Hello everyone. I drive a 97 z28, and lately i have been dealing with the VATS system malfunctioning so every once in a while my car decides to not turn over, but this morning it started on the 1st try. Anyways I was getting situated when i noticed my rpms slowly dropping almost to the point of the car dying, so i reved the engine and it had the opposite affect it actually caused the rpms to drop even more... weird right? The car never actually died though so i decided to turn it off, and turn it on, well i tried 5/6 times and it would just turn over and over and over and never fire up... finally my VATS malfunction kicked in and it decided not to turn over.. so i waited till the SECURITY light turned off and then she fired up again.. I drove it around all day and had no problems..
1. should i be worried?
2. would the VATS system have something to do with this?
3. If I should be worried then what should i look to do to fix the problem?
4. DOes anyone name their car? I named my Camaro, Charlene. haha
Thanks in advance guys!

 

well no one replied so i figured it wasnt a big deal.. but then it happened again today .. so bump!

 

It sounds like maybe fuel related with the rpm issues and all. The starter and vats are also possibilities. My vats went out so the car would not start. The problem was in the steering wheel so i just bypassed it and it is not a problem any more. I put a resistor in the wire below the dash and starts every time. The ignition cylinder was expensive and the labor was more so i saved the $200 and just did this for .35 cents.

 

yeha i disconnected the vats today so i figured it would prob fix the problem but i just drove it and it happened 3 times within 30 miles.. its very hard to describe it and its extremely sporadic but it almost always occurs after the 1st start after the car has been sitting for some time (2+ hrs).. the car rpms go down if im at a stop, and if i rev the engine they go down even more, when i was driving it earlier, i took 1st gear to about 4k rpm then shifted and started to accelerate and it was as if i down shifted so i let off the gas and put it in neutral and stopped, and the rpms just kept fluctuating down to about .5k rpm to 1.3k rpm. the car feels like its going to die but it never does... so where should i look to fix/diagnose the problem?

 

ok i seem to be more interested in this problem then anyone else.. haha

anyways,
i just read some stuff on here that said the battery may be the problem so i let it run for about 5 min and just watched it and it ALMOST DIEd 2x's.. but after i watched the oil pressure gauge and rpms and the oil pressure dropped but not the rpms so my reply above was incorrect. the car just wants to die but i didnt see the rpms go down at all, it eventually corrects itself but i can just see this escalating to a bigger problem soon..
tomorrow i plan on changing the air filter and checking all vacuum lines to check for a leak.. any other suggestions even one?? maybe two thanks guys

 

bump