Stalling problem

[usp55]

Who ever can tell me whats wrong with my car i will gladly buy u a 6pack of your favorite. I am completely out of ideas and wasted another weekend with no luck.

Problem: my camaro has been giving my trouble for the past month or 2 and its getting worse. engine has a bad hesitation, so bad sometimes that at a stop it will stall. If i put it into reverse it sometimes stalls. At highway speeds if i go to tap the throttle the rpms drop first then go up.

Things i have changed in the past 2 weekends:
Fuel pump
IAC
IAT (air charge sensor)
TPS
both 02's
plugs
wires
coils


Also when it stall I cant get it started. Has a strong crank goes to starts and then dies. I have to try almost ten tries to starts and even then i have to get on the gas for a bit so it wont stall.

And the problem seems to come and go but in the past two das its has really gotten bad. No codes at all.

Fuel pressure it right at 41

[NastyEllEssWon]

check your coil packs. do you have an automatic? kinda sounds like a tcc problem at first

[usp55]

yea replaced all three coils today, no luck. yes auto. tcc?

ok never thought to look at the trans as i just have it rebuilt. the fluid level is alittle high. there isnt a drain plug on a 4l60E is there? best way to take some fluid out?

forgot to mention but the other day going to work my trans felt like it was stuck in overdrive and would kick ot of it. doing 65 the rpms are usually 2100-2200 but they were stuck at 2500. then it dropped down after a min or 2.
didnt think much of.

[black95maro]

sounds like you need a tc or maybe just the clutch.

[usp55]

this is exactly what my car is doing, has to be the TCC.


"The TCC is made to engage usually only in the top gear when the car is cruising, not accelerating. The lock up converter will disengage when the accelerator is pressed hard enough. Over time the clutch will wear out especially if the vehicle ever towed anything and was left in overdrive (top gear). This will wear the clutch out prematurely. If you have a tachometer you will see the RPM’s drop a few hundred when it engages. If the TCC is bad one of three things will usually happen. First, the vehicle will tend to rev up and down as it engages and disengages, not being able to keep the converter clutch locked up. Second, the converter clutch will engage randomly in gears that it shouldn’t even engage in usually. Third the clutch doesn’t want to disengage. As you slow down the vehicle won’t downshift and if you try to accelerate the RPM’s will be so low that the vehicle will have difficulty moving quickly. In extreme cases the lockup converter will try to keep the vehicle moving as you try to stop at a stop light, or will stall out and die. Many people think that this problem is coming from their engine because it causes the car to stall. The check engine light will not always show an error for the TCC. Most lockup converters are controlled by a wire or wires that plug into the transmission. It is possible on some models to simply disconnect this plug. This is not a problem and will only cause you to lose a little gas mileage. The RPM’s will run slightly higher than before but will not harm anything or be an issue."

how exactly is the tcc fixed? is it internal?
i recently have a full rebuild, stall, and shift kit done to the car so im gona take it back to the shop but im curious as to what actually needs to be done to fix it. mechanical? electronic? needs adjustment?

[Tru2Chevy]

First thing to do is go out to your car and unplug the connector that controls the TCC. Should be a square 4 pin connector on the driver's side of the trans, IIRC. Drive it for a little bit that way and see if it solves the problem. If so, then just take it back to the shop and let them know.

Sounds like they didn't replace the original lockup solenoid, when that goes bad it often doesn't unlock when you slow down. I had that problem in my old Lumina, but I didn't feel like buying and replacing the solenoid so I just left it unplugged.

- Justin

[usp55]

ok so i ran the car today stalled 2x in philly after leaving my parking garage. got it home and the check engine light came on. all three egr selenoids threw codes. changed the egr and took it for a spin, no luck same problems with a hesitation that almost stalls the car.

also i was running my scantron tool which shows me real time info on the tcc and it was locking up at the proper times and looked to be in proper working order based on my driving.

in my driveway i noticed very little if any pressure coming out of my tail pipes

Clogged CAT!?

could that be causing my hesitation, due to the back pressure being off.

[Tru2Chevy]

A clogged cat could be causing your hesitation issues, as the engine won't be getting enough fresh air and fuel in the cylinder to make proper power due to the exhaust being clogged up.

Based on what you described I would still pull the plug for the TCC and see if that makes a difference.

- Justin

[usp55]

ok yea ill pull the plug but also im going look into the cat as there is literally almost nothing coming out of the cutout

also i have to get it inspected this month i just noticed so i have to remove the cutout so i might as well replace the exhaust system

[Pampered-Z]

I'm sorry I don't remember this completely, but I think this works sometimes to determine if the TCC is sticking?

There is a fuse ( could be for the trans, or might be the ECM ) that if you remove for 30 seconds then reinstall will reset the TCC so it unlocks. Drive the car around staying under 35MPH so the TC doesn't lock and see if the car stalls or not? Then drive it to 55MPH and see if it starts stalling again.

Also crawl under the car and bang on the intermed. pipe and muffler, see if there are any rattles, if the cat came apart there might be pieces in there and you'll hear them rattle.

[usp55]

i took the car to my muffler guy and he doesn't think it the cat. He is going to get a fog machine from a buddy and see it it is a vac leak somewhere.

i can put my hand over the open post cat cutout and there is not much coming out of it. what else would cause that. car had trouble starting but if i waited about 10 min it started up


where is that plug for the tcc on the trans?

[sweetbmxrider]

since you mentioned issues with the egr, i would give a good look at the MAP sensor. mine burnt up a little when my egr gasket leaked. its just behind the egr on the intake.

[Tru2Chevy]

Originally Posted by usp55

where is that plug for the tcc on the trans?

Couldn't find a good pic of a 4L60e to confirm if it's the same plug or not, but this is what it looks like on a 700R4.

- Justin

[BonzoHansen]

A 4l60e doesn't have a single hanress connector?

[usp55]

ok thanks for the pic.

i went to the muffler guy to ask about a new cat and ive been there many times before and spent about an hour with the guy going over the car looking for my problem. he doesnt think its the car as the car basically stalled when i parked it and it wouldnt fire up. he said it it was the cat that was clogged it would atleast idle and then cut out. so he thought it was a vac leak. I left the car with him and got a call about 2 hrs later and he told me i put the egr on wrong or the gasket wasnt seated right, but that it was running now.

i picked it up car started right up, idled alittle funny for a few seconds, but ran ok. got home to look at the egr and i could be wrong but i think its ok backwards now...?


as u can see the egr is backwards and there is a little bap now and u can even see the egr tube from the header.

here u can clearly see the proper orientation of the egr




but it runs and it dosnt want to stall and starts up......WTF



so is egr now releasing pressure that cant get past the clogged cat and letting ti run better than before. kinda makes sense that i was hearing pressure escaping from oy o2 on the driverside header and the 02 sensor was actually loose (replaced with new on and tight now - prob got worse right after i got the new one on) maybe due to exhaust pressure
oh and the car still seems to be running a little hotter than normal. today is not an overly hot day and the temp was a little higher than normal and took longer to come down on the highway when the radiator was getting good air flow.


does this make sense to anybody?

[NastyEllEssWon]

if your cat really is clogged it would keep heat in the head and cause the radiator to not do its job properly