Help! 3.4 running like crap

[Reg Kmet]

i dont know what to make of my car... first of all my cat clogged, so i removed it to run straight pipe, but the car was and still is running like crap even before i pulled off the cat. the car has like no power and feels like its kinda bucking a bit when i lay on the gas. I am thinking new plugs and wires could be in order, any other suggestions? btw, i have done an egr bypass cuz it basically blew up on me, lol, and i dont have a functioning AIR pump.

any suggestons on making my car run better would be greatly appreciated.

Reg

[Harbin1]

Sounds like you have a bunch of emissions stuff that's out of whack. I would start with changing the plugs and O2 sensors. My car always runs a little better when I replace those. Look into some sort of injector cleaner like Seafoam. You're probably over the 100,000 mile mark so the motor is going to get more and more pissy without regular maintenance.

You might have a spark plug wire loose or even a fouled plug. Be sure to inspect your entire ignition. Also, you may have too little backpressure since you removed the cat. I had my cat removed and straight pipes put on (yup, no muffler just pipes from the headers back) and I seemed to have about half as much power as before.

Anyways, start simple, check the ignition, then see if you're throwing any codes. I'd look into injectors after that. Be sure to make sure all of your sensors are plugged in and working properly, too.

[viper98885]

It sounds like plugs and wires to me too....actually, more like wires from my experience with the 3.4L V6s.

[CAMAROWIDBASS]

change the fuel filter.

[Reg Kmet]

I've got a 2.5 in catco and a set of taylor wires and plugs on the way, hopefully they will be here any day soon. seafoam and a fuel filter are still on the list, i last replaced the plugs, wires, and filter about.... 26-30k miles. hopefully this will help the beast a bit. she has 146k kilometers, so like 80k miles? sound about right?

[White95]

try replacing the coils, thats what was wrong with my car when it ran like crap...

[Reg Kmet]

white95, hows your car run? and would you reccommend picking up those MSD coils?

[White95]

My car ran like complete ***, after I took my car to a shop and $80 later I found out that one of my coils had gone bad (I found this out after replacing the plugs and O2 sensors b/c I thought the seafoam I ran through had f'd things up) I had already had MSD coils so I drove up to summit and picked one up for like $40. The coil replace took me about 10 mins maybe less (do it yourself). Started the car up and it ran like new. If i were to do things over again I'd get a voltage thing to check your coils yourself and not pay someone out the *** for it. You could always just go ahead and buy the MSD coils to replace the stock ones, that way you don't have to worry about them later on and it might fix your problem.

[Reg Kmet]

actually, i have a set of accell coils on there right now, but who knows, maybe they are junk. any way for me to test them? also worth mentioning, without the catalytic converter, the car reeks liek a snowmobile.

[CAMAROWIDBASS]

my car was running rough like this too, look where it says 3.4 on the engine, right above it by the firewall there is a vaccum which is a T, and it disconnected and it was running bad.

[pontiac nino]

all i can say is check you're O2's, and spark plug wires, but it can more likely be a bad coil might wanna check them

[camaronat]

it sounds like the problem mine is having...i definitely know that my car is running rich, which is causing the smell...gonna run the engine through a diagnostic machine tomorrow to see what is going on in there.