CamaroRS91x

hey guys....

well here's the story


Last week I was drivin home from work when I saw a really sweet lookin baby blue camaro for sale on the side of the road ......I went to check it out and the guy told me it came from florida and has a rebuilt engine and transmission. The odometer only read 35K and he attributed this to the tranny swap. I took it for a drive and it was fine.....not as fast as mine but still decent. He said the EGR needed to be replaced and the O2 sensor was broken off in 2 pieces. Now my girlfriend has been looking for a car, and I thought it'd be cute for us to have matching cars lol....

By the way....it's an 89 RS with a 305 TBI

So after getting him down to 1600, we bought the car.... on the way home it was running great....great idle and acceleration. Then suddenly the RPM's started jumping, engine light went on, and it would putt when accelerating. At low RPM's it would want to stall very badly and most of the time it would. There was never any problem with it starting back up , but it would just continue to run crappy once started up again.

The next day, I went to autozone and got a new airfilter and the other filter in the aircleaner that needed to be replaced. Now the old air filter was one of the nastiest things I've ever seen. around it looked like mud in the air cleaner and I actually found acorns and a lollipop stick surrounding the air filter!!!!!!!!

So I replaced the air filter, cleaned out the air cleaner, put a new EGR valve on it, and replaced the O2 sensor.

The car ran a lot smoother and I realized that before it wasn't getting good airflow considering how nasty the aircleaner was. But sure enough, it started to be bipolar again. Sometimes it would run great and suddenly RPM's would start jolting up and down and it would putt and run like crap.

The engine light would go on almost everytime it started running crappy and it would go off after it was done being crappy. When I put the paperclip into the ALDL to read the codes, it wouldn't even flash a code 12. after taking it to numerous places, nobody had a scanner to hookup to it. One of the guys had a little tool on his keychain to hookup to the ALDL but he said it wouldn't flash any codes either. So I have no idea why the engine light was going on.

My girl's uncle and I sprayed the fuel injectors with carb cleaner while revving the engine to clean them out.....some nasty black crap came outa the exhaust pipes. But the bipolarness persisted.

So yesterday I dropped my girl off at work so I could bring the car to my house to look at it. On the way home it started putting and being worse than ever. I stalled in the middle of a busy road and everytime I would start it and shift to drive it would stall. Talk about frustrating!!! And after I pushed it into a parking lot, it wouldn't even start again.


I had it towed to my house later that day and the driver told me that when I tried starting it, the coil was sparking which is most likely my problem. So I went to autozone.....bought a new coil, plugs, wires, and fuel filter. I thought it really might be the coil because it kinda clicked when you accelerated before, and I thought it might have been a timing/ignition issue.

Today I gave it a full tuneup with a new coil, and put in the new fuel pump (oomfffffffg that was the worst job I've ever had to do......my body burns like no other). so I re-connected the battery and tried to start it......it wouldn't. so I hoped to g0d that it was just out of gas because I had lost a lot during the fuel pump swap. after putting new gas in it.....it still wouldn't start. when I turn the key, fuel is going through the injectors, but when I press on the gas, it makes no difference in trying to start it.

I checked all the fuses and nothing looks bad.

PLEEEEEAAAAAASE someone give me some advice because I'm so frustrated and you know how women are with having a car but not being able to drive it lol :-/


Thanks guys

89305RS

code 12 is a display code to tell you everything is working, itll come on every time you try to read a code. Try to get another computer from a donor junkyard car.

CamaroRS91x

yea I know that code 12 displays that everything's working....but what I'm saying is that it won't even show a code 12. also, I disconnected the battery today so there's no more codes....so what do you guys think?

dimented24x7

iTrader: (2)

Well, code 12 does have significance. Code 12 stands for no distributer reference pulses. Since the ecm doesnt get any reference pulses when the motor is off its of little use with the car stationary and scanning for codes.

If you have a laptop you should build a cable and use winaldl. Its really the only way to see whats going on while the car is running. The fact that you couldnt intermittently get codes out of the computer and it had a solid SES light is a bad sign. One way to check is, after it turns off or wont start, turn the key off for five for more seconds and then key on. The ecm should blink the SES light after it does the checksum. Flashing SES is a bad prom. Jsut a continuous SES light with no flash means that either the processor has faild to initialize for some reason or the computer is just completly nuked. It shouldnt cause a no start, though, just crappy engine operation.

If the fuel injectors are working and the computer seems ok, then you have almost all the ingredients you need to make the motor run. First, double check that everything is hooked up properly and you have the plug wires going to the right cylinders. Then, disconnect the fuel injectors and take out one of the spark plugs. Hook up the spark plug to the wire and hold it against the cylinder head and have someone crank the motor (careful not to shock yourself, the HEI system puts out quite a bit of voltage!). It should give a steady series of sparks. The sparks should be large, bluish-white ones that make some noise. If theyre weak, static electricity looking ones or the spark is intermittent then there is a problem. Some things to look at are possibly somehow the new coil is faulty, the ignition module is beat, or there are poor connections. Up to this point id probably suspect, but not conclude, an ignition problem or some fault with the ECM.

If the spark looks good and it has fuel. It should start if the motor isnt flooded out and the firing order is correct. The engine can be cleared by disconnecting the fuel injectors and cranking two or three times for about 15 seconds each. That shoudl dry out the spark plugs enough to allow it to start.

Most of the stuff youve done up to this point doesnt really help diagnose or fix the problem. Not to say that it wanst needed but replacing parts wont fix things. If you dont have the tools to do the diagnostics then taking it in to the shop wouldnt be a bad idea. Make sure its a reputable shop or a dealer, not ******* Billy Bob's back yard fix-um-up shop. The key is not to take it into someone who jsut replaces a bunch of stuff but actually does some diagnostics to narrow down the list of possible suspects and find out what the actual problem is.

CamaroRS91x

hey dimented,

thanks a lot for your help man.

I just went out there and tried to start it......didn't work so I turned it off then turned just the ignition on.....the Security and SES lights went on but only the Security turned off......the SES never flashed or turned off. so this means the computer is done?

Also, I replaced the EGR a few days ago and I didn't bother to put the washer on the bottom of it....how important is this step and could it be contributing to my problem?

Thanks guys!

ShiftyCapone

iTrader: (7)

Do you mean gasket?

89305RS

That would be bad

CamaroRS91x

no.....I put the gasket on when I replaced it

but the new EGR came with 2 plastic bags of washers and you're supposed to refer to the OEM # to see which washer you need. It's supposed to go under the EGR Valve in the circular part. And I didn't bother to put it on because I never put it on my 91 and it ran fine.

So yea.. :/

ShiftyCapone

iTrader: (7)

Can't say I have a washer under mine either. Anywhoo, that shouldn't be casuing your problem provided that there isn't a leak there or your egr is horrendously malfunctioning.

Trickster

Was the new EGR you put on it a "POSITIVE" or "NEGATIVE" port EGR? Did it have a "P" or "N" with the part number?

7Point4

Maybe way out in left field, but have you changed the fuel filter yet?

Thats the first thing that popped into my head when i read your symptoms. If you already have done that, sorry.

Just a guess. but...?...

dimented24x7

iTrader: (2)

Make sure the ignition is off for more then 5 seconds. Even after you turn off the ignition the computer still runs for a little bit longer to reset the IAC if needed and shut down. Wait, say, 15 seconds after keying off and see if the SES gives a flash when you turn the ignition to the on position. If not then check to see taht the prom is seated properly. If its seated properly and the guy didnt do anything to it then consider getting another ECM from a junk yard.

CamaroRS91x

well........Lady Camaro is FIXED!!!

Thanks to Dave!!! He was generous enough to come over today and help me with it. The fuel injectors ended up being flooded so he unhooked them and got it started....then he hooked up his scanner and foundout that my coolant temperature sensor was bad.

So I went to autozone, bought a new CTS and pigtail....and BOOM she's fixed!!!!!! now my woman will stop kickin my a$$ lol

Thanks to everyone for all your help!