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It all started with a cough.......
I'll just open with the fact that no matter how badly I may bash GM for the design flaws of the V6 F-Body, I LOVE my car and all F-Bodies..... With that out of the way, I'm hoping someone has some input on this situation I'm in.
Firstly, I drive my car like it was stolen. I've been the only driver and owner of my 02 Camaro, and I've given her nothing but premium grade products (I play hard, but keep my car well maintained). Anyways, I changed the spark plugs and wires at about 90K and everything has been fine until recently.
Recently, I had to replace my heater core assembly (came with new tensioner pulley) because the plastic elbows broke and blew all the coolant in my radiator evacuated from the front of the engine block. When I took the unit off, I removed my alternator, air box, baffles, and the entire throttle assembly. The reason I had to replace my heater core assembly was because it had stress cracks.. (I'd love to beat the genius who decided that plastic and aluminum would be a great for an iron block engine that can handle twice the temperature).
I replaced the damaged parts and put a new throttle body gasket on. I reconnected everything, and she ran great. I never cleaned the throttle body because I didn't have the time or money to invest in a new MAF sensor and gasket (it was a little dirty, but that's to be expected now that she has 156k miles on her). After driving the car about 400 miles, I noticed what seemed to be a cough that occurred randomly during driving. Up until now, I chalked it up to be watery gasoline.
My SES light was on and has been since the replacement of my fuel pump (replaced at about 140k miles). Since the replacement of the pump, I've had no issues except for my fuel gage randomly reading completely full or completely empty (it jumps back and forth between the two and started happening about 1k miles after the install. Prior to that, I had accurate readings on the gage.). The SES light code indicated that my tank pressure sensor was malfunctioning. I have not replaced that sensor yet.
Anyways, one day I ran the car completely out of fuel. A friend brought me 1/4 gallon of gas and I assume it was old because my car tried to start and I was getting only partial combustion and then no combustion at all. I added another 5 gallons of fresh gas and she turned right over. So, another possibility is that my car didn't have enough fuel to start at that time. Since then, I have ran another tank and a half of 93-octane fuel through her.
Since that incident, my car has been occasionally coughing. At first it started off as a very quick, random, skip or cough. As I drove more, the cough became more frequent, but I thought that I may have a little of that bad gas coming through and just kept driving. Today, out of nowhere, my car started acting as if it was misfiring. It has a very rough idle now, and is sputtering at even the slightest attempt to accelerate. I tried to sport around in my car once or twice (hoping to force what ever this was through). When I attempted to throttle into it, the car sputtered (gaining speed, but at a good bit slower than normal) and then my SES light went from solid illumination to a blinking illumination and then it returned to solid illumination.
I have not pulled the plugs yet, or seen what new codes set off during my attempt to absolve this issue. I don't think the comp is in closed loop mode, because this doesn't feel like a computer controlled reduction in power (like when you hit the speed limiter). It honestly feels like I'm running off of 5 cylinders, having some sort of misfire, have water in my tank, have a bad injector, or something like that.
Tomorrow, I'll go to AutoZone and have the OBD2 reader see what new codes have popped up from this. I will post more once I have those codes, but in the meantime; does anyone have an idea of what this could be or had a similar experience? Any advice, info, or experiences would be greatly appreciated. My Camaro is a 2002 35th Anniversary F-Body with a manual 5-speed transmission. She currently has 156k miles on her, still shiny, and just as sexy as the day I bought her brand new.
Thanks,
Nick (Darkshadow188)
Firstly, I drive my car like it was stolen. I've been the only driver and owner of my 02 Camaro, and I've given her nothing but premium grade products (I play hard, but keep my car well maintained). Anyways, I changed the spark plugs and wires at about 90K and everything has been fine until recently.
Recently, I had to replace my heater core assembly (came with new tensioner pulley) because the plastic elbows broke and blew all the coolant in my radiator evacuated from the front of the engine block. When I took the unit off, I removed my alternator, air box, baffles, and the entire throttle assembly. The reason I had to replace my heater core assembly was because it had stress cracks.. (I'd love to beat the genius who decided that plastic and aluminum would be a great for an iron block engine that can handle twice the temperature).
I replaced the damaged parts and put a new throttle body gasket on. I reconnected everything, and she ran great. I never cleaned the throttle body because I didn't have the time or money to invest in a new MAF sensor and gasket (it was a little dirty, but that's to be expected now that she has 156k miles on her). After driving the car about 400 miles, I noticed what seemed to be a cough that occurred randomly during driving. Up until now, I chalked it up to be watery gasoline.
My SES light was on and has been since the replacement of my fuel pump (replaced at about 140k miles). Since the replacement of the pump, I've had no issues except for my fuel gage randomly reading completely full or completely empty (it jumps back and forth between the two and started happening about 1k miles after the install. Prior to that, I had accurate readings on the gage.). The SES light code indicated that my tank pressure sensor was malfunctioning. I have not replaced that sensor yet.
Anyways, one day I ran the car completely out of fuel. A friend brought me 1/4 gallon of gas and I assume it was old because my car tried to start and I was getting only partial combustion and then no combustion at all. I added another 5 gallons of fresh gas and she turned right over. So, another possibility is that my car didn't have enough fuel to start at that time. Since then, I have ran another tank and a half of 93-octane fuel through her.
Since that incident, my car has been occasionally coughing. At first it started off as a very quick, random, skip or cough. As I drove more, the cough became more frequent, but I thought that I may have a little of that bad gas coming through and just kept driving. Today, out of nowhere, my car started acting as if it was misfiring. It has a very rough idle now, and is sputtering at even the slightest attempt to accelerate. I tried to sport around in my car once or twice (hoping to force what ever this was through). When I attempted to throttle into it, the car sputtered (gaining speed, but at a good bit slower than normal) and then my SES light went from solid illumination to a blinking illumination and then it returned to solid illumination.
I have not pulled the plugs yet, or seen what new codes set off during my attempt to absolve this issue. I don't think the comp is in closed loop mode, because this doesn't feel like a computer controlled reduction in power (like when you hit the speed limiter). It honestly feels like I'm running off of 5 cylinders, having some sort of misfire, have water in my tank, have a bad injector, or something like that.
Tomorrow, I'll go to AutoZone and have the OBD2 reader see what new codes have popped up from this. I will post more once I have those codes, but in the meantime; does anyone have an idea of what this could be or had a similar experience? Any advice, info, or experiences would be greatly appreciated. My Camaro is a 2002 35th Anniversary F-Body with a manual 5-speed transmission. She currently has 156k miles on her, still shiny, and just as sexy as the day I bought her brand new.
Thanks,
Nick (Darkshadow188)
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