1993 Caprice with Miss

Hell All,

I have a 1993 Chevy Caprice Classic with a 5.7 350 ci motor Fule injected. On Saturday, I was driving vehicle and it drove perfectly, however, when I stopped and spoke to a friend for 10 min (Vehicle was idling for about 10 min), it suddenly died. I restarted vehicle and it ran really ragged. It would idle up and down (RPM from almost zero to 1000). I just kepts idling up and down. the check engine light did turn on while I was moving vehicle to a safer place. In addition, there is an audible hissing sounds coming from under the air cleaner. It sounds like a vacuum leak for sure. I am not a mechanic, and hope to take the thing in soon, but I would like some ideas so I could maybe look and see if it is something obvious and easy to replace. Thanks in advance for any imput,

Kevin Gowen

If it's a vacuum leak, find the source and either plug it or fix it. More than likely, it's a hose that cracked. Most of them are easy replacements. At least find the leak and determine if it's easy enough for you to fix it. Take the air cleaner off and locate the sound. If you can hear it with the air cleaner on, it should be quite obvious and easy to find.

If you can't tell where it's coming from, use some carb cleaner or brake cleaner or even a water bottle with a squirt nozzle and spray the suspect area and when the leak sucks up the liquid, the idle will change and it will give you a better idea of where the leak is. Once you've determined the culprit, report back or replace the suspect component whether it be a bad hose (most likely) or an egr valve or the like.

Good luck..

-Bruce