance to fully warm up, and i drove at varying RPM's and even got on in a few times, and it didnt do anything, just drove perfect....... I'am nearly 100% sure its not a burnt wire or coil wire, i just changed them and i've driven alot since then, even been to the track a couple weeks ago, if it were i wire i dont think i'd be able to put it in neutral like a did last night a free rev and be perfectly smooth....

this is weird, i got a feeling it will be back though, i bet its the fuel pump or opti......... Its just weird it did it for about about 30 sec when i was pulling into my friends driveway, then when i left his house to come home it was fine for about 5 min and then it started doing it, for about 10mi or 10min, until i got home, nonstop, all this is what im talking about in the first post...wtf????

I hate this crap when you dont know what the problem is.....do you think its possible i just got some bad gas or something? spontaneous fuel filter clogging or something?

 

Sounds like when my water pump was going out.It would sputter for awhile,then be good,then come back again,till finally after a few months,coolant was leaking heavy while driving,and in the driveway.It's a slow process,and when you look at the weep hole on the water pump,it looks black,but dry(must be because the water evaperates),I say your water pump is going south for the winter.Hope this helps.(It leakes directly onto the opti.).Hope this helps.
(Have you been adding extra amount of water or coolant to the resevoir lately?).My02

 

No i've been looking and everytime i look the weep hole is perfectly dry.....? but its stained atound the weep hole as if it had been leaking at some point? but i might be rebuilt or something who know, i have no idea what happened to the car b4 i got it. But i'am pretty sure its not leaking, i drove it some more since that post and its still not doing it again, so i guess i'll just have to wait

 

We'll its doing it pretty much all the time now, but whats weird is, it only seems to do it between 1k and 2k rpm, and ONLY when its in gear, and mainly in first and second in that rpm range, and only when the car's warm as well. What do you guys think? Look and more and more like the opti to me.......

 

i also posted in here awhile back too.....
http://web.camaross.com/forums/showt...5&pagenumber=8
but this is the last post i've made.

We'll tonight I cleaned the ground post on the pass. fender(it extremely clean though), and i cleaned the ground's on the driver's side head where the three wires connect to the block(it was pretty dirty, i even had to replace the bolt), I also reset the computer, unplugged for about 1hr, and i spaced the coil away from the block about an inch or maybe more, and checked all the plug wires for burns or problems, and connections, and it was dark and i looked all over for any kind of arching......all this had no effect on the problem.

So you guys think OPTI problems?

I think the car seems to develop the problem after its been driven awhile, NOT after it warms up, i let it idle in driveway tell about 210ish, and drove it and it didnt miss at all, but then i drove about 10mi and it started doing it, always @ low rpm's.... maybe b/c the parts in the dist. have time to warms up and the tolerances become more critical or something.....

anyone got any idea's im desperate....

 

We'll I replaced the opti and nothing else igntion related, aka I did'nt touch, remove, or replace either the plugs, wires, or coil. I just changed the opti and it fixed everything, all is perfect again, no miss at all, car seems like it has 100% more power when its hot now in the low rpms.....which it never did, even back when I first got it. But no power increase really overall or fuel economy either, i though i would get a bit more MPG back outta the swap, but no, same old, same old. I was surprised, espicially considering that when my old opti was taken off, you could spin the input shaft manually and it made some pretty horrible noises , definete bearing issues, where as the new delco opti was perfectly quiet operation manually.....who knows. They might be pretty tough units after all, just no tolerance for low rpm problems.
my .02
thanks guys

 

my car is doing exactly thesame thing... it does do it when war, but driving for a while... did you have anymore problems...??? I figure I ask you cause its been a long time since.. thanks

 

I am with this dude...You may want to check this.
My car is blown and one day last week the boost pressure popped off after the maf and I had the same exact symptoms you are describing (violent chugging, unlocking converter, and feels and sounds like a big miss). It was dark on the highway so I pulled over and unplugged the Maf and it ran smoothly....After I got home, I checked everything and came to find out the tube that connects to the throttle body was very loose (half of it was hanging off). I reclamped the tube, connected the maf back up and since then have put like 400 Miles on the car with no problems.

Double check all your connections near the maf to the throttle body and see if anything is loose or unconnected....Also make sure you check to see if that long donkey dong tube that runs perpendicular to the intake is not loose or has a big air leak.

You may want to check this first before spending and more funds on the opti.

Thx,
Claude

 

sounds like stupid question but what is MAF...where is it located, I have a K&N filter... please help