Hello everyone, I know I only post here when I have a problem, but I really need some help.

I have a 1991 Camaro RS (V6 Auto) with under 40,000 miles on it. After sitting in the driveway for quite some time, I made it roadworthy again and had to replace the EGR valve and get a tune up. Since that day, there has been almost no problem with her. The car sounded great, ran great, and was extremely responsive.

A few months ago, it would start to idle out at stops. Red lights, traffic jams, drive throughs, anything that required sitting over a minute. The RPM Gauge would go up, the engine would rumble, and then it would sputter to a halt. It would start right back up, and be fine, and throwing it in neutral and giving her some gas would stop it from idling out completely.

Eventually, this problem got worse and worse and it would start to idle out when backing out of the driveway, while driving at low speeds, and every single stop (even stop signs.) I took it to the mechanic, and they blamed it on dirt in the fuel filter and we had that replaced. It seemed to have fixed the problems, but it came back a few weeks later.

We took it back again, and then they said it could be the idle set wrong or the spark plugs. We got both of these things fixed, and the next day I had to drive on the beltway to get to college.

While on the beltway, Maryland I-95 for those that know what fun that is, it wouldnt shift out of first gear. I was in the fast lane cruising over 70mph and it the RPM gauge redlined and kicked me back to about 20mph within minutes. I managed to get off the beltway, and the problem was repeatable. Even on the side raods, it would not shift at all. My top speed was around 20mph, redlined.

We had it towed to the mechanic again, and after days of looking at it, they determined that the entire fuel pump/system needed to be replaced. It took them a week and several hundred dollars because they needed to remove the custom exhaust kit, fuel pump, and wheels. Coming home that day, it idled out again. They seemed fairly frustrated with having to replace the fuel pump so I didn 't really want to take it back, I topped the gas off and magically it didn 't idle out for another two weeks.

Last week, she started getting close to idling out again, but I would have to sit for over 2 minutes for it to really conk out. The rpms go crazy, the engine sounds horrible, but it manages to hold up.

Yesterday was the point where I began to lose hope, though. Coming home at about 50mph, the front of the car made the most horrendous sound I have ever heard come out of her. At first, I thought that my exhaust tips had fallen off, it was the sound of metal scraping against metal and it was enough to hurt my ears. Once the sound started, the entire car shut down. No electrics, no power steering, no acceleration. I managed to have enough force to drift her into the parking lot, but there was nothing dragging underneath and it started right back up with no sound. I didn 't feel like going through the tow truck process again, so I thought I would take her home. Coming home, the exact same thing happened three times. I don 't know whether the sound is coming from the front or the back, but it is the worst sound I can explain, metal against metal, chipping, scratching, pounding. Each time it happened, the car would all power and shut down.

I assume this is the transmission, but I only have 40,000 miles on it, and thats bone stock. I also take very good care of the car, there is no real force ever being put on the transmission. No racing, and no burnouts or anything. The mechanics also looked at the transmission each time and they said there was nothing wrong with it, and surely with the amount they would charge for it, they would want it to be the transmission.

I don 't know what to do anymore, I 've put thousands of dollars into towing costs, mechanic fees, and the fact that I don 't have a drivable car while its in the shop or dead in the driveway isn 't helping me at all. I just want to fix everything, but it seems that when one thing gets fixed, another breaks, and its getting progressively worse.

I want to take it to someone who has a lot of experience with Camaros or at least chevrolets, but I don 't know where to look around here and I don 't have much money left to spend. I have a feeling that the mechanics nowadays since they cant just plug it into a computer don 't know anything about it.

Any suggestions, feedback, or anything would be appreciated. I would like to continue driving THIS car for as long as possible, and I 'd like to hear what steps you think I should take to get it back on the road and free of problems. I have lost hope in the average mechanics, and I want some other ideas.

Summary of the car, its a 1991 Camaro RS V6 with 40k miles. The only modifications are a flowmaster exhaust kit and iroc wheels.

I look forward to everyones replies.

 

your post is tooo damn long!
I got lost. If you were writing you life story its fine. But you got a question, I, and possibly others here, would prefer the cut throught version.

 

Short version:

A few months ago, my 1991 Camaro started to idle out when stopped for over a minute. I had the fuel filter fixed, and the problem stopped. A few weeks later, it started to idle out again. They replaced the spark plugs and tweaked the idle settings. The next day, while driving on the beltway, it wouldn't shift at all (it redlined at 20mph) and the mechanic blamed it on the fuel pump/system. They replaced the entire fuel system, and it drove fine for a few weeks aside from a few idle outs.

Two days ago, while driving home, the car made a horrible metal against metal, scraping, pounding, scratching sound that comes from the front and back of the car. It lost all power, no electrics, and the engine would shut down. It did this quite a few times while coming home.

My question, basically, is if the mechanics havn't fixed this problem yet and the transmission apparently isn't the problem, what else could it be? I'm beginning to lose faith in the mechanics around here and I'd like to know what other options I have, or at least what the problem is.

Sorry for the long original post, but it isn't one problem, its a series of progressively worse problems and each is extremely frustrating.

 

Is it just me, or does this sound like several things happening all at one time?Interesting the thing kicking down to first on the freeway, that does sound like the tranny. I had a problem with my tranny a while back with it not shifting and going out of gear, but it didn't shift down to first it just went into neutral. Mine turned out that the filter was clogged (no idea why so soon after servicing, but anyway), but I don't know if it would cause your transmission to go nuts like that on you. Next time you drive it try one thing: if it wont shift, or shifts out of gear, try hitting it into neutral for a second or two and then back into drive. This kept my tranny going long enough for me to get it fixed, it also happened with my dad which is how I figured out how to get aroud it.

The idling out, I'm not sure but may be the ECU going out? A '91 V6 is fuel injected if I'm not mistaken, you make have a dirty O2 sensor or the computer crapping out on you. Also, do you notice any noises coming from the alternator? If the alternator is going bad that may cause it to go down hill as well, another thing we had happen to our family car. The alternator went out on us just before we were getting on the freeway, it chugged a little and died. It started again right off and got us into a hotel parking lot. The thing had been making a whirring/almost grinding sound from the alternator but my pop didn't want to spend $$ on a new one. Check that out.

As for the horrid noise, does it kick or jerk around when it does it? any rattling, etc? The closest thing I've ever heard to that was someone's brakes locking up but I doubt that's it here. Honestly, I'm not sure whats going on but I'm trying to think of some options here. And again, I'm not sure if it's one thing causing all of the problems or several things at once.

 

Zzzzzzzzzzzzzz....Oh sorry, the first story just put me to sleep!!!
I can't see how, if the "metal against metal, scraping, pounding, scratching sound" is transmission related, that it could (especially intermittently) kill all your electrical power? Can you get it to happen while it's still running in your driveway....with the hood open? Knowing a rough idea of where the sound is coming from could be helpful. Is your charging system working OK? How about your alternator having an internal short, that starts to act up and spikes the system after the engine warms up? Or could your computer have a short, and causing the loss of power? I also have a 91 RS, but with a 305, and I'm trying to relate and think of logical ideas. Let me scroll back to the top, take another nap, and see what comes to mind!

 

I dont think it could be the alternator, I had it replaced along with an EGR valve when I started driving it again a little over a year ago.

As for the metal clanking sound, it does jerk the car around and it feels extremely rough, it is more than just the sound. The problem was also repeatable in my driveway. I can't pinpoint the sound because it only makes the grinding sound when im moving forward and backwards, once I stop the car to look, the sound stops with it. Giving it gas in neutral doesn't reproduce the sound either.

 

check for any and all loose bolts. im not sure how the metal clanking sound would be linked to the electrical like you infer it to be but its still a place to start.

 

Get a friend to help you check out the noise. One of you move it a little while the other listens for the sound. Don't kill eachother though.Is the transmission moving around by any chance? I'm not sure that it'd produce that but look at it. If it looks like it's moving, it make be grinding on the flywheel or something, I had that happen a little bit with my truck. The transmission mount snapped in half and the back end of the tranny moved to the left and the mount bolts weren't tight enough to hold it still before I replaced the mount. It moved just enough for the bell-housing to rub on the flywheel, and it make the cab of my truck shake around a bit in turns.

 

only things i can think of that would possibly produce the sound in gear and the high rpm and low speed could be the torque converter...possibly was low on fluid and has begun to fall appart causing pieces to get jamed locking the engine and causing the clunking and grinding?
this may also explain the idle issue as the torque converter may have put too much stress on the engine causing it to bog an die



or some trans while your in drive movin an put it in reverse it will shut the engine down electronically so if you have a bad mount somewhere the sudden slack an then catching could cause things to move and cause a loud knock. maby the camaros have this ability? idk but it may work off the reverse switch and the switch may be faulty ......


idk im not familiar with the trans in the camaros
im just going off of past experiences in other gm vehicles

 

Hm, you know what, even if the tranny is new, if that thing kicked into 1st and redlined on the freeway you might want to check and see if there's any damage. I don't know the chances of that doing anything, but it's still something. Depending on how long it was up there the motor might have gotten a little bit of bad news from it.