My wife still has her 1989 rs v6that we keep in the garage. It has 46000 on it and its like new. It was her graduation present from her dad. We Drive a few times a month do all the normal maintance stuff but we have hit a real problem. Last month we got it out for a ride in the mountains. When we started it, itsmelled like gas strong and ideld very rough I tried to let it run and clear out but nothing worked. I had it pulledto the Chevy dealer the fallowing week they checked it for codes and replaced the mass air flowsencor and the oxegen sencor. We brought it home and it ran fair but still had the strong exhaust smell. That weekend we again set out for the mountains and the same thing happened smells like gas out of the exhaust with a little dark smoke. We had AAA take it back to the dealer and they called us and said they could find nothing wrong even thouht the ca rhad this rough idol and gas smell. Finnally last week the after a lot smoke being blown up my behind and lot of cash out the window the dealership admitted they had no clue what was wrong with the car and suggested i find a vintage car machanic?

So we have looked far and wide for a mechanic and found one he suggest we replace the injectors? at a cost of 300 dollars....I spoke with another camaro collectorand he said that was insain, the injectors would be the last thing totry!So I'm begging for better ideals! I was thinking about replacing the egr and maybe the Map sensor but i'm just grabbing in the dark.

So to wrap up. The car has rough idol, shows no codes, has new massair sensor and oxy sencor. what could cause this?

Thanksfor you help.

 

You may want to check the fuel pressure.

 

could be as simple as spark plugs and wires, also check under the distributor cap for rust or currosion. check pressure. but hes right i doubt its injectors.

 

i would try a cap, rotor, plugs, and wires first. sounds like its not firing strong enough. try that first and see how it goes

 

ya man people dont understand how important spark/wires/distr/ really are man.. u can make 400hp to the wheel but u wont get half of it if u aint running right.

 

Yep get a tune up.

 

Thankx for all the tips today i spent the whole day replacing the spark plugs, wires, rotor cap and button fuel filter and did a extensive check of the vacum lines with no leaks foundand it still its the same. I have wondered two things that maybe someone here can help me with. Oh yeah fuel pressure 44 pnds solid. I was thinking about the coil its self. Many years back my truck had the coil got out but it was sudden and with no warning butstilli'm wondering if you hooked a volt meter to the plug wires and or coil what should it read? Does anyone know how many volts it should spark at? Plugs apear tohave good spark but it would be better to know if the spark is hot enough?

Thanks hammer_head

 

A quick answer would be the color of the spark. If its bright and white its strong, the more close to orange and dim the closer toweak it is. When you did the tune up did you replace any more electronics than the caps/wires/plugs? Could be the coil.