I went to the local car auction tonight and ended up buying a 95 Z28 Camaro. The car was in great shape, started up and sounded good, had a new inspection sticker on it(12/09), 120,000 miles, and had runs 100% painted on the side window. So bidding time came around and they drove the car through and I won the auction at $2500.00. I put tags I had with me on the car after the auction was over to drive it home and as I was pulling out of the parking lot I noticed the car was sputtering and missing pretty bad. On the way home the car missed really bad whenever I gave it more than 1/4 throttle and backfired everytime I gave it gas as well. It felt like it had no power at all. I checked the oil and the antifreeze, both were good. The car smokes a little at idle but didnt smoke at all going down the road, I drove it about 40 miles home. Any idea what might me the problem with the car would be greatly appreciated, Im hoping to have the car in the shop by this weekend but Id like to have an idea before I take it as to what could be the problem. For the price, considering what I paid do you guys think I got ripped off? I feel like I did, pretty much ruined my night on the ride home. Any info would be greatly appreciated, thanks

Nick

 

About the only thing to do is a tune up and go from there, if it's still sputtering after new plugs/wires, then check the coil. It could be a bad opti, common on those cars.

 

I was just about to say plugs and wires... but...

you may also want to see if its something to do w your fuel/fuel system. Its more likely a plug & wire problem, but there is also a chance its an injector problem. Injector cleaner is really cheap, like $5 for some good stuff... try that. But with the ammount of miles, it is pretty likely that it needs new plugs and wires.

good luck! oh, and if its just plugs and wires, you didn't get ripped off. the miles are kinf of high, but if its in good shape, its no problem

 

Yeah I was thinking if its something like plugs and wires or distributer etc. then its nothin major. Im just wondering why they put a new inspection sticker on it with the way its running. My first instinct was maybe a blown cylinder but I think it would smoke pretty bad if that was the case. Im hoping a tune-up will help my problem but Im thinking if it was something simple like that it would have beendone instead of being auctioned off, but I guess Ill see?? Ill take any ideas into consideration, thanks for the help.

btw..I did a search of the forum and found alot of useful info, with this post Im trying to narrow down my problem so Ill keep it updated when I take it to get it looked at by the local mechanic/chevy specialist around here.

 

bad gas can do the same thing. You don't know how long the gas had been in the carand how long it's been sitting up. If you can't drain the old gas out of it poor a bottle of fuel treatment in it and fill it up with good quality gas. I'd change the plugs and wires regardless.

 

Got any pics? sounds like folks are steering you the right way, At $2500 you gotta figure it will need something,most do in that price range.
If the body is straight and has nice paint and interior I'd say you did ok.
I just gave $2000 for this 1993 Z28,190K on it with 60K on a new motor but it needed tires real bad and a front seal in the auto trans.
One of the fog lights is broken and it needs a drivers side window switch,so far that is all I've found wrong and it runs and drives sweet now that I got new tires.

 

In November I paid $2850 for a 95 Z that had a rebuilt engine. Interior and exterior (had been repainted) are in awesome shape. I've been going over it with a fine tooth comb replacing things. DOn't underestimate the "distributor" aka optispark. It's a pain in the butt to replace. Not so much the skill, but everything that must be removed in order to do it. But, at those miles, you may as well go for the hoses, the belt and maybe even the waterpump since you'll be stripped down.

the even cylinder plugs 2,4,6,8 are a bear to replace.

 

What type of auction was it? $2500 is a good price from a private seller but it seems high for an auction with those miles. Normally with over 100K the car sells under a red light. I would expect to pay no more the $2100 most likely under 2K. Buying a car sold under red light without test driving it is very risky because once you bid its yours. Dealers know the fact the guy selling itsays its a great car means nothing once the red light comes on.Now if the general public was allowed to bid and the dealer shine it up it would not surprise me to see it go for $2500. At an auto auction a carthat brings $2500 the dealer would have to be able to list it for $4500-5000 on the lot.

 

woah cmro grl is posting tech responses, that cant be good.As above posters said plugs/wires.If it persists it could be a coil.Opti's dont usually make the car misfire, a bad opti will cause it to hesitate and be hard to start.With buying any car with over 100k on the clock, i would do a full tune up,and fuel filter.DO NOT use a fuel injector or fuel cleaner, they will eat away at the inside of injectors, they are just mostly used as a marketing scheme.If you want to clean out your injectors, take it to a shop, they have a special machine just for that.

 

The inspection sticker is for the 'safety' of the car, not the working condition.