Car Rattling and Not Accelerating! Help!

[Blazing_Firebird]

A friend of mine, who has a black '98 5 speed Firebird and he's having a big problem with his car, and I'm not sure where to help him on this one...

His car, whenever he starts it, it's rattling and shaking when we drive it, almost sounds more towards the front. His check engine light is on, which concerns me, but not as much as the reduced acceleration...we're accelerating in his car about as fast as an old man taking a corner....it's got no pick up anymore. He was having problems with his plugs and wires, which he just got completely replaced, and now this problem started...what the hell's going on?

[98Camaro3.8]

What code is the PCM throwing? If you're getting an SES light, get it checked...it might tell you exactly what the problem is.

[RallyRed 98]

i know exactly what the problem is. if you look in his glovebox you should find a technical service bulletin talking about bad plug wire boots or plugs... that makes it sound like the repair will be free of charge, but it's not, i promise.

the problem is an ignition control module, which is down below the coil packs. the icm breaks open somehow and fails, meaning whichever coil pack the icm corresponds with gets no electricity. in essence, you're running on 4 cylinders.

you can probably fix it yourself if you have a garage and the car can be down for a little while- if not, any GM dealership can fix it in half a day if you drop it off by noon (with appointment of course). got my invoice from shelor chevrolet here:

new ICM: 273.69
labor: 140.00
shop stuffs: 14.00

of course it COULD be something else, but i'm 99.99999999% sure that it's his ICM.