Engine struggling?!?

[wdoran]

Hi everyone... This is my first post. You guys all seem loaded with great info, so I hope you can help. I searched around the site and couldn't find anything sounding similar to my problem.

I have a '99 Camaro. I notice this mostly when I am going up slight hills at normal speeds (45 up to 70). When I need to push in the gas pedal a little more to keep my speed, my engine hesitates and chokes and shakes the whole car, almost like I am running out of gas or don't have enough power or something. It never happens when accelerating from a stop, and if I jump on it enough to drop into 3rd gear (I have an A4), it's fine.

My last two fill-ups, I added fuel injector cleaner, and it seemed to help a little. But, it is almost as bad now as it was before I added the cleaner. Anyone have any clue?!

Thanks in advance for any help!

[Brian Dieckman]

Power loss under this situation is almost always some kind of starvation problem.

1. Spark starvation: Check plugs/wires/coils

2. Air starvation: ensure that your filter isn't clogged and there's nothing blocking the path of air between the airbox and the intake. Also, if your car has many miles, you might consider removing the throttle body and cleaning it.

3. Fuel starvation: replace filter if neccesary. Probably isn't a pump problem, nor a regulator problem.

It could also be a backpressure problem. Check your Catyletic convertor for flow, and if you've been over any big bumps or other hazardous driving condition, check your exhaust for crimped or crushed pipe.

Good luck! And welcome to the board.

-Brian

[sped214]

I had a similar problem. When I was around 2000 rpm's, it would surge a little. Give it more gas, and it was fine. There was actually an update to the PCM that fixed my problem. There was a slipping issue with the TCC in 3rd and 4th gear. The update changed the engagement points of the TCC, and fixed the problem. Ask your dealer if there are any updates to the PCM for your model... Hope that helps...

[black98V6]

first guess would be plugs and wires.... but I say that every time someone has this problem... anyway check your wires for arcing... crank the car and raise the hood at night.. you will be able to see the wires arcing if they are torn or broken.. either way a change of plugs and wires never hurts..

[wdoran]

Thanks for the tips guys. I was looking at how I would get to and change the plugs and wires. It doesn't look like an easy job. Any links or tips on how to do it, and is it a job I can do myself with nothing more then a jack and a wrench?

Oh, and I only have 33,000 miles on the car, if that makes any difference at all.

[black98V6]

ahh ... ok.. I fogot that the 99's have the same manifolds has the 96+ cars.. yep.. changing plugs and wires the first time is a real pain in the butt!.. first off you have to get under the car to get at 4 of the 6.. the front 2 you get from the top the back 2 you get from the bottom.. the middle driver side you get from the bottom.. the passenger middle you put the socket on from the bottom then with the help of one 3 inch extension connected to a unversal joint connected to another extension connected to your ratchet you can get the plug out. when you change the wires keep all of the stock wire looms and try to remember where each one goes. when you re-run your new wires you need to take extra care about where the wires go and that they don't flap around where they can get burned.. its also a good idea to have some tie-wraps handy to keep the wires tied up out of the way.. if you aren't careful you WILL burn the new ones.. I burned a real nice set of $80 accels that way.
Also when you are under the car have plenty of light.. this is where a drop light is a MUST. You can do it with a flash light but a decent drop light is going to make alot of differnece.
Finally have at least 3 or 4 hours on your hands to do this. The first time takes quite a while... And when you go buy plugs stick with stock ac delcos. Unless of course you are running nitrous or something like that which requires a different plug (I know nothing about nitrous)
Oah and go buy a tube of dielectric grease and use that stuff on the inside of the boots which go over the plugs.. this will make life much easier and it cost about a buck. If you put it in a safe place and keep up with you will proably never have to buy any again.
One last thing.. there are many choices when it comes to wires. Spending an outrageous amount of money will not necessarily get you any more power but will strain your wallet. (this part is personal opinion) get a set of taylors. you can get them through summit or thunder racing just to name a few places. They are quality wires and won't break the bank. Those are what I bought after ruining the $80 accels

[wdoran]

Just curious before I kill myself checking/changing these wires - Would bad wires trip a code in the computer? I don't have an SES light lit or anything. Any chance of getting a code without a light lit?

Can anyone recommend any good/cheap code readers?

Thanks again for all your help.