My car isn't running right and I don't know enough to figure this one out on my own. First a little background. It's a 1996 Camaro SS with the LT1 engine. It is mostly stock except for the mods listed in my signature. It has 75000 miles on it. I have had the car a year and a half. Last November I replaced the plugs, wires, cap and rotor. This summer I had the cats replaced. The shop that replaced the cats burned one of the spark plug wires, then replaced it. Sunday I started the car and it ran very rough, the service engine soon light flashed for a few minutes, then the light changed to a solid color. It seemed to smoothen out some, but not to the point of being right. I took it to autozone and the code said "multiple cylinder misfire". Since then the light has been out but the car still isn't running right. It seems sluggish as if power has been lost. When you put it in to reverse, it does not move at idle, you have to give it gas, and then it is jerky. It seems to get better as it runs, but even after it's hot it doesn't seem right. When I accelerate in going forwards the car lacks power and feels sluggish. At first I thought it was something with the engine (because of the light), but now I'm thinking maybe something with the transmission. It has a shift kit in it, I don't know if those go bad or malfunction, but since the problem occurred, the car has not had that good neck-snapping shift like it used to. Anyone that has experienced a problem like this, or anyone who knows a lot about these cars, I could use some real good advice. Otherwise I will have to find a good shop around here that knows Camaros. Thanks for any help that can be provided.

 

I ran into a similar problem with my 97. Some of the spark plugs on the passenger side had actually become loose, causing the car to think it was running lean. It then fouled out the plugs and my 02 sensor. I was getting the same service engine light issues, it would blink, go solid or even go off for periods of time. The car would stumble, and buck. At times it felt sluggish too. I would really check your spark plugs to see if they are black or maybe the 02 sensor what ever is easier to get at. I luckily have LT's that make plug access very easy. Good luck..

 

Errr... I think your problem is right there. Most of the time the PCM don't lie.
You need to recheck all of your plug wires. It's quite possible more than one was burned.

 

I've checked the plug wires. They seem ok. Plus, it's been four months since the cats were put in. Since I had the code checked at Autozone, they cleared the code, and the engine light has not come back on since then. My neighbor has a Nemesyis handset for checking codes, and everything checked out ok with it. He couldn't find any miss or any sign of trouble codes. Could there be a frozen brake somewhere that's screwing something up? I tried putting the car in neutral, and it's very hard to push it backwards. As soon as you you stop pushing it it comes to a stop (doesn't roll like it should). Also, it seems like it's shifting real late now. Any ideas? Moderators, don't you know everything there is to know? Mechanics? Somebody? Bueller???

 

If your plugs have exotic metal(platinum) on the tips,it is possible that it has come off of one or more plugs causing way to much gap and a miss.(why I don't run them)
If ya keep driving it it will ruin the opti 'cause spark is backing up in the opti and causing carbon tracking which is another miss but more expensive.

 

Right now I'm not feeling a miss in the engine. The engine seems to be running perfect. I ran some Lucas Fuel Injector Cleaner through the day the light came on, and it's been fine since. To accelerate I have to give it more gas than I used to, and there seems to be a loss of power. When I put the pedal to the floor, it doesn't get up and run like it used to. Again, it's most noticable when going in reverse. I'm leaning towards a transmission problem at this point, but I've never had a car with a bad trans before.

 

What spark plugs and wires are you useing.

 

I would suggest you pull each injector plug off the injector one at a time to see how the engine behaves. If you take one off and there's no change to engine idle you may have found your problem.
Did you remove each plug wire to look at them?

 

If you really thought brakes were dragging, there would be excessive heat at one or more. Put it up in the air and check them out, if needed.

 

I would really check the spark plugs, I had the same cylinder misfires you are talking about. Your problem sounds very similar to what I was experiencing.

 

Hmmmmm... so whatever the engine light problem was, my car no longer has second gear. So a transmission rebuild is now in my very near future. I miss my GTO.

 

Geezz... does the SES light still blink or stay on?

 

Since I had the code checked and cleared at Autozone the light has stayed off. Whatever the engine light problem was, it was intermitent and is not currently a problem. Not having second gear, that's a current problem, which leaves me pretty well F'ed.