Camaro Troubleshooting

[bowtieguy]

my wife's '97 Camaro(AT and V6) is acting up. it revs to red line, surges, and stalls...ALL intermitantly.

it seems to do it only when it's warm. my mechanic could only replicate it after driving for a while as well. he's had the car for 2 days, and thinks it may be the computer going bad. other than that, he hasn't a clue yet. thoughts?

on a side note, the auto shifter is difficult at times to get out of park. also, several codes were stored, such that my mechanic thinks there is no way that it's possible.

[theholycow]

When it revs to redline, is it accelerating (but not upshifting), is the transmission slipping, or is it not engaging the gear?

When it's difficult to get out of Park, is it on a hill?

What are the stored codes that were found?

[Ford Man]

If you know what the code numbers were and can post them it might be helpful. You might also try disconnecting the battery for a few minutes then hooking it back up. Sometimes powering down the ECU and letting it relearn everything will solve some problems. Even if it doesn't solve the problem it would be a good test to see if it sets the same codes again or if it sets new codes. If you disconnect the battery it will probably take at least 100 miles of driving before the ECU relearns all the perimeters.

[bowtieguy]

it revs w/out giving throttle, and surges even w/ the brake applied(my wife almost rear-ended someone), so i'm not thinking tranny.

it's difficult to get into gear on flat road.

the codes may be of no consequence? old O2 and EGR codes, but the data stream shows many backfires in every cylinder.

the battery is weak and as the computer pulled everything from it, it shut out my mechanic in the middle of data retrieval. so i went and bought a new battery for it last night before he closed. hopefully the new battery will help.

[theholycow]

I suppose a weak battery could even cause those problems by making the computer act weird, but I wouldn't count on that.

It sounds like a sensor directly relating to fuel injection and actuated throttle/IAC, maybe a MAF or TPS problem. Any of those things should throw a code, though.

A leak somewhere between the throttle plate and the heads could cause it to go lean, throw the O2 codes, and cause the computer to inject more fuel to compensate for the lean condition, which would make it rev more.

Is the surging random/pulsing, or is it steadily idling high?

[Jay2TheRescue]

Weak battery, or low voltage will cause problems. On my Buick I had problems, the car was throwing about 5 or 6 codes all at once. I looked at the wiring diagram, and all the codes thrown were sensors running off the 5 volt reference from the computer. Further investigation revealed that the +5v reference was only about 1 volt. I traced the problem to one bad sensor that was internally shorted to ground, which starved all the other sensors of power and caused erratic readings.

[bobc455]

It revs to redline without touching the throttle? Then a lot of extra air is getting past the throttle somehow, look for broken vacuum lines or a (hugely) leaking power brake booster...

-Bob C.

[bowtieguy]

as it stands, HC is the winner!

the new battery helped to read the data better. MAF sensor came up--i totally ruled that out since i replaced it just over a year ago. it was a reman, 1 year warranty, NO REFUND/ replacement!!!

we decided on a new one this time. the price of the part was most of the bill. so far, so good. thanks for your help guys!