Okay guys. I was trying very hard to not seem like a newb but the truth is... I am. At least to the Camaro.

I am a mechanic, just not an auto mechanic. I work on industrial packaging equipment.

But here goes my second concern with this car.

What kind of symptoms would I get with a bad coil pack. From what I see,Chevrolet decided against the classic distributor design that has been so stable for years.

Right now the car runs fine and will even get you down the road for a bit. But without warning, it will stumble and then die. After which, it will not start unless you let it sit and cool down. Only take 5 minutes or so, and it is running like nothing was wrong. Sometimes it will start right back up but will be difficult to start and will run like ****; missing and trying to stall. I keep my foot on the gas peddle to keep it running.

I have noticed that on this 3.8L V6, that all of the plugs are extremely hard to get to. And the coil pack is in a tight spot too. Seems like Chevrolet decided that placing the engine in the dash was the best location. Who knows?

Looks like I will taking this vehicle to a shop to have a tune up done and have the coil pack replaced.

Does this sound like I am on the right track? I would do the work myself but the confined engine compartment doesn't appeal to me.


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Well hers a list of **** that could be caused from a bad coil pack
* Car suddenly dies and won't restart
* Starts but immediately dies
* Extended cranking to start
* Rough idle
* Sputtering
* Backfiring
* Trouble reaching higher rpm
* Black smoke from exhaust
* Poor performance with car warmed up
* Weak plug wire spark
* Codes 16, 36, and 42 may be set (I believe those are correct)

I just installed brand new Coil packs i got from summit racing, i have a 1994 3.4 V6 not to different of a set-up if any, from your 3.8, they are kinda a pain in the *** to get to but with a little time and patience it can be easily done.
The plug wires and the plugs them selves are a little more tricky but its doable. good luck bro, anything else ??????

 

Please share some of your "tricks" to getting to these components. Will I find myself trying to go through fender well to get to the plugs?

 

I've read a couple of posts where the writer mentions coming up from the bottom for some, and going from the top for the others on the 3.8 for plugs. I don't look forward to that piece of maintenance on mine either. I haven't seen anything about going through the fender, although from what I remember of the engine compartment, that might be a viable option...

 

Coil packs, on the average, are thought of as more accurate. They provide a much more powerful spark that is necessary for a more efficient burning of the A/F mixture. There are also no mechanical parts that a coil/HEI distributor consist of, therefore maintainence costs are reduced. No more caps, buttons, points, etc. And computer advance is really handy, and rarely fails.

 

changing the plugs and wires are definately a pain in the ***. took about 45 min and a lot of patience. i just did a lot of blind reaching and feeling, especially on the left side of hte engine. if you are not a patient person i suggest you pay someone to do it. same with the coils. the take a lot of time

 

All of this is good information. After reviewing what y'all have told me, I think I will take the car to a shop for this work. I hate to do that because I ALWAYS do all of the maintenance on my vehicles unless it requires pulling the engine or tranny.

Plus I just don't have the time to do the work either.

Thanks to all!

 

Now let's go off on a tangent...

I was talking a little while ago to a co-workerand I was telling the symptoms the car is having with the sudden stalls and difficulty starting until is cools down. He suggested checking the torque converter.

????????????????? WHAT THE HELL?

He went on to tell me that he had a Chevy car years ago that acted the same way my Camaro idoes. He said after having it checked out on a diagnostics machine at his Chevy dealer, they told him it was a bad torque converter. Also said that there was a sensor or something that monitored the torque converter or the drivetrain in general and would shut the car down if something was wrong. Now granted, he wasn't drving a Camaro, but it was a Chevy. A Corsica I think...

Has he lost his mind or is there something to this?

 

Most newer cars have locking torque converters for economy purposes. The torque converter has a torque converter clutch that locks up the torque converter to prevent slippage once a steady speed is reached. The torque converter clutch application and release is controlled by the computer. The computer will release the clutch if the load on the engine exceeds a certain amount, and whenever the brakes are applied. If the clutch is not released when the brakes are applied and the car is brought to a stop, the engine will stall, the same as in a manual transmission car ifthe clutch was not released when the carcame to a stop. Also if the clutch did not release under heavy load, the car will feel sluggish, orthe clutch will get damaged.

 

Cam Shaft sensor if u have a bad sensor on the 1998 it will cause it to kind of all of a sudden shut off like it idled out or something because the sensor tells the car to shutoff to preserve your engine from damage im sure this is the problem but coil could be the other only possibility.