I bought this car yesterday and it runs like crap most of the time. Not that i am pissed about it or anything. I knew it was running bad when i bought it.

Anyway here are the syptoms: When it is dead cold in the morning you crank it up and it runs pretty good. Not great but decent. When it starts to warm up (temp gauge is at 160) it starts running like crap. It misses and sputters, has no power. As the engine contiues to warm up it (1st mark past the 160) the SES light will come on. As soon as the SES light comes on the car runs 10x better. I was first thinking it could be the opti since it was such a eratic problem, but always does it in this order. I don't think it is anything like plug, wires , fuel filter or antyhing like that. It has to be something electrical since it imediately stats running better as soon as the SES light comes on. I took it down to the shop this morning and scanned it and got the code triping the SES light. It's code 44 left oxygen sensor too lean. It's voltage was bouncing all over the place. THe righ t was fairly stable. Now when the car runs so crappy (when the SES light is off) it runs really rich. blowing black smoke and loading up. I figure if it is trying to run off that bad 02 sensor that it could be part of the problem. When the SES light come on it is reading from pre programed tables in the ECU instead of the bad 02 sensor. Does this theory sound right to you guys?

Thnaks
Shawn

 

To answer your original question, when my O2 Sensors went out, I had an erratic idle, the engine would stall out and the SES light and fans would come on. I was also getting a code 44/64--both my sensors took a dump at the same time (thanks to Seafoam).

 

When I needed mine replaced, the car idles rough. When I started it it idled high. It would also idle upworse than what it should when I was coming to a stop. Hey, Bastardcat, never seen your car before. I only live like 20 to 30 minutes away from you. I'm about 15 miles East of Fort Smith, I lived in Alma for about a year. I got my first vehicle from Mountainburg. Maybe I'll see you around sometime.

 

Yeah, I only drive it 3-4 times a month--I work in Fort Smith so it's not very cost effective to drive it in to work everyday. Too bad there aren't any F-Body clubs 'round these parts huh?

 

True, there is a bright side to that. Almost all the Camaro's I see are v6's around here, not too many people have Z-28's and rarely do you ever see an SS. I also work in Fort Smith, I'll be headed that way in about 2 hours. The only club I know of is the Little Rock Racing Scene, something like that, but it's for any type of vehicle.