I would like to share a description of a engine miss on my 95 LT1 coupe. It has 180K miles on it (13K with me). Car not tuned up while I have owned it - was not needed before.

It might be needed now. The symptoms are;

1. The engine has an engine miss while at idle (i.e. while at red light, in drive, with foot on brake),
2. The problem goes away if transmission is placed from drive to park,
3. If at light long enough, the engine seems to adjust itself and the miss improves greatly or goes away, but "service engine soon" light comes on.
4. Light stays on and the problem will not occur again.
5. After awhile the light goes off, when at the next light, the above sequence starts again.
6. Oh, when the light goes on, so do the engine fans.
7. I believe I smell gas when starting it cold - but I dont have the best of noses for smell.

There was a coolant leak 3 weeks ago, but it does not seemed to have re-occured. The leak was either at bottom of raddiator or front of engine. There was not a lot of fluid spill in engine compartment showing when I checked. The leak did not reoccur. The fluid level is the same as when I refilled it 3 weeks ago (it was 2 liters low on that occurance). Leak may have occured with running if the heater. Also, might be some smell of coolant when I leave car after driving it. Again, I dont have a great nose for any smells,

This might be TMI, but it is all the findings that I have.

Anyone have any ideas please?

Also, can the engine adjust itself as mentioned above?

It might be time for new sparkplugs?

My concern, is that coolant is leaking on the distributor, causing the miss, and it somehow can adjust. I dont think coolant of the distributor is a good thing. But not sure if that is a problem.

The fans activating is a mystery. The temp is no where close to the temps when it should cut on.

The engine temp and all other gauges are normal.

Car has no stall at accleration. Gas milage seems as usual.

Thanks for your time.

 

I personally have an L98, but I've read enough about how the Optispark is not a friend of water. I'd do a few things... check for codes (since you said the SES light came on), check for a leaking water pump, and prepare to spend some cash if your Opti is on it's way out.

 

Then a complete tune up including air filter/fuel filter. Start with the basics. If you don't know when the last servises were done, ie: oil change, tune up, throttle body cleaning etc, it's a good idea to start your own "history" on maintenance. Might toss in a can of fuel injector cleaner and your next fill up. I see you're located in Atlanta too. I have a mechanic here in Conyers should you ever need work done.

 

First thing I would do is check the codes. Then from there see where the leak is coming from. 95's hada vented Opti, better resistance to wettness uposed to earlier models. Change fuel filter, plugs, wires. I'm sure one of these are the culprit.