Ryan5.0

Please don't be mad, but because there are so many knowledgable techs on this forum, I hope someone can help. It's not for the Stang but my 89 Camaro 305 throttle body injection daily driver. It was parked for about 3 months while I was repairing axle bearings (just didn't have time to get to it). When I started it, after a few minutes it developed a miss or skip. After driving it long enough to warm it up good, the miss almost dissapeared. Now (300 mi later) when the engine is cold, it skips. After about 10 minutes the miss gradually goes away. The engine has been very reliable but now has close to 200,000 miles. No smoke or oil usage. How do you guys suggest I begin to diagnose the problem? Any help would be greatly appreciated.

P Zero

When was the last time you tuned it up? If you cant remember it probably needs a tune up. Replace the plugs. wires, dist cap and rotor. Use ONLY ACDELCO stuff on it, itll run the best with OE parts. You might also want to change the fuel filter just for good measure. Try that I bet itll run a hell of a lot better.
-P.

Ryan5.0

It was tuned up about 10,000 miles before the car was parked. Plugs, wires, cap, rotor, oxygen sensor and timing chain. Fuel pump (pain in the butt-had to drop rear end) and filter also new. Would the car being parked for several months possibly foul a plug? Could I have a lifter not pumping up? When first started it purred very smooth. Started the skip after it ran for about 5 minutes at idle.

r.barn

might just have bad fuel, fuel doesnt like to sit for more than a month or so.

P Zero

Yeah, gas that sits around for a while has a tendency to seperate. Just out of curiosity, what brand parts were used for the tune up?
I had an incident a few years ago with an escort that we used budget tune up parts on, a few months later the girl came back to me saying that her car was running bad. It was missing consistantly on a couple of cylinders, after checking a few things, I realized it was the tune up parts we used. I exchanged everything for motocraft parts, the thing ran like a swiss watch.
-P.

Ryan5.0

My thoughts exactly. Its now on the second tank of new gas. I know that old gas will thicken and sometimes foul a plug. I guess I will remove the plugs this weekend and look for 1 that is different from the others. Screw it - I'll just replace all plugs and clean the throttle body and hope for the best. With the high mileage, I'm worried about a weak lifter. Thanks.

hellas85stang

usuallty takes longer then 3 months to sperate gas.... there are a # of things u can do n check,,, with a compression gauge u can check and see if ya rings aresealing good,or u have a blown head gasket,u can hook up a vacume gauge to see if u have a vacum leak,u can see if u have a good spark on spark plugs,u can unhook ags line and see if gas is seperated,by turning engine over to pump gas out in a cup...u can take it to a store and have a computer scan on it ....

Stiffclutch

As my chevies and ford set for about 3 months to 6 months a year i run into this if i don't start them and let them run at least once a week, what i would suggest is pull the pulls one isn't quite getting as hot as the others, until it is warm (look for one that is black on the tip instead of the white) rotate it with one of the good ones that might help

Ryan5.0

All AC Delco. I had a very bad experience with the fuel pumps. The 1st 2 fuel pumps were Napa "Crappa". 1st one lasted 1 month. Got a free replacement from Napa and it lasted 3 weeks. After about 12 hours of working on the same damm fuel pumps I decided to buy an AC Delco (a year later and all is good). I think the plugs are Champion--can't remenber, rotor, cap, and wires are all from GM. My father in law is a Napa Auto Care Facility so we ordered the 1st 2 pumps through the shop on his Napa account. He nor I will ever trust Napas electrical components again. OEM all the way. I'll change the plugs this weekend and hopefully all we be good--unless they are all fine and consistent when I remove them. Thanks for everyone's input.