sputtering and loss of power
 

my 98 V6 camaro, started acting very strange. when i get up to about 30 mph, and i give it gas, the car starts to sputter and has no power, and starts bucking... what are your thoughts on what this might be... the check engine light has also come on... i brought it to a dealer today to get fixed, im just curious of what everyone thinks it might be... any thoughts???

i will tell you the verdict later....

Sounds like a misfire to me... I'm having the same problem only at all speeds. SES light came on probably because of a cylendar misfire, have it scanned to figure out which one it is. Get a full tuneup and new wires, and have boot protectors installed on those new wires. If this doesn't fix it, change all your ignition coils, given it's a 98, unless you've changed them before they're probably all factory stock. (mine were) Also check for any loose connection to the spark plugs. The Ignition coils fixxed my problem the FIRST time, but unfortunately not this time. Good luck.

sounds like the same thing that happened to me one time on the interstate...

...except it was because my dumbass ran out of gas :D

yes, it seems to be gettting progressivly worse. at first it was only at higher speeds, but now it does it when ever im above like 20 now... is is a pain to change out the plugs? it looks like it is...

ok, so here is the verdict.
The #5 plug was throwing a code. the injector in this cylinder was dirty. so, i had to get an injection cleaning, and a new plug.
after all is said and done, and an oil change too, it came to $354.00

You got off easy... added up I'm ganna have to pay so far a total of $600 to fix my misfire problems. I recently had a $300 tuneup and I have to get ANOTHERONE because even the new wires fried up along with plugs... and even still there's no gauruntee this will perminantly, or if at all fix my misfire problems...

Good Job

good luck! hope that all works out for you...

did your gas mileage go down?

are you asking me?

not trying to bring up old post or anything , I know that there is a sticky on this subject, but what was it that you scanned your car with to know exactly what cylinder? Is it anything that a "home" mechanic can pick up because I live near a chevy dealership that charges over 80 bucks just to hook your car up to the computer. And I would rather have my own so when and if (and I am sure it will) happens again I dont have to go pay them all over again.

I've had the misfire problem twice now. It gets extremely pricey after your on your 3rd set of plugs and wires in 2 years. Both times i got it put on the computer it came up as the 5th plug i think. The first time i think it was the 3rd one as well. All in all, the problem sucks. This year my mechanic figured that it was my coil packs. So i changed all three of those and i have yet to find out if that did the trick.

I am having a misfire problem as well. Could it be a bad alternator causing it?

I live in GA, Autozone does it for free here. If you have no Autozone then you can buy them but they're like $150 bucks, a good LONGTERM investment but remember some mechanics will be REQUIRED to check the SES and charge for it aswell.[

QUOTE]Originally posted by Gamer885
I am having a misfire problem as well. Could it be a bad alternator causing it?[/QUOTE]

Well, bad alternators or bad battery's CAN eventually lead to misfires if they're old and dieing because the car just isn't getting enough current to generate a sufficient spark... I would however check into your plugs, wires, ignition coils, and fuel injectors first however... these are what usually causes them. My misfires actually turned out to be a loose wire. My last was caused by a bad ignition coil (they were actually all bad and I replaced all of them) The plugs needed to be changed direly to...

ok, the problem came back... so i the found it was my coil and module... does anyone know is this something i can change myself? i pretty good at changing things out... is this something i can get to easily?

please help... i dont want to pay the dealer more useless money.

If it's your ignition coils. simple 15 minute fix, they cost like $25 at an autoparts store, pick three of em up, I suggest you just go ahead and change them all. They're located on the drivers side of the engine just above the cylendar and the plug wires lead to them. Disconnect and replace the coils ONE at a time so you won't confuse wires because they will need to go back in the same order. The hardest one is the third one that is shoved under the engine bay and windshield harness a tad... but still about 15 - 20 minute fix...