Hey All,

I am new here but I thought maybe someone could point me in the right direction.

I have a 1997 Z28, 350 / LT1 Camaro with 79K miles on it. Recently, it has been giving me a little trouble when on the highway, doing speeds of over 50mph. Maybe someone can let me know what they think the issue is or what to replace.

The car is an automatic and when I am doing speeds of 50mph or over and I need to accelerate, the car sometimes starts to shudder and jerk a little, feeling like it doesn't want to go any faster. Usually if I lay off the gas and slowly accelerate I can get the car to get up to faster speeds but if I just press the pedal down hard to go faster it starts to jerk again.

I don't seem to notice this issue driving around town at slower speeds and the car seems to start fine.

Some people have told me it could be a crankshaft sensor or camshaft sensor while others said it sounded like a transmission problem.

Can anyone shed any light on this? Feel free to email me if you have any ideas or suggestions. Any help is appreciated! Thanks...

 

Catylatic Converter might be getting clogged. Also could be symptom of a map sensor. Cam/crank sensors usually trigger the computer so that the car wont start at all if they go bad. Doesnt sound like a trans issue

 

does it sound like it could be a fuel pump or fuel pressure issue?

 

If the shutter feels like your going over those rumble strips on the side of the highway, then I would say it is torque converter shutter. If it is a light hesitation and loss of power I would check the fuel pressure and make sure the MAP sensor is clean. When was the last tune-up and I mean the whole nine yards?

 

You may get a better response if you post this in the Lt tech section

 

Thanks for the input - plugs, wires, fuel filter, etc are all brand new. I'll try cleaning the MAP sensor and see what happens from there I guess...

 

For your edification and for the people you have been talking to, the 97 Lt1 does not have a cam sensor. The crank sensor is only use to detect misfires, and in no way affects how the engine runs.
Have you scanned for trouble codes. Many things could be causing your problem, and the posssibilities have been covered in this thread.

 

pete are you saying there is not a cam sensor in the opti on the 97? if so how does it know when to fire the spark? to the op, have the car scanned for trouble codes at your local parts place. call around and make sure they can scan it for ya. could be a number of things. what plugs, wires, etc,,, did your install?

 

the camaro is not shooting off the check engine or service engine light at all. Should I still scan for codes? Is it possible that what I am feeling is torque converter shudder ? Should I change the tranny filter and fluid?

 

The Opti sends a signal similar to that of a cam sensor, but there is no separate cam sensor screwed into the engine, and if that signal is bad the Opti needs to be replaced or installed properly, as the engine will not run. The Opti sends two clocking signals to the PCM. The low res signal is similar to the cam sensor signal and is used to determine the cam position and firing order. The high res signal is similar to the crank sensor and is used for ignition timing. At start time the combination of both signals is used to determine which stroke the piston is on.