Hello all,

Today I bought a 1995 Camaro 3.4L and it might be surprising but it's the first Chevy I've ever owned. Most of my experience working on cars comes from Volkswagens, Hondas, and Toyotas(all 4-cylinder front wheel drive), and this Chevy almost seems alien to me.

The car has a few problems and I'm kind of stumped as to what they are exactly. I bought plugs and wires and changed them out myself which has helped quite a bit, but the car still seems to shake too much at a full stop and 5th gear seems like it strains the engine at any speed below 60mph, Is that normal?

The engine oil gauge raises when I give it gas and gets pretty low at an idle and when I checked the oil it was slightly past full with no sign of water mixed in, does that sound like a faulty gauge, sensor, oil pump or something else?

The car starts to run hot after it's been running for about 45 minutes or so(and that was with me flooring it too lol) but when I shut the car off I can't hear the water boiling or anything like that. I checked the radiator and the coolant was all the way at the top and I see no leaks. I think the car really is getting too hot because everything under the hood becomes extremely hot to the touch even stuff that shouldn't be hot at all(like the battery terminals). Does that seem like a bad thermostat or gauge, and does it normally heat everything up so hot like that?

This next one I think I already know the answer to. The guy I bought it off of said that he just replaced the battery because the old one was faulty. When I crank up the car to start it up it cranks pretty slow but will start up. It seems like the hotter it is under the hood, the longer it takes to start up. Bad starter right? And is that pretty easy to change? By easy, I mean do any of the bolts in the alternator double as a motor mount?

I'm used to cars with distributers that are circular in shape with a coil going into the middle of it.......do my plug wires plug into a distributer cap? or is that part called something else?

My biggest concerns right now are the overheating and how incredibly shaky the car feels at a stop so I'd like to figure those problems out asap.

Also, I want to give the car a pretty good tune up. As I mentioned earlier, I already did the plugs and wires. I plan to get an air filter and fuel filter as well. Are there any other "must do" things for a tune up on these things? and mind elaborating?

I know I'm asking a lot, but any help will be greatly appreciated.

On a side note, this car is WAY faster than my Celica and is very fun to drive. I originally bought it just so I could flip it but driving it around today has got me thinking that I'll keep it and fix it up so that it can be my play car while the Celica is there for the gas economy. I am loving the car so far.

 

I'll let the guys address your other stuff but oil pressure gauge is normal. Most do that.

 

Right, oil pressure goes up and down with the engine's rpm. How low is "low", does it go well below 20 at idle? Your oil level has nothing to do with the oil pressure reading, unless it was way low to where all the oil gets sucked out of the oil pan and doesn't return to the pan fast enough. Then, the oil pressure would drop to zero, and your engine would drop it's guts all over.
These cars are designed to run hot. Seeing the gauge hit 230 isn't out of the ordinary, especially since the radiator fan isn't commanded to turn on till the engine reaches 228 degrees. Where is your temp gauge reading when it gets "too hot"?
You're not quite clear on what you mean with the starter: "It seems like the hotter it is under the hood, the longer it takes to start up". Are you saying the engine cranks over way slower when it's hot, or that it cranks and cranks, then finally fires up? If it's turning over more sluggishly when hot, then it's likely the starter.
As far as the shaking, get your fuel pressure checked. You may have an erratic fuel supply problem. And by all means, do change your fuel filter if it looks like it's never been done, an extremely dirty one can cause a restriction in fuel flow.

 

and no the starter bolts do not double at motor mount, the plug wires go to coil v6s do not have a distributor and the battery terminals being hot (to hot to hold hand on) is not noromal. are you hearing fans come on at any time? have you had the computer scanned for trouble codes, are you seeing any ses or other lights come on?

 

Thanks for the responses so far.

When I say it runs hot, I mean the temperature gauge gets over 3/4 of the way up. Not sure the actual temp it's showing(I'm out and about right now in the Celica) but I'm used to cars only going half way up or lower on the temp gauge.

I'm not sire if the fan's working or not. I guess I'll have to chevk it out later.

Can somebody explain what could be the causes of an erradic fuel supply problem?

 

low or high fuel pressure will cause the computer to run the engine rich. that fouls things up and it wont want to idle. there are other things that can cause it, its just for this issue fuel pump is the best first step when you start looking. test fuel pressure, scann for trouble codes, look at results and go from there.

 

With the low mark being 160, and the high mark 260, that puts the middle at 210.
That would then make the 3/4 mark 235 degrees, which is not uncommon at all for it to go there.

 

UPDATE:

Ok, so I took it out for about an hour drive today and noticed that the car sat pretty steady around 230 degrees just like you said Camaro 69, and I have confirmed that the fan is in perfect running order as well. Upon re-examining the hot positive terminal connector, I let the car run for only 5 minutes with the hood up and that thing was already as hot as can be. Should I look for a short in the wire or is there any kind of common problem these cars have with that sort of situation?

I think I'm going to go ahead and try to work on the fuel system. The fuel pump doesn't look fun at all to change but it does make sense to start there(as craby says) so I think that's what I'll do, just not looking forward to having to drop the tank on the car. I saw a video on youtube about cleaning the throttle body out as well as how to clean out the injectors even though those look rough to get to.

There is no check engine light on, should I still see if I can get it tested for any error codes?

Any other tips you all might have for my tune up endeavors?