This summer my camaro started acting up on me. For a while, it was surging when maintaining a constant speed.
I replaced the spark plugs/wires and put a new EGR valve on it, fixed that problem.

About two weeks later it starts hesitating/missing under acceleration, but usually not in first gear. Any suggestions as to what is the problem here?

 

When is last time fuel filter was replaced? Have you checked/replaced the coil packs?

 

I replaced the fuel filter at the same time that I replaced the plugs and wires. About a month ago.

I haven't checked the coil packs. is that something that I can have autozone or orileys do?

I think i could replace the coil packs myself with no trouble, but i wouldn't want to just waste money on new parts that didn't need replacing.
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Thanks.

 

Yes, they should be able to test them. If you have a ohm meter, you can test them! You can also take a known good plug and remove the plug wire from one of the plugs in the motor, put in the known good plug, ground it to motor or bolt on fender well. Have someone crank over the engine and look for a blue spark at the plug. If it is yellow, it is a weak spark. Other things also to look for are (1)vac leaks, (2) fuel injectors - take a long screw driver and touch each of them and see if you can hear/feel it clicking.

To test coil packs with ohm meter, remove them and test the secondary ( across the top where the plug wires snap on), they should read 5K to 6.5K ohms. Turn them over and measure the primary the resistance should be .3 to .6 ohms.

 

Cool thanks for the resistance on the coils. I googled it right after submitting that last post.

I don't think i want to try to take the spark plugs out because they are so hard to get to on the 3.8L, so I'll go try testing the coil with my multimeter.

I've always thought i might have a vacuum leak, but i was surprised to find out that the sound i was hearing was coming from inside the EGR valve.

I'll let you know tomorrow how the coil testing goes. I'm not too sure about how to do the fuel injector thing, but i'll give it a try.
I don't think i'd notice a problem with the fuel injectors though since it doesn't happen constantly.

 

For the fuel injector, all you need is a long screwdriver. With the engine idling, just take the metal end of the screwdriver and place it on the side of each injector. It amplifies the sound of the ticking noise and sometimes, if you place your finger on the metal of the screw driver, you can feel the the injector being energized as it clicks. With it running fine in 1st gear, I doubt your injectors are causing the issue.

 

Well, reviving 1 year old thread.

Fuel filter - Replaced
EGR Valve - Replaced
Spark Plugs and Wires - Replaced

This fixed the problem for a while. This summer it resurfaced and I gave in and took it to a mechanic.

Turns out that my catalytic converter was all broken to bits and the larger chunks were blocking my exhaust causing a loss in power and shuddering during acceleration.

Well now everything is fine except that when I start the car the idle is really low, and I have to barely hold the gas pedal down until i drive a block or so, then the idle is fine.

Any suggestions this time around?

 

Do you have any codes? could be a throttle position sensor but I would check for codes before doing anything.


UHH, and been a member for a year and still showing "newbie"? Whats up with that!

 

lol, yeah, this is the only thread that i've even touched. I suppose I should help other people, but I really don't know much about stuff and that's why i'm here.

No codes, it's really strange.

Seems like maybe something like that because I can literally drive it about 20 feet and then it's fine. I would think that revving it while parked would fix it, but that doesn't do anything, it just dies if i let off the gas.

Thanks for responding, I was wondering if anything would come of it.

 

Clean the IAC motor. Could be that. Put some TB cleaner in the TB as well.