Bought 81 v6 231 A Camaro need help

[SetosCamaro]

Originally Posted by twozs

didn't those early electric "pulse" carbs have a faint tick to them . i know the 4 bbls did . is the factory computer and carb still there . I'm pretty sure by 81 even the V6s got a check engine light between the gages ( computer controled ) .

yea its got a check engine light on the dash, I forget how you check it, I think you have to short 2 of the terminals (have them touch) and its suppose to blink the error code? or is that only the 3rd gen cars? think it only has 4 pins for the terminal under the steering wheel..

Originally Posted by wayback

The only dumb question is the one that isn't asked.
Shouldn't leak much. Just a little dribble. Put a large rag under the line when you replace the filter and that should take care of it.

Sweet I was worried I would have to plug it up quick with something, will do this soon then. If anyone has an recommendations on what type of fuel filter and in line canister I should get that would be great.

[B.M.]

Originally Posted by SetosCamaro

, blew all my money on the car so will need to wait for my next paycheck

Welcome to the wonderful world of old camaros, they will bleed your wallet fast,first by fixing things then by doing upgrades haha.As for the fuel filters a stock replacement would be fine for the one in the carb,and then most of the aftermarket type canister filters would be ok,i would not get the glass type though as they are easy to break and could cause a fire by dumping gas on the hot engine.

[SupplySgt]

Geeze it's a good thing I don't have that car. I'd be buying up parts to turbo that V6 in a heartbeat. The T-Type (and rare Turbo Monte Carlo) was already in production in 81 and it's basically the same motor, just in turbo form.

[twozs]

back in the olden days we used to use a key like this to ground the computer . i just remember 4 bbl carb would tick when they pulsed the metering rods . I'm really not sure if the 2 bbls had the electric carb though . petty sure they did .

[fueler]

Originally Posted by SetosCamaro

Hello

I need some help with this, there are a couple of issues I'm trying to work on with this car I bought. It "works" but I want it to work well.

Things I have replaced/Done:
new Distrubutor Cap And rotor
new sparks acdelco spark plugs Part # R45TSX
new spark plug wire set.
new Air filter
Oil change


Here are the things I'm having issues with:
--Hard to start for the first time in the day--
-Unsure if I should change the coil in the distrubutor or get a replacement starter motor.

--Engine Jitters a little some times
- Unsure if I have to check the timing or something else for this?


--Hear tiny eletric ticking noise
--- no idea all plugs are covered and have no idea what this could be

--Oddly enough no RPM meter ? has giant Gas meter were Rpms normally would be in a car.

--at Higher speeds 50-60 mph it feels like the car is choking a little bit unsure why the back of the car feels like it shakes a little bit. If I let go of the gas a little bit it stops shaking and sometimes I can re-hit the gas and its fine for a little bit but starts shaking a little bit.

-- Bought carb cleaner and took off air filter and sprayed a little in choke area

Well any help would be great!

First off, congrats on owning a Camaro!

I had a 80 with a 231 cid v6 and you have described the same problems mine had when I purchased it.

Here is how I cleared things up;

The hard start problem was mostly a choke problem. The power wire going to the choke on the carb was corroded and not making a circuit.
Cleaned it and the morning start was alot better. Shortly after I noticed that once the car was shut off, fuel vapor was coming up from the carb horn. This means gas was leaking from the carb float bowl into engine overnight and it was empty by morning. Thus it took a while to pump fuel up and fill the bowl before it would start in the mornings. A good working choke assembly will help pump the fuel up faster though still. A few weeks later I took the carb off and did the epoxy fix and no more draining of fuel overnight, was much cheaper on fuel too, search it out for more info.

The engine studders at speed for me was a bad vacuum system. If I remember correctly, one of the vacuum switches around the thermostat housing crapped out, I found it through trial and error. I didn't really fix it but just plugged off that hose since I was going to install a v8 in a few months anyways. What a difference it made, I would go through your engine vacuum system looking for hoses leaking air or plugging vacuum switches off to see what you can come up with.

One of the electric ticking noises I was having was the heater motor turning slow even though it was off, common problem with these cars. The motors can give off annoying ticking sounds that go away when on high. Unplug the motor from under the hood and see if things clear up.

The other electric ticking noise was coming from the funky metric transmission. Never did figure that one out but it was probably a solenoid in the transmission having issues. The trans worked fine and again it was coming out in a few months so I did not chase it further except to diagnose the noise was from the trans. What a strange noise though, I had a 700r4 make a whining noise when the oil filter was plugged but that type of sounding noise was a first.

Anyways, hope this helped and good luck!

[SetosCamaro]

Originally Posted by fueler

First off, congrats on owning a Camaro!

I had a 80 with a 231 cid v6 and you have described the same problems mine had when I purchased it.

Here is how I cleared things up;

The hard start problem was mostly a choke problem. The power wire going to the choke on the carb was corroded and not making a circuit.
Cleaned it and the morning start was alot better. Shortly after I noticed that once the car was shut off, fuel vapor was coming up from the carb horn. This means gas was leaking from the carb float bowl into engine overnight and it was empty by morning. Thus it took a while to pump fuel up and fill the bowl before it would start in the mornings. A good working choke assembly will help pump the fuel up faster though still. A few weeks later I took the carb off and did the epoxy fix and no more draining of fuel overnight, was much cheaper on fuel too, search it out for more info.

The engine studders at speed for me was a bad vacuum system. If I remember correctly, one of the vacuum switches around the thermostat housing crapped out, I found it through trial and error. I didn't really fix it but just plugged off that hose since I was going to install a v8 in a few months anyways. What a difference it made, I would go through your engine vacuum system looking for hoses leaking air or plugging vacuum switches off to see what you can come up with.

One of the electric ticking noises I was having was the heater motor turning slow even though it was off, common problem with these cars. The motors can give off annoying ticking sounds that go away when on high. Unplug the motor from under the hood and see if things clear up.

The other electric ticking noise was coming from the funky metric transmission. Never did figure that one out but it was probably a solenoid in the transmission having issues. The trans worked fine and again it was coming out in a few months so I did not chase it further except to diagnose the noise was from the trans. What a strange noise though, I had a 700r4 make a whining noise when the oil filter was plugged but that type of sounding noise was a first.

Anyways, hope this helped and good luck!

Thanks! yea.. now that you mention it there is a plug just hanging loose in the engine area on the right side of the engine... I haven't figured out where it goes yet ...its been that way since I got it.. hmm well I guess I'll have to figure out that mystery. It feels like the problem is fuel related, getting too much air and not enough gas at times. I will go through your suggestions as well when I get a change, still need to get a timing light and Tachometer (though with the cost of it I might as well get one and put one in the dashboard or something). It's amazing how most people have the V8 engine and get rid of the V6, there must be a big difference in performance.
This weekend I think I'm going to change the fuel filter, fix some of the car's rust parts in the trunk and try to find something to seal the windows a little more (they are leaking) untill I can get them re-done re-sealed again with the proper weather seals, fix my dashboard (previous owner I think painted the dashboard and never put the screws back in so it vibrates badly, put grease on the speedometer (its making a really loud rubbing noise)

[SetosCamaro]

Quick update from this weekend. Got Timing Light.. car seems to be correct at 15 degrees . Rpms were a little high 1000 on idle(after the car was warmed up) No real way to adjust it but did Discover EGR hose was completely plugged by previous owner with a screw and was not connected to EGR at all. Changed Fuel Filter (it was dirty as hell). Rpms dropped to about 800 rpms. Car seems to have re-gained some of its power (so far) will have to try it for work tommorrow and see how it goes.


Update: Car is running a little better but still struggles with high speed 50-60 mph also if car isn't all the way warm (in the morning) the car will die when idling in drive, when its warm its fine.

[SetosCamaro]

yea its still having problems. I tried soap and water/ Carb cleaner to try to find a vacuum leak .. couldn't find any. Going to try to replace the fuel pump next. Hope that does .. its sounding more and more like I might have to deal with the carburetor if that doesn't work.