I went to start my camaro this morning.. and its -30 degrees so i knew it wouldnt exactly be amazing, but when it turned over it sounded horrible. running rough and even got the engine light flashing. i let it warm up for a while, it smoothed out, it had plenty of oil pressure (~100 psi) and I drove to work. but something wasnt right.... it still just lagged a bit and you could tell it wasnt "all there". The only thing I can think of... is i drove a 4 hr trip this last weekend and it drove fine the entire way, until I got off the interstate and it starting to spit and sputter a bit just idling at stop lights... didnt die on me... but it would go between about 600-1300 rpms. And the morning after that incident it ran fine. I cannot tell if this is just due to the freakin cold weather or something major. I am gonna go for a drive after work to see if I can get something figured out (if it starts). And... to top it off. I am supposed to make a 12 hr trip to tenn on fri. Any suggestions?

 

get it scanned for trouble codes and let us know what codes come up. could be sticky egr or idle air control valve/motor.

 

^^ I second the codes. Also this cold weather can have a huge impact on how the car runs. Do you have a CAI on the engine? If so you may want to take it off. -30 is really really low and could easily cause drivability issues. Which engine are you running? 100 PSI is alot of oil pressure for any engine. Too much oil pressure can cause the oil to pump the lifters up too much and keep valves open longer than they should. Also if the oil is too thick you may not be getting enough into the lifter, and this can also cause "not all there" problems. The too thick oil should go away once the engine warms up but from what you are saying it didn't go away.

Massey

 

The car has a stock intake and I am running a lower viscosity oil currently for the cold temps. The only problem is that there isnt an autozone where I live... so getting codes done for free isnt an option. stupid i know. Unless.... does advanced auto do it? I dont think so... but I have been wrong before. and I think there might even be an oreileys in town. anyways... I am about to go on my lunch break... we'll see how she starts after sitting in frickin cold weather all morning. i might even stop at oreileys on my way home and see if they do engine codes for free. we'll see. i'll get back to you in a few. Thanks.

 

Advance and O'reillys do read codes for free, if they have a scanner. I have worked for Advance and I currently work for O'reilly. O'reilly will let you borrow the scanner, and Advance usually will let some one outside to help you if they are not busy.

Massey

 

Have you popped the hood and taken a look at the engine? We had a bad snowstorm here last week, with 50-60 mph winds, and the snow was going sideways and hard. The snow completely coated the engine (and I mean a lot) on my daughters Crapalier, and it also blew under and up the back side of the engine to pack onto the coils. The engine didn't want to start until I blew all the snow off and heated/dried it all up. Another one of our cars got a little bit of snow under the hood, but enough to short one plug wire to the head, burn through the plug wire boot, and give a misfire/error code. Don't know if you got the same storm, but take a close look at your electrical and ignition connections under the hood if you did.

 

I just got back from oreileys where of course I had misfire codes, but thats it... and i did look under the hood. all the wires look fine along with the coils. I will take a closer look later, but for now it looks fine. i started it up and it started fine, idled fine and all seemed well. but as soon as i tried to drive it, it was sputtering and you could tell it was misfiring of course. so... this is really throwing me for a loop. I cant seem to figure out what it is. and ya... I am from iowa and the cold here sucks. but no snow in the engine compartment atleast.

 

what were the codes? what motor are we talking about?

 

The engine is a 3.8L. and i forgot my piece of paper at home with the code written on it. but.... the funny thing is. after i got the codes read and got home. i messed with the wiring a little bit and checked each spark wire and coil, finding nothing obvious wrong with it. AND.... then on my way back to work it ran fine.... the car was not misfire.... so maybe something was shorting and i jiggled it free or something. anyways.... I guess I will keep driving it and hope it keeps working. I will try to get the codes re-cleared as well sometime soon. I will keep ya'll updates. thanks.

 

pick up some new plug wires and put them on. maybe some plugs to if there gettin old.