Corvette is in sick bay!

[Phillip Johnson]

Drove Junior to school this morning and on the way home, the Vette thought it was a 6 cylinder. Took 10 min. to get up the hill to my house. Im totally bummed. Next week is to be in the mid 70's all week and the Vette will be in the shop. I have NO IDEA what is wrong. I did all the easy stuff...drained the fuel and re filled, changed fuel filter, changed the HEI cap and coil, checked the plugs, Parked it on the driveway and walked away. Called the shop and made an appointment to have them make me take a 2nd out on my house to pay for repairs. I HATE COMPUTER CARS!
No idea at this point what happened! 72,000 miles of very EASY driving in 23 years! Chevys are NOT suppost to do these things!
Any ideas??????? I have until Thursday. My only other option is the DEALER! Noooooo, don't let me get weak and tow it to the DEALER! I even considered having it flat towed to Chico Calif to the only guy that has ever been under the hood. 253 miles. I wonder if AAA would consider that as the closest place of service???
This is my 6th child and it really hurts to see it sick!
Any suggestions will be welcome... Thanks in advance!!!!!

[Clmnz]

The only thing I usually do is if it is running on less than a full set of cylinders, is take a spray bottle and spray it on the exhaust manifold/headers to see which cylinder(s) are not firing to narrow things down a bit. Don't know if you checked plug wires either. Just my 2 cents worth!

Rod

[Andy4639]

I don't know what year it is, but this is what I would start out checking.
1. The tps switch, it can go bad and cause these kind of problems.
2. I would check the o/2 also.
3. Check the thermastat and make sure you are getting up to temperture, if it is stuck open the computer will think its cold and trying to send to much fuel. These car's like the engine to be warmmmm 210-215 degree's.
You haven't washed the motor lately have you? This can effect all kinds of things under the hood. Hope this helps.

[FRENCHBLUE72]

I do not think 1980 corvete's were computer yet??? Could be wrong though..

[miket]

Phil,

If it is missing for sure, which it sounds that way, I would try to check the most obvious things first...I would start with plug wires...spray bottle/timing light can identify this....check plugs which it sounds like you have done...maybe distributor issue....moisture in the cap.....could be carb adjustment or debris somewhere in there...I think you said it was a 72....they were pretty simple back then. I don't think it's anything serious.....hope it eases your mind.

[1969 GMC]

miket...I assume Phil is referring to the '80 vette in his sig. but that still doesn't matter, all available engines were carbed in '80.

phil, what engine does your vette have? L82?

[miket]

woops. My mistake. Can't get out of the 70's I guess.

[ddsmith]

Pull the air cleaner cover and get in position over the carb with the engine running. Give it gas and ensure you get even squirts from both sides of the carb. I know from previous experience if one side is partially blocked the car runs like crap. You said it's only running on six cylinders. Do you mean it seems like it's running on six or you know two cylinder are not firing? You can check your plug wires with an ohm meter to see if they are causing a problem. Another thing is that plug wire 7 and 5 run close to each other and they are right next to each other in the firing order. Make sure there is good separation for these wires to prevent cross fire. I would not think it's a module problem because that should kill all firing from the distributor. I would slap the timing light on each wire close to the plug and see if your light flashes consistently with all cylinders. If it does that pretty much rules out ignition as your problem. Your car should be much easier to diagnose than the new stuff. I would have to rule out taking the car to someone charging me $70+ an hour but everyone makes up their own mind.

[70short]

fuel filter, Plug wires. This happened to my 84 corvette when I owned it. I just done A complete tune up including wires. The car ran great after that. Then I wised up and purchased A 72 corvette.

[Phillip Johnson]

After I emptied the complete tank of fuel, 20+ gallons and then it ran inthe driveway another hour and 15 min. before it completly died, I then filled up 5 gallons of "known good fuel" and it still ran like crap. No check engine light. Hmmmmm and yes, it has a computer. 80 Was the first year of computers in most Chevys. My Vette is a "California 305". Factory headers and an automatic. Now, I figured, head to Napa and buy NEW plugs. My plugs were about 2000 miles and looked fine. I pulled them out again, replaced them with new, and I might add I donated blood this time. I let it off the jack stands and fired it up. turned it around and headed up the driveway spinning the tires. Im totally confused now. I see nothing that was wrong with the car before I started replacing parts. All i can think was that 1. small piece of carbon on 1 plug messed up my life or 2. Removing the metal heat shields, there may be a worn plug wire grounding out and now it isnt because they are still on the floor of the driveway. After the motor cools off, I am going to reinstall the shields and see if the motor still runs great... Tune in tomorrow for the results!
Thanks for all the support and suggestions guys! I kinow this isnt a truck but... it is the "sister to my truck collection!