I dont think ive had any starting up problems at all really. But i can run a check anyways. How do you do a fuel pressure check?

 

*update!!!*

So i took my car out for a longer drive today with my brother to try and gather a little more evidence. So heres what ive come up with...
-The problem begins at around 170+ degrees. I have a 160* thermostat if that means anything
-I start feeling heat blowing down on right right ankle(the foot on the gas) its like a real sauna type feeling on my ankle
-When i drive at a slight incline (so im not coasting down a hill and i have my foot steady on the gas at a steady rpm) the engine sounds like im reving it ever so slightly. I cant describe it but its like the rpms are bouncing up and then back down to the steady RPM im driving it at. Its not like a long rev either. their quick little revs
-then it does the hesitating thing like i said before
-then i was at home with my brother under the hood and he said rev it... i rev it and when i let my foot off the gas theres a pop or two coming from the exhaust (dont know if thats bad or normal but i figured id include it)

hope i can get more info outta this!

 

I bet its your Opti. Mine was having similar problems as you are describing, and just gradually got worse to the point where it wasn't drivable anymore. A new Opti fixed everything. I would get some surging with the engine under load, going uphill, and got some popping from the exhaust when I floored it. But first make sure you check all the plugs and wires. Sometimes a plug boot isn't fully connected to the plug and can cause this condition.

 

grrr not the opti... could it be a possibility one of the plug boots has been burnt up or something?

i really am trying to rule out the opti... when i floor it theres no problems at all. Its only after the car gets nice and hot that these conditions begin and even then if i floor it its fine. the pop is when the rpms are coming back down after i rev it in neutural

 

so i think i fixed it.... IF this doesnt make sense correct me.

I was driving the car with my friend who works on F-bodys and we drove for over 30 minutes sometimes hard sometimes mild. I could not get it to buck hesitate, no rpm surging, nothing. It ran fine the entire time. SO im thinking maybe the ripped elbow was the problem. You say open loop runs a set measurement and then closed loop it starts reading everything. Well i think the rip in the elbow was throwing off the readings.

heres where i might not make sense:
I also heard after fixing something like that it takes time for the computer to adjust itself. I dont drive much at all. Like really a total of 6-12 miles a day about 5 days a week. I think this could have prolonged that adjusting over time. I do know however that i should replace my fuel filter since there was one time i ran my gas tank all the way down.

I dont know if this vaccumm leak could cause that problem but the car would not misbehave one bit. I drove it more then ever before and even beat it a little and it just responded by driving fine.

Im going to drive the car out somewhere this weekend to make another attempt at it not working. other then that My friend knows a guy who has worked on 100s of firebirds and camaros and were gonna go to him just for the sake of the knowledge.

 

If it winds up being the opit let me know. I am having the exact same problems. My car had been running fine but the past couple of days it's been stumbling on light accelaration from a stop. Up in speed there is no problem. The only thing I didn't notice you mentioning that I'm having problems with is starting too. It's getting harder to start everyday. I've been convinced my opti is on the way out but I can't afford one right now. I just spent $350 on a fuel pump for my Saturn. I know for sure it's not my elbow because I just replaced that a couple of months ago.

Thanks.

 

im not having any start up problems that I know of. seems to start up fine everytime. If I do have any problems with that ill let ya know. Also this only happens when warm does yours happen all the time?

 

No, it was just after the car is warmed up. It still pulls hard and runs smooth but it stumbles running through the 2 gears. I thought it was low on transmission fluid but I checked that. One other thing I forgot to mention earlier is that it also "ticks" really loud when cold. As I accelarate when cold it has a loud ticking noise that goes away within a few minutes.

 

i recognize the stumble you speak of but not the ticking... ticking could be currents arching between numerous things as i read... consider this question tho that i just thought up.

if i were to say that this problem only happened only when driving city after driving on a highway for a period of time what difference would that make to all these diagnosis that were brought up?

 

anyone?

 

The weather's been kind of cool lately so the stumbling seems to have lessened but there is still a hard start. The ticking is coming from the driver's side of the engine and it only lasts for about 5 minutes as I said. The tick increases in speed as I accelarate. But like I said, the stumbling has lessened. It did happen at first when I had been driving highway speeds and get down city speeds after a while. But the later time it stumbled were when I first start driving around. I didn't drive it much this weekend and it felt good when I did. I'm still betting my optispark is going down.

 

I couldnt tell ya anything about the ticking except its probly arching between something and something else. This would explain why it gets faster as you accelerate (Rpms go up so it needs more sparks) Its most likely a ignition problem. some kinda spark from something. Im getting my coil wire checked.. and probly my coil too just incase.

 

update: its not fixed. I went for hte same drive i initially did in the beginning of the thread and still got the problem when i came back into my neighborhood. Lots of highway.. and then back into my neighborhood and thats where it starts acting funny... anything?

 

Mine was doing something similar. Make sure that you are putting the elbow on the throttle body all the way and that you don't have any holes after the MAF. Mine would stutter some and die sometimes. Turns out the bottom of the elbow was folded up. I replaced the opti and everything else trying to figure out the problem.

 

I can't say for sure, but heres a good list.
Be sure the intake elbow is all the way on.
Make sure ignition wire is good.
Water or oil touching bare wires? Burnt spark plug wires touching manifold? (Long shot )
Can you get your computer scanned to check for bad o2s? (Happened to me)
Check for spark plug wires arcing.
Check for bad opti
The ticking may be just a loose/unadjusted lifter?
Good luck.