1994 Pontiac Firebird Formula...HELP!

Okay, here is my problem. My car works fine usually, which is to say, it works fine when I go to work from home and vice versa.
HOWEVER, whenever I need to go a little furthur away, say even someplace 40minutes away, and get stuck in traffic or such, slowly my car starts to rumble a little while it's driving. Then it starts to hesistate a little when I try to accelerate, till the "hesitation" becomes so great that it refuses to go any further! As soon as i touch the gas pedal to make it move it just jerks as if it in 6th gear from standstill. Then I am forced to pull over to the side in rush hour traffic. I probably sit on the side for about 20minutes and then start it up again and it's good to go...for about 5 more minutes! a 40 minute trip can take me anywhere from 3hours up because I have to stop so many times for 20mins to make the car go for 5mins.
Oil is fine, I get the oil changed on time, and it isn't leaking because the level is always fine. The level on the guage in the dashboard varies sometimes depending on how long I have been driving and such but never falls below the 1/4th marker so its always in the safe zone.
The coolant/temperature is always fine, the temperature guage rarely ever goes beyond 1/4th, so over-heating isn't the problem.
Also, I got my spark plugs changed about three days ago. Since then the car can go MUCH longer before it starts doing the same old thing.
Frankly speaking I don't know WHAT the problem is, and I am hoping someone here could help me out.
Any advice/or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.
Thank you!

The only thing that I can come up with is the ignition module, which I dont' even know if that engine has (I'm sorry). That's worth looking into.
Jake

Maybe a clogged cat?

Are you getting an ses light on?? What engine do you have???

Formula all have the LT1....

Could be any number of things. Maybe a clogged catalitic converter... egr valve, too cheap of gas... My guess would be the EGR Valve, if it isn't working properly then it will give a large amount of carbon build up in your engine causing your spark plugs to foul and engine to run poorly. What the EGR valve does is recirculate the exhaust back into the engine's intake to burn any excess fuel, for emission reasons, thats all. However if it is not working properly it maybe flooding your engine with too much exhaust and not enough fresh air and fuel. Thus causing a large amount of carbon to build up. Or it could be a combo of both the EGR and you are sticking crappy gas in it. I know most of those engines don't like to have anything less then 92 octane in them or they get a little fussy.

The optispark is located right below the water pump. If any condensation gets in there, it fouls up the timing in any number of ways. Mine exibited similar behavior once after I pressure washed the underside, but cleared up in a couple of hours. I'm not sure if that is it, but it could be worth looking into if its not EGR. Given the improvement with the plug change, the exhaust recirculation is more likely the culpret.

A friend of my fathers had that same exact problem about a month ago on his 96 formula and it turned out to be the egr valve.

It sounds like the EGR valve, its a cheap commotion. However, if the new EGR does not work than I would check if there is enough gas coming into the car. My friend had a 82 bird, (I know its not exactly the same, I think it was TBI, not sure about TPI), and his car would do the same thing, there was just not enough gas coming into the car. It turned out to be the fuel filter, and he changed the TBI. Good luck

Thanks guys! you guys are TONS of help!!!

okay so just two more questions...

if it WERE the EGR Valve, would that show up on a diagnostics check?

Also, someone I work with mentioned that it might be the distributor... any thoughts???

The Distributor DOES have the ignition module below it to the best of my knowledge

[By the way, the car has a 5.7L V8 engine, no mods]

Squirell Nuts 1995 Pontiac Firebird 3.4L V6 :smokin:
Airflow: 62mm TB, Cold Air Intake, Headers, High Flow Cat, Magnaflow Exhaust - Engine: Pulleys & Belt, 160º Thermo, Spark Plugs, Stage2 Chip, High Perf Cam w/ Roller Timing Chain Kit, 1.6 Roller Rocker Arms - Suspension: Lower Control Arms, Panhard Rod, Sway Bars - Tranny, etc.: Power-Servo, Elec Shit Improver, 2400rpm Torque Converter, 3.73 Gears ... 301hp - 353lb/ft of torque ... 0-60 in 4.9 1/4mile in 12.8 ... Fastest N/A V6 bird in PA :evillol:

Dude,..... do you understand that you are saying your 301hp v6 is comparible to a Z06 405 hp corvette in the 1/4 mile. The Covette has a 6 speed manual and weighs quite a bit less then your car too. How is it that your 301hp can beat a Camaro SS or a Firebird Ram Air both having 325 and 330 hp and weighing the same amount as your car? You have 30hp less......? If i were you, I would be back peddling right about........ now.

As to the problem with your car... it is more likely the EGR then the distributer... there should be a ignition module not a distributer... and those hardly go bad. Unless moisture got into it.

Squirell Nuts 1995 Pontiac Firebird 3.4L V6 :smokin:
Airflow: 62mm TB, Cold Air Intake, Headers, High Flow Cat, Magnaflow Exhaust - Engine: Pulleys & Belt, 160º Thermo, Spark Plugs, Stage2 Chip, High Perf Cam w/ Roller Timing Chain Kit, 1.6 Roller Rocker Arms - Suspension: Lower Control Arms, Panhard Rod, Sway Bars - Tranny, etc.: Power-Servo, Elec Shit Improver, 2400rpm Torque Converter, 3.73 Gears ... 301hp - 353lb/ft of torque ... 0-60 in 4.9 1/4mile in 12.8 ... Fastest N/A V6 bird in PA :evillol:

Dude,..... do you understand that you are saying your 301hp v6 is comparible to a Z06 405 hp corvette in the 1/4 mile. The Covette has a 6 speed manual and weighs quite a bit less then your car too. How is it that your 301hp can beat a Camaro SS or a Firebird Ram Air both having 325 and 330 hp and weighing the same amount as your car? You have 30hp less......? If i were you, I would be back peddling right about........ now.

Sphinx, let me give you an advice... Don't make posts regarding HP ratings unless you know what your talking about.

I own a 1997 v6 Camaro and i easily push 350 HP with mods.

Also, regarding the 0-60 and quarter mile times, these figures are only relevant due to the driver skills. Perhaps Squirrell Nuts is a good racer? Have you ever considered that?

Just don't hate on everyone else cause you don't got the "goods" under the hood.

Who even makes a cam and roller rockers for the 3.4 engine? Can't say I've ever seen that. And no head work to attain the 301hp, 350+ lb ft? lol...

Camaro2004.......I don't know what i'm talking about? Look at the figures moron. I have 14 years experience working on cars, what do you have? None. Please don't be stupid, its simple... think about it.... if 330hp Ram Air can't do 12.8 in the 1/4, how the heck can a 301hp standard firebird do it? Are you really that stupid? And your V6 350hp with mods... LOL name them buddy. I hope you aren't stupid enough to say.... K&N Air filter kit, fart muffler and stickers..... but then again... maybe you are..?

Yo, with all do respect to you guys, I would like to remind you that the gentleman that started this post may still need our help. So, If you want to bicker (spelling?) arround than just make another post, I would love to read it.
Now, kross222 have you figured out what the studdering was? If not reply and I'll try to help (to the best of my knowledge).

Thanks for asking xlwhellraiser!!! but I took the advice of the people who suggested it were the EGR valve and got a new one in there.

So far so good, the car has been running fine, of course I didn't take it on any long trips yet, but I did take it for a ride around town to test it out, and it seemed to be doing fine.

THANKS ALL OF YOU!!!

hey a freind of mine had the same problem and it turned out to be the fuel pump. it was going bad and eventually the pressure would build up and it would stall out. sounds like the same thing. might wanna take a look at that.

With all the helpful information on this page? Theres alot of very un-useful information on here with the issues at hand. Ok here it goes. In the past few weeks i've been troubled with the same problems on a 1994 Pontiac Firebird 3.4, V-6, 5-spd. The customer informed me that he had problems driving and further than just down the street. If they drove the car further than a few short blocks then it would stall out and they could not keep the idle up and would stall again and again. Most all the computor sensors have already been replaced just this year. Only the throotle positioning sensor and oil sensors have not been replaced new. And of course the EGR has not been replaced. Yesterday we installed a new fuel pump. We cut the rear hump behind the backseat flat in the middle. So we didn't have to remove the rearage, exhaust, and tank. We looked on f-body.com or something like that and found detailed pictures of how to self cut the opening to gain access to the fuel pump and remove it to replace it. That went well. But then once we started the car up. It ran fine idling for around 15 minutes? The it just shut off. Dead. We restarted the car. It stalled out in under a minute. It just wouldn't run on its own. So i'd believe its safe to say that its not a fuel pump?? Even though the symptoms appear to be a fuel pump issue? We tested the old fuel pump outside the car. It seemed fine. I'm really leaning toward that EGR valve and plan to take it out today. This car also has a either "Super Chip" or "Hyper Chip" insatlled long ago. We can not read ANY computor codes. GM tells me due to the aftermarket chip. That Sucks. I will try the EGR Valve and if that fixes this car i have in the garage? I will reply to this post again. If this hasn't been helpful to the original poster here? Please check into www.f-body.com (http://www.f-body.com) or www.google.com (http://www.google.com) and search for F-Body web sites that specialize in Firebirds and Camaros.