running poorly

[Atl_Monte]

My Trans Am just started running bad one day started with this slight skipping, paid it no attention thought I had just got a bad batch of gas but it grew increasingly worst I changed the fuel filter this morning but it din't help much though it was long over due for a change, the car still has a noticable skip at idle, and really bogs down on heals and on excelleration from a stop, when it bogs down it skips and sputters something horrbile almost making it undrivable what could this be I'm thinking maybe spark plug wires, at least that was going to be the next thing I change...

[Craig 94 TA GT]

Did you get the SES light? Any codes from a scanner?

Does it miss and skip at all RPMs? How many miles do you have on the plugs, wires, opti, coil, ICM? Did you try to make sure no plugs have gotten loose?

I would guess it's the opti, but there are too many things that could go wrong. Also, when my MAF plug gets loose, it has the same symptons as you mention, but I get the "Service Engine" light.

[Atl_Monte]

no SES light, probably about 7k or less miles on the plug, I that the intake elbow coming from the MAS to the intake has a hole in it I tried to tap it up...
miles on wires, opti, and coil are unkown

[paxton350]

Id say check the injectors for loose connections first. Are you getting spark at all 8 plugs? Compression good? Just check the basics, eliminate spark, fuel, compression and then go from there...

[Izzy]

quick test for you to do to check the injectors. in the fuse panel you should have 2 fuses marked inj#1 and inj#2. what i did .. was pull out one fuse and turned on my car. no skipping and when i hit the gas .. it was smooth going up in rpms. the i tried the other fuse and plugged the other one back in. skipping , barely starting, when it did the intake opened up to pull in more air, and even flooring it rpm were minimal. changed my injectors and now i am burning rubber. it might not be the right way to test it ... but it was my quickiest way to do a check.

[Atl_Monte]

just replaced the wires still doing the same thing, someone suggested it might be the catalic converter could this be?

[Atl_Monte]

any more ideas or suggestions?

[Iceslim0]

My 1994 TA has been running like crap for over a month. I've had 2 very experienced mechanics look at it and they can't find anything wrong.
(I think I might have a bent pushrod and niether of them thought of that)

I'd just head to autozone and get your pcm read.

Drive around for about 20-30 minutes, then look under your car. If your catalytic converter is glowing red, then it had a clog, and need replaced or taken off. Other than that I don't think you're looking at a cat prob.

You may have a header leak or something kind of oxygen sensor misread which could be making your air to fuel mixture screwy.

get your computer checked.

[Jeff_in_Atl]

Did you reuse the metal shields on the spark plug wire boots?

[Injuneer]

quick test for you to do to check the injectors. in the fuse panel you should have 2 fuses marked inj#1 and inj#2. what i did .. was pull out one fuse and turned on my car. no skipping and when i hit the gas .. it was smooth going up in rpms. the i tried the other fuse and plugged the other one back in. skipping , barely starting, when it did the intake opened up to pull in more air, and even flooring it rpm were minimal. changed my injectors and now i am burning rubber. it might not be the right way to test it ... but it was my quickiest way to do a check.

You pulled an injector fuse, disabling 4 injectors, it made your engine run better?

[Joe 1320]

Maybe a stuck EGR?

[formula_gramps]

Just Curious....

By any chance are the symptoms of this problem different when the car is started from a cold start vs. after the car is warmed up? Specifically, are there any differences in the symptoms when the car is running in open loop vs. closed loop? Can't remember...did the 95 have the lt1 engine like my 94 Formula?

Also when you say there is a skip I'm not sure what you mean exactly. See, in the old days when we said an engine had a "skip", it was obvious that one or more plugs were not firing properly. Lots of times today, when people say the engine has a skip, its become sort of a catch-all description for the engine not idling smoothly, which as I'm sure you know can have many sources.

Reason I'm asking all these questions is that my 94 had very similar symptoms until I did some repairs.

[Izzy]

You pulled an injector fuse, disabling 4 injectors, it made your engine run better?

yeah believe it or not i was able to tell from that i had injector issues. since then i changed the injectors and the problem has been solved. even though i cleaned the old injectors 3 of them were bad on one side. the computer didn't recognize this for some reason i guess its too old of a car. for some reason with both sets running the car would varely start or not at all .. but with one fuse out it would start no problem. had the same issue on my camaro but not as bad ...2 injectors just needed cleaning.

[Atl_Monte]

yea when I meant skip it was seemingly a problem with the plugs not firing correctly, but made the turn into my drive way monday and the car just cut off and wont start now will crankover but wont start...

[Joe 1320]

I think you need to take a step back and look at this.....

How many miles? When were the plugs and wires changed? Optispark?
The entire ignition system was engineered for a 100K mile lifespan. Has any of the parts been changed? Many of out misfire problems come from the optispark distributer, coil, plugs and wires. If that is fresh and you still have misfire issues, then we can look at other things.