So i'm in a little bit of a dilemma and I thought who better to ask about it then a group of experts on these cars. I have a 94 5.7L V8 Convertible that I have owned for roughly a year. Ever since I have gotten this car I have had nothing but problems. Already had to replace blown head gaskets. The wiring system is a mess. The engine is leaking oil from the oil pan and looks like it has been for a while. Now any time I drive it for a decent amount of time after i stop for even a short amount of time (IE Stoplight) the engine like to randomly rev itself up for absolutely no reason. It will do it enough to actually make the car jump if i'm not firmly holding the brake. On top of that now the transmission (automatic, crappy i know) is struggling to shift in lower gears. I guess what I'm looking for here is advice on what to do with it. I have spent a decent amount of money on it already and i can't get half of what I put into it by selling it. Would it be better to just have the engine rebuilt and see if i can find a decent used tranny (standard preferred) or should i just try and get a new engine? The cars body itself is in great shape. Brand new paint and convertible top and it has the 2000 model body kit on it. I'm just at a loss. I'm not trying to make it a racing car I just truly enjoy driving camaros and want to make it a reliable driving car again. I can't stand driving my car and every single minute being scared to death it is going to die on me. Thanks for any advice.

 

Was the Optispark replaced?

 

not I'm aware of. If it was it was done without my knowledge and I didn't pay for it. Friend of mine said I might wanna look into the air flow sensor about the revving problem but I'm more worried about the oil pan and tranny problems. I figure the idling problem isn't as important.

 

have u had it scanned for trouble codes? what have u replaced? fuel filter? spark plugs? spark plug wires? air filter? iac sensor? change trans fluid and filter? could be a number of things. oil pan gasket is a pain to change, have u tried checking the bolts? tightening the bolts a little could help.

 

i had a simlar problem with a ford probe of the same year (Found On Road Dead!) it was an impulse buy for $300 and got 30mpg when gas was $4 a gal lol. but i believe it was the mass air sensor or some sensor of the sort, i cannot remember because i never fixed it and it was a few years ago, but i would say for the tranny issuses, swap it out for a Jasper rebuilt manual tranny, they are really good and fairly priced.

 

When my opti was bad, it made the engine chug in gear, at idle. The car would shake front to back, then after a few seconds the idle would speed up and car would start to creep. The idle changed because of the opti causing a cylinder misfire (or in my case, more of a no-fire) which was making the engine run rich, then the sensors would try to adjust. Is your engine acting like it has a misfire at all?

 

i dont think it sound like the engine needs rebuild, at most just a new sump gasket and possible pan? You'd be good to look for a trans and have a look for codes as craby says, and check the pointometer sensor on the throttle body ( i think lt1 had them?) may be thinking the throttle is engaged?? The opti spark is a know problem so look into buying a coil-on-plug kit like the ls1 run. I know there are guys on here who have converted to this.

Id persevere with the motor and once you get the trobles sorted it will be fine

 

First off sorry for the delay of answering. I'm currently underway in the Navy and only have access to the internet at certain times. Since I've missed a lot of helpful advice I'll answer each person individually.

Craby
For the codes I have not have them read yet. The few shops close to me do not have a tester that can read it. My car has the old OD1 computer and they don't have a tester that old. I'm trying to find one around where i live that does. As for what's been replaced I have replaced the plugs and wires. Haven't replaced the fuel filter. All the fluids have been checked and maintained (at least since I have had it). The air filter and IAC sensor have not been touched that i know of. For the pan I'm afraid it is a waste. The pan is leaking all around the gasket and in some spots it even looks like the gasket is coming out partially. Sadly I was told it couldn't e replaced without taking the engine out and everywhere around where I live charges around $500 just for that before any other costs are added.

Adam78
I'll look into the Jasper trannys you mentioned. I'd like to switch it to standard but I'm also worried about the cost of having it installed. I don't have any tools or even the knowledge to do this work on my own so I'm stuck paying ungodly amounts to get it done.

Camaro 69
My engine has not been acting like a misfire or anything. Basically you'll come to a stop, after you do it'll sit and idle fine but then it acts like you pressed on the gas and just starts revving up. It'll sometimes climb up to 3 or 4k rpms before dropping back down to idle. It does kinda creep though when it tries to move. Although if your not holding the brakes tight it will start moving like its driving.

MaudyZ28
This was the kinda answer i was hoping for. I don't mind keeping the engine. Between replacing the head gaskets and some other work I have done to it the engine itself hasn't been too big a problem except the pan leak and the idle problem. Now I'm mainly worried about the tranny. The codes as said were explained up higher. Also could you find me a link to this coil-on-kit plug you mentioned? I've never heard of it.

The only reason I really mentioned whether i should keep the motor or not is between the pan and idling problem it just has me worried about more problems that I don't know of. For instance I know the damned thing bogs down bag. You can punch on the gas and it will almost stall for a few seconds but as soon as it picks up it hauls ***. I know one time I made the mistake of punching the gas and the car jerked and a big puff of black smoke came out and hit the car I passed. Scared the hell outta me but the car didn't die or anything so i was relieved. Either way thanks for the great advice so far. It appears I picked the right place for my questions.

 

oil pan gasket is a one piece rubbery soft type. check and see how lose the bolts are. u do not have to take the motor out to change, do however have to unhook motor mounts and lift the front of the motor until it comes up against the firewall. been there done that. on mine the intake was leaking down and looked like the front cover seals were bad, water pump, opti and front main seals so i changed them and while doing that messed up the oil pan seal. after changing all that the motor does not leak at ll. your computer is obd1.5 and does require the proper reader to scann. opti is a posible problem and being u have changed plugs and wires try changing the fuel filter before digging into the opti.

 

ok, there is a whole thread on it here:

https://camaroforums.com/forum/lt1-lt4-tech-9/ltcc-lt1-ls1-coil-conversion-install-44354/

done by Greenarrow

plus id look at these sites and get some more info, i dont know much about it, just that it can be done:


http://www.ls1lt1.com/forum/showthread.php?t=13476

http://lt1howto.com/articles/coilpack.htm