Hi guys,
I'm really hoping someone has some suggestions for me...
I Have A 1998 Camaro V6 Which Has Been Under Storage The Last Few Years, But Has Been Taken Out In The Summer For Minimal Driving -- I've Never Had A Problem With It. Last Week After Having It Back On The Road For A Few Days, It Began To Start Up Really Rough. It Will Sputter And Make Knocking Noises In The Engine For Approx. 15 Seconds Then It Seems To Calm Down And Run Normally. It Does This Each Time I Start It, Especially From A Cold Start, Not So Much If I Pop Into A Store And Restart It Not That Long Later. On The Weekend I Started In Up In The Driveway, It Made These Same 'rough' Noises So I Revved It A Little -- Oil Started Pouring Out Of The Engine, It Completed Emptied Out On My Driveway. My Husband Ended Up Reaching In And Tightening It - We Had It Towed To The Local Dealership And They Have No Idea Why It's Making Noises. They Replaced The Filter And Filled It With Oil - They Said That The O Ring Had Been Forced Out In A Spot From The Pressure In The Engine. Originally Their Theory Was That It Was Making Noises Because Of The Loss Of Oil And Now The Engine Is Damaged And Needs To Be Replaced. My Point Is That It Was Making Noises Before The Oil Emptied Out -- Now They're Saying The Engine Either Needs To Be Totally Replaced Or They Can Start Taking It Apart And Look To See What's Going On. I Don't Want To Pay These Guys 100 Bucks An Hour To Do Detective Work And I Don't Think I Need To Completely Replace The Engine. HELP!!!

 

It's hard to tell what is wrong with it,

It wont take a good mechanic very long to figure out what is wrong with it. iF it is low mileage it may be best just to have it fixed. If these mechanics you have can't figure it out with-in an hour they must not be very good.

I'm a noob but it is probably something to do with the fact you let it sit in storage for so long, the oil filter could have decayed and came apart in the engine and clogged something or the oil could have just hardened in the engine and started clogging things up.

Did you change the oil before driving it?
Did you noticed anything strange with the oil pressure before it blew -up?

Get an estimate, before deciding on what to do, consider what the car is worth and how much more to just put a new Jasper engine in. The car is 13 years old.

Good Luck to you,

 

Thanks Evolution....the mileage is low and the my car is in mint condition (aside from the current issue) and it would break my heart to have to get rid of it.

According to the mechanics they have no idea without taking it apart...a friend of mine is thinking that it could be the lifters are corroded, and this is preventing the oil from shooting up. He says he's heard of this problem with this specific engine for these model years on the Camaro..have you heard of this? What exactly is a lifter and if it's corroded what can that do to your car?

 

It shouldn't cost much for them to take the valve covers off and the oil pan if needed and see what is going on. That's what I would do. Unless the service engine lightis coming on, if it's comig on then a computer can tell you what is wrong.

I would have thought they could figure it out just by listening to it run thoug maybe that the oil and rough idle issue are unrelated but probably not.