Ok, so here's the story.

1997 Camaro SS 220,000 miles, AFAIK relatively unscrewed with. Stock everything, right down to the exhaust and shocks. Motor appears untouched but was told new Opti and water pump when I bought it at 210,000.

Nailed a big puddle that caused the car to die and not start again. A month later I moved from PA to GA and left the car behind at my brother-in-law's place (had it towed).

Figured opti so bought one from thepartsladi on ebay and took a long weekend to drive back and swap it in. The one in there was an Accel unit.

Car starts up faster than it used to, on the first hint of a kick from the starter, so I'm happy already. Warming it up, I start to bleed the cooling system. After a few minutes when it gets up to operating temperature it starts to spit, sputter, stumble, getting rougher and rougher until it stalls - actually takes a few minutes to get bad enough to die.

I start thinking I got the opti wet, even though I was being careful while bleeding.

Start the car back up, and it runs smooth as silk. About 30 seconds later, starts stumbling again. At first it's mild, but gets worse and worse until it stalls. After stall, turn the key back, wait 10 seconds and start her up again, smooth as silk for 30 seconds, and yep, you guessed it.

If I let the car cool down for awhile, then try again it will once again run great until it gets hot again.

Unfortunately I had to come back to GA so I'm trying to diagnose my car from 800 miles away. I want to have a game plan for when I go back.

So far, I want to replace the water temp sensor in the water pump (it's cheap) and maybe find a way to scan the 02 sensors. Check engine light has been on forever because of a bad cat... which leads me back to the 02's.

Ideas? Thoughts? Opinions? Did a search on a couple of forums and haven't seen anything quite like this.

 

The IC Modules tend to heat soak. Overheating after only 30 seconds would be unusual, but its a thought.

If your SES light has been on "forever", have you rescanned it recently to determine if some new code has popped up?

 

No code scanner, anyplace that can do it for me is too far to make it in 30 second stop and go trips

I suppose I should get one and have it delivered up there.

 

You can get an OBD-II code scanner from most auto parts stores for about $60-70. Harbor Freight sells one for less than $50.

 

When the car is at temp and is restarted, it runs for 30 sec and dies. So the ICM is already at engine temp. When the engine is cool and is started, it runs until it warms up, then chokes a bit and dies. Plenty of time for heat soak. Check your codes like Injuneer recommended and keep the ICM in mind .

Did you run into any hiccups while installing the new opti? When I replaced my old opti, I got two plug wires reversed, caught a nasty backfire and toasted the ICM.

 

you could also try the icm cool mod just for grins to see if it stops.

(just put a couple washers between the icm and head to give it an air gap.)

 

Ok, so my Brother in Law borrowed a scanner and tried to scan the codes.

One of these: http://www.canobd2.com/Products/Tool...27D26DCFF5F3EA

He claims that the scanner was unable to pull any codes, even thought the check engine light is on.

He also said there were some error indicators that kept flashing on the unit. He also said that once the engine started to run poorly, there were some "electrical" noises coming from the engine bay, he believes from around the PCM.

PCM fried? Or mistakes using the reader?

 

Did the code reader establish communication? If the cigarette light fuse is blown, the ALDL connector does not have the required power supply.

Its possible for RFI to cause problems on the ALDL circuit. I see it all the time in data logs that people send me to review. If you have high voltage ignition arcing, you may have interference that can affect the PCM and the ability to read it.

 

Is that your way of saying that what I described does not sound like a bad PCM?

I'll have to check with him whether he ever established a connection or not.

 

The PCM's are extremely reliable..... but they are an electronic component and can be affected by excessive heat. I wouldn't totally rule out a faulty PCM, but I'm suggesting that there are other more likely causes of the problem.

 

Ok, he said that the connected light was on during the test. He also tested the scanner on another car to make sure he was using it right and it worked correctly.

 

Well, finally got the car running. I was up home for Thanksgiving and tried to start her up, but it ran really rough. I heard a clicking noise and took a look, and could see arcing between the coil/coil wire and the motor.

So I shut it down, and the boot had partially come off the coil wire. I jammed it back on tight, put the coil wire on again and started it back up. Car ran great. Took it out for a spin, and it ran fine as it got up to operating temperature and dropped when the thermostat opened up, and cycled through that a few times.

Drove it back to my folk's house and right in front it stalled cold and would not restart. It was a nasty rainy day out so I just left it there and went back to GA the next day.

Came up for Christmas, went out and got a spark plug wire kit and some dielectric grease, and put on the new coil wire (the old one was loose, probably why it stalled). So now it's running again for the first time in almost a year

Now I just have to figure out why my radiator has a bunch of gooey brown crap floating on top of my coolant - I'm afraid of a head gasket problem or worse, but I want to drain & flush first and run it some more to see if it comes back. Seems to run fine & doesn't overheat. Oil also not milkshakey or anything.

 

Have you checked your fuel pressure? Mine was stumbling and running rough and it turned out to be the fuel pump.