I truly think my car is possessed! My car has become completely unreliable and ultimately undrivable. Basically, when the car reaches normal operating temp (by my observation) it just shuts off. It will give me a stumble a little sometimes and then just cuts off. I've tried restarting immediately while coasting in N, but rarely will that work. When the problem first started happening, all I had to do was wait about 5-10 min and them it would start again and be fine. Its been about 2 mos now and the problem has become much worse. If I am lucky, the car is drivable within about a half hour. Only now when I do start driving again it only goes maybe 20-30 feet and dies again. Its so frustrating! Last night it took me 4 hours to get home - I was only 2 miles from home.

Here's what I've deduced:

The problem appears to be a spark problem because after hooking up a noid light to the plugs, there was nothing lighting up. Also, I replaced the fuel pump, relay and filter back in February. The symptoms now are nothing like the what I experienced with the pump going out.

Here's what I've replaced with new parts in the last 2 weeks:

coil
opti
plug wires
ign module
opti harness
pcv valve
water pump
coolant temp sensor
timing chain
timing chain cover gaskets
oil pan gasket
battery


-I've noticed a heavy amount of blow-by coming into my tb from valve cover, I've had to replace the gasket under the tb plate 3x's within 4 mos
-My motor mount on the drivers side broke sometime since Feb
-My tranny fluid leaks under the car, appears to be from the pan seal
-Tranny mount desperately needs to be replaced, but its not broken
-Master cylinder has started leaking a little, but hasnt affected braking yet
-I have been told that my ALDL connector under driver dash appears to not be wired correctly because after 4-5 attempts (by different auto shops) at hooking up a different scanners - it has never been successful
-I have an amp and subwoofer in the trunk/fender, installed about a year ago. turning off my radio has proven helpful when attempting to restart the car. Removing the huge fuse (50) for my amp (located at where the + battery terminal attatches to body) has helped a couple times

I know this is alot of information and I do appreciate whoever is taking the time to read through it all. I welcome any feedback you have to offer. I am so ready to drive my car off of a cliff - please help!

 

what are they scanning it as? remember you have a obd 1 ecm and obd2 plug. it may be that you have one of the rare obd2 systems that were used in late late 95. first thing that comes to mind is the igniton coil modual or coil so you have already done what i would have. check for any lose grounds, when it wont run you should be able to back track to find were the power stops. could very well be the ignition switch. have you seen this, its for a 93 so some is different than yours, not much though so most tests should be good.

 

Thank you so much! I will start troubleshooting using these charts. I'll let you know what happens.

I just found this archived post, was wondering what you think
https://camaroforums.com/forum/archi...p/t-48278.html

The catalyst for this 'project' was a water pump that failed and ultimately took out the opti. I also found evidence of moisture behind the coil/ign module bracket due to a failing wp gasket. The rest of the parts were replaced because they were gonna have to be done sooner or later. Do you think the IAC is capable of stalling the car? It would have been right in the line of fire from the wp failing.

 

even if you unhook the iac the motor should still run, you would have to give it some throttle when it was cold. it adds air to contol the idle. knock sensor bad would make it run like crab but it would run. it could be something of that nature though, a sensor or whatnot thats not quite bad that fails when it get hot. thats why you need to try and track down the problem when its not running.

 

this sounds alot like my problem. I have also replaces the 3 O2 sensors and still had no luck. keep trying and do post an answer.! Could this be an EGR problem??

 

have u been able to resolve this issue???

 

Unfortunately... the problem is still there.

UPDATE - I have not been able to act on Craby's advice yet because I am clueless when it comes to electrical stuff. One of my guy friends has offered to help me just as soon as he gets some free time, though. I did get go through every sensor/connector I could reach and delicately clean whatever was dirty, etc.. I took my new battery back out of the car in order to clean up the mess that the old one had made. I had battery acid spewing for at least a month we think and it made quite a mess. I took baking soda and water in a squirt bottle and did my best to neutralize all of it. Turns out a 'friend' of mine decided to fill my maintenance free battery with water and neglected to tell me. Anyway, after cleaning off my knock sensor connector I did have a positive response for nearly 2 days, the car ran like normal again. So, I replaced the knock sensor immediately but to no avail the problem surfaced on the first test drive after replacing it. I will be replacing my MAP sensor sometime this week because it appears to be cracked from being tightened too hard. Ill keep you posted. Oh, one last thing (kinda cool)... I took my ign control module and coil (both attached to the bracket) down to Autozone to get tested again. Well, the guy behind the counter ended up dropping the coil/icm (both only a couple weeks old) and destroyed the coil... I walked out with 2 brand new units... sweet!

 

Does 95 have a Crankshaft position sensor? I had a 97 Jeep with same problems, operating ttemp would lose all spark till cooled off. Lil sensor on the back right next to a bell housing bolt and i was right back on the road...So if was me i would find if you got a Crank sensor or event a camshaft pos sensor and start there. GL

 

96 was the yr they changed to having the crank sensor separate from the opti, vats would or should not let the car turn over so the starter would not work when its not running if its vats. a bad knock sensor should let the car run just not good, from the link provided that has happened though so never know. she has replaced the knock sensor.
obhave, so you have tested the injector system with noid lights and its not getting told to fire? or was that spark tester/timing light for the spark plugs?

 

I am having the exact same issue. Please, whatever you figure out, please let me know. I love my car and I miss driving it. If I figure it out, I will definitely shoot you a line.