Hi dear Camaro-community,

I am new here so please cut me some slack if I don't nail my first post here.

I recently bought a 2002 camaro (35th anniversary edition) which definitely has seen better years, but the engine was running fine on the test drives. So I thought it's mainly going to be outer work that needs to be done.

Now I have run into the following issues with the car:
1. The engine is not running smoothly. It has rough idling.
2. The car starts and holds the rpm but once I am driving and hit the brake and the rpms fall below 1000 it simply shuts off.

I've taken it to a couple mechanics now. They all said something different which is why I am trying my luck here - maybe one of you has run into the same issues and found what the problem really is.

This is what the mechanics found/said so far:
- cylinder 6 misfires
- the spark plug in cylinder 6 is firing/on continuously and soaked in fuel (apparently combustion is not taking place)
- fuel pressure drops after a couple of minutes of starting the motor
- oil in the coolant fluid (I know that is a bad sign and points to a head gasket leak, but it's very minimal -> I changed the coolant and cleaned the tank, now the idling has gotten better and the coolant doesn't seem to be very oily)
- another mechanic suggested that the underpressure tubes (is that the right term - sorry, non-native speaker here) might have a leak somewhere - does that explain the issues though?

I don't really know what to do with the car right now as it's so many different things mechanics think it could be but they all don't seem to fully explain the issues.
Does anyone of you have had similar issues with their Camaro and wouldn't mind sharing? I only need the car to drive from A to B and also for a couple of months in case the problem is something bigger..

Would appreciate any input greatly, thanks in advance!!

If you need more specific information on the issues, please let me know!

 

it could be a number of things for sure. without the numbers and what tests was done its impossible to say what it is. did they do compression test on 6? what was the fuel pressure? what codes came up when scanned? the spark plug is getting spark? if so did they test the strength of the spark? does the engine oil/dip stick smell of gas? the oil looking stuff in coolant is most likely scum that forms from old antifreeze. it looks kinda like oil.

 

Is this a Z28/SS or a six cylinder car?

 

Hi @craby & @Y2Keglide, thanks for both of your replies, I really appreciate it!

The Camaro has the smaller 3.8L 6 cylinder engine.

And attached you will find the diagnostic reports of 2 different mechanics that have looked at the car with some more specifications.

Interestingly, the rough idling has stopped now. I don't think it had anything to do with me changing the coolant, but maybe the ignition coil which powers cylinders 5 & 6 has now completely given up and the Camaro is running smoothly on 4 cylinders? Nevertheless, it still shuts off on low rpms (it holds idling mixture though!, shuts off as soon as you hit the brake).

Please let me know if you have any ideas or need more info, thanks!!