The important lesson here i believe is that buying a car thats been backyard modded may not be the best idea. If I can offer advice to anyone looking for a car, it would be to buy it as close to stock as possible and then do what you want with it. I traded my 1995 Silverado for this car, and the only engine "mod" it had was that i flipped the air cleaner lid. Guess what? My truck is probably still on the road running grsat for the guy who got it, and his old camaro is dead in my yard....

 

Fixing the evap line probably won't fix your backfiring issue, but it will help driveability when you get it running good. Just keep going through it and looking for things that seem odd, or disconnected or broken. Ask the question, fix it and move on. You will get more comfortable about it as you go along. Still think you might have to dive into the opti, but still check that connector I mentioned. You might have donesomething to the connector when yuou took off the intake manifold since it is right there.

 

I checked all of the plugs i could find in that area and reconnected them. They all look fine. I never took the intake manifold off, just the cold air intake.

As far as the opti goes, is there any way to test it or troubleshoot it without ripping the engine apart and replacing it?

 

Not that I know of. Did you actually look at the opti connector? I thought mine was good too, but it was not making good contact on all the pins.

 

look at number 2 on the list here https://camaroforums.com/forum/93-02...62/#post557634

 

awesome

I read a thread from an owner who seems overwhelmed, disgusted and disappointed.

You and I both realize that the hose won't cause the backfiring. My comment was based upon how the conversation was going and did not want to give false hope to the OP

OP- so there are some wires and even hoses disconnected, it's not a big effort to get things routed . I always keep lengths of different size rubber tube/hose and clamps because there always seems to be one or two hoses which are questionable under the hood of one of my cars. Grab a $20 bill, head to the parts store and buy a supply of hoses and even a multi pack of clamps. You mentioned that it was running fine and then bada bam, bada boom it started to backfire. If hoses were disconnected (possibly bypassed and never removed) and it was running fine, then logic says the hoses are not the root cause.

There is also a slight chance that you could be running lean. One way to verify that is unplug the MAF. Your car will then throw an SES light but go into open loop and will run rich. You will get past this issue and will also become more familiar with under the hood and will be less intimidated.

You said that you yanked the CAI. Well, that means you touched the intake temp sensor and the MAF. Get back to your starting point and let's get to working on the backfiring issue

 

Is this what you 94 guys are using to scan codes?

GM OBD1 Scanner Cable & Software - USB to 12 pin ALDL direct. - GM OBDI!! | eBay

 

Well, still no luck with the car. I really appreciate all of the tips and links. Wish i had something better than a phone to read them on. Gonna go pick up a service manual first chance i get.

This car has really got me down. Mostly its the fact that im sure i dont have half the crap needed to fix it, and no place to really work on it. I dont wanna leave it torn apart because im afraid of messing something up, so whenever i get to a point where i cant do anything else, I put it all back together.

Im about to throw in the towel on it I think. One of my friends from work says his dads shop will fix it for $125, if i buy the parts. Im about to take him up on it I think. Hes a pretty well known mechanic around here, and Ive heard nothing but good about him. I really just wish I could have done it myself. To be be honest, im not sure how long Im gonna keep a car that i cant work on...

 

The best thing you can do for yourself is pick up a hyanes manual. Sit back relax pop it open and read about every inch of your motor and how it works. You won't be a master tech, but you will have a way better understanding of your car.

 

At this point, im just pissed about even getting this car to begin with. I got to drive it for about 3 weeks and now its dead. Got screwed by the guy i got it from, and he didnt even buy me dinner. Fact of the matter is, I keep getting suggestions on how to fix it, but most of what I read makes no sense to me, and i dont have the tools to fix it if it did. Not to mention the funds to keep going out and buying more **** just to see if im even chasing the right problem.