my 3.4 V6 is having trouble starting, and when it does it spudders. i have to touch on the gas for a min to get it going. when it does finally idle on its own its very low, about 500rpm. also i'm getting a little dark smoke and some what looks like soot spraying out of my exhaust, but only right after it starts. i just bought the car a couple of weeks ago. it had been sitting in a garage for about 6 months or so. i changed the plugs and wires. what else can i do?

 

Adjust the idle screw. You could take off the intake and clean the throttle body butterfly and bore. Get into the crevices and the sensor holes for the TPS and the IAC.

 

1. The gas in the tank may have gone bad. If it's 6 months old and was not treated with stabilizer, you should change the gas in the tank.

2. Try using a good injector cleaner.

3. Have you checked/changed the fuel filter yet? It may be clogged.

 

would the fuel filter possibly cause the soot, and where is it located? i ran the injector cleaner though it and that is when the soot started. is it maybe breaking up all the crap that is built up in there? idk, im really not to mechanically inclined. also, where is the idle screw located in the camaro?

 

you may want to check you vaccum lines as well, i pulled int othe stored one day and my 3.8l v6 starting idling rough and the whole car was shaking. i popped the hood and founf a vaccum line had came off from the throttle body.

 

1. Doubt it. The engine is running rich, so fuel flow is not a problem. Now, that's not to say the filter shouldn't be changed anyway...as preventative maintenance. The cleaner is probably breaking up 6 months of varnish and other crap in the engine itself, though.

2. Idle screw...the idle is computer controlled. News to me if that's not the case.

Check the air filter and coil pack. No check engine light through all of this? I remember when my mom was selling her 91 3.1L Camaro some years back. When it sat for more than a few days, it ran funny upon startup. So, some idle time may help, too. But, the bad gas needs to be tossed, for starters.

P.S. When you chabged the plugs, did you read them? There are clues to be had there, if you just didn't toss them...

 

the air filter is shot, it is actually being changed in the morning. what and where is the coil pack. the service engine soon light comes on sparatically while driving. it will come on, then go off. it hasnt come on in a couple of days, and the soot is definately not as bad as it was. the pluggs were black and grimmy. the wires were so old that one of them actually broke when i took it off. ive never seen that before.