Hey folks!

Tomorrow's the big day- the day my vette goes back on the road! But I have a problem- it's not running quite right. The other day, I drove it (a manual 94 coupe) for 2 miles (no plates, of course! :jester), and it had an awful lot of hesitation. When I stepped on the gas, it didn't really kick in as hard as it used to. No, I'm not imagining things; my buddy noticed it, too. It's accelerating, yet kinda hesitating as it accelerates. The only way I can describe it is like an improperly tuned carburator, like on my old 85 Buick Regal. It feels and sounds like one of the cylinders is perhaps being skipped over, but then again I've never lost a cylinder to my knowledge, so I really don't know what that feels like.

Before I garaged the car (it's been in for about 6 months) I filled the tank to the brim with 93 octane and fuel stabilizer, checked the anti-freeze mixture, pulled the battery, jacked it up, and capped the tail pipes. My buddy mentioned that perhaps there's water in the gas, and I should siphon it. (That's fine by me, I'll just pour it down my Mazda's throat! :lol:) I can't think of anything else that it could be, as it was running like a raped ape up until the winter. I'm not afraid of doing any work myself, and have access to all the tools but a lift. Any help is greatly appreciated, and will be rewarded hopefully with beer at the next Carlisle! :cheers:

Thanks again, all!!!
jsquared94

 

Perhaps the fuel stabilizer is causing the power loss. Could also be a seal in the fuel system needs to soften back up from some regular driving before it will seal fully again, so you might be getting some lower than usual fuel pressure because of that. Seems to me it ought to be related to the storage if you didn't change anything on it over the winter, and the only thing I can think of storage wise at the moment is fuel system related :crazy:

 

Does it idle ok? What if you simply rev it in park, does it hesitate or backfire at all? If it's missing at idle or when you rev it in park, it could be the ignition system (notice I didn't say opti spark). Check all of the wires and take a look at the plugs. You may simply have a fouled plug.

The other thing I would look at is the fuel filter. You never know what kind of crap can break loose in the tank. The stabilizer is an anti-varnish, it may have eaten some old crap off of the side of the tank over the winter.

Just some thoughts. :cheers:

 

Call me kooky, but may I ask about the opti park? If it is bad (any reason) this will be a big cause of some hesitation just a thought.

 

Thanks guys for the input so far! I'm guessing (hoping?) it's not the opti- it revs fine in neutral, and it also idles fine- I think- I'm not totally certain. I suppose first thing I'll do is get rid of the gas, and while it's drained, I'll do the fuel filter as well. I wasn't aware of fuel stabilizer breaking "sludge" free.

Thanks again!
jsquared94

 

I'd still pull the plugs and check the wires. That would be the easiest place to start. And, man I have a current story on a cat that I'll be posting soon. What a nightmare it was figuring that one out, but I went all the way from fouled #8 to checing valve guides and seals to figuring the engine was comming out until I pulled the cat. I forgot the car could run that good :D

 

Check plugs, wires, and do a compression test on each cylinder then move onto more expensive things.