General LSX Automobile Discussion - why is my car so sluggish??

so a little history before i begin to help explain.

i recently sold my 95 t/a 6 speed and purchased a 1998 6 speed camaro for $2400
the previous owner did not take very good care of it. he owned it 6 years and id bet he never cleaned the interior.
so when i got it home i did a complete tune up. plugs, wires, fuel filter, air filter, royal purple oil change and started running premium fuel like i do in all my cars.
it definitely runs way better than it did.
i believe it has 3:73 gears which makes me wonder why its so sluggish around 3500-4000rpms.
my old t/a (which i took very good care of btw) used to throw my head in the seat in 3rd gear, 60mph, 3700rpms. it was completly stock other than i cut the catyletic converter out.
this one is stock other than a "blowmaster" catback that looks like garbage, but actually dosent sound to bad.
when i stomp this one at 3rd gear 60mph, 4000 rpms i feel like im driving my old v6 mustang.
it dosent wanna get up there and do anything.
what could cause that?
it dosent idle bad, dosent make any wierd noises, and dosent seem to burn any oil (leaks out the rear main seal like a mofo, but oh well)
it dosent blow any smoke, or anything out of the norm.
the body has 179k miles on it.
the previous owner told me that the motor was changed at 52k miles becauseit spun a bearing.
idk if thats true, but the motor runs pretty good and always cranks right up every time. whether it be hot or cold.
its bugging me cause i know this thing shoulda whooped my t/a if i were to line them up.
but it defiantly wouldnt.
i know this because i raced a friend in his 01 cobra in both cars.
in the t/a: from 55-110 i pulled him by about 3.5 cars
in my camaro: i may have had him by half a car. :barf:
came race, and same stretch of road.
what could it be????
all help is appreciated.
thanks!

maybe spark retard due to knocking, cloggged cat's, lazy o2 sensors, bad or clogged injectors,... Hmm.. Dirty MAF buy some cleaner and spray it off.

Thats a good start. i guess your not getting any trouble codes. I would still scan it and double check.

maybe spark retard due to knocking, cloggged cat's, lazy o2 sensors, bad or clogged injectors,... Hmm.. Dirty MAF buy some cleaner and spray it off.

Thats a good start. i guess your not getting any trouble codes. I would still scan it and double check.

These are all good suggestions. I would also perform a leak-down test.

Yes the SEE light is on for 2 bad 02's and a code about #2 fan being grounded. Which is becuae I wired in a fan switch.
I haven't had the chance to change the 02's
Hopefully will get the chance Tuesday.
I've never heard of a leak down test.
What's that?

Could it be so sluggish from it running too lean?

Yes it can be sluggish from running too lean. I just picked up my 99 Z28 M6 and it had mods but no tune and was super lean and ran very sluggish. New wires, plugs and a tune made it a whole new car!

Definitely get the 02's fixed and see what that does.

A leak down test determines how well the cylinder is sealing for lack of a better word. You pressurize the cylinder via the spark plug hole and see if it holds pressure well. It can diagnose issues with rings, valves and excessive wear in the engine itself. If you have 1 cylinder that "leaks down" faster than the others then that's where you look for the issues. The leak down test will tell you that you have a problem, but typically to find it you have to at least pull the head off that side to see what's going on. If they all leak down fast that typically means the motor is worn out and ready for a rebuild.

I'm sure its way past time for rebuild.
When I changed the oil the magnet on the plug was slam full.
I'm hoping that it had never been cleaned off.
But I doubt it.
I'm just trying to make it last till I get the funds to finish up my 6.0

Like mentioned earlier, clean the MAF (cause I bet the resistors are black as coal) and put in new O2's. If that doesn't work, then do a leak down test. Check the oil plug at your next oil change and see how much metal is on it. Some is normal, but it should look like itty bitty metallic flakes. If it's some metal slivers you may have a bearing trying to eat itself and you'll be on borrowed time. If the owner took crappy care of the car in the first place my guess would be the inside of the motor looks horrible and probably has some gunk buildup on the pistons and valves. SeaFoam or some type of top end cleaner along with some fuel treatment (for the next 5 or 6 fill ups) wouldn't be a bad idea to help break some of that stuff up.

Oh and change your pcv valve and I would suggest pulling the intake and throttle body to thoroughly clean all the oil of the inside of the intake and throttle body.

The tb is perfectly clean,
It suprised me.
The maf was dirty but didn't clean it, just blew the large stuff out with my mouth.
I ran seafoam in the car when i bought it as well.
(Through the vaccume line) smoked for like 15 minutes lol.
I used half the can in the line and the other half in my 3/4 tank of gas.
I thought of something else i wanna run by Yall.

If its leaking oil out the rear main seal, couldn't that cause the clutch to slip?
Also making it feel sluggish?

Yes the rear seal leaking can cause the clutch to slip if it's bad enough. You would know if it was slipping because the rpm's would increase while your speed slowly increases, stays the same, or you slow down. One good way to test is after you've gotten the car up to temp, slow down to about 25mph and put it in 5th and then roll into the throttle. If it's slipping it should slip during this test.

On the MAF, if the resistors are black it needs to be cleaned. Just that alone has caused many of headaches for people on this site. You can use alcohol with a Q-tip or buy the MAF cleaner in a can (easiest way). Trust me that will improve things all around.

I'll try the test when I get off work in the a.m and see what happends.
As for the maf I know it needs to be clean, I cleaned the one in my t/a and it helped a ton.
I just never really thought to do it.
so that'll also happen in the next day or so.
I'll be changing the oil soon and ill check the magnet on the bolt for excessive shavings.
My dad told me he has a compression tester so ill be doing that soon as well.

is the block aluminum or iron? i would be worried someone would try to stick a 4.8/5.3 into it just to pass it along to the next guy for that price.. but for a $2500 car you didn't do to bad if it runs and looks alright.

Clean the maf, if it had enough shit for you to see in it then that will help.

BTW as far as o2 sensors, I had a friend who lost .4 in the 1/8th mile due to a bad o2 sensor. Get that fixed too.

This may be a long shot,But I would check how you wired that fan switch.A bad ground can cause the car the run sluggish.I know from experience.If the
o2's are throwing a code,that would'nt hurt to change them.Also did you make sure the plugs were gapped correct.good luck on getting it going better.

i was told they replaced it with another ls1 5.7
appearently its on the carfax because it was done at a chevy dealership.
i have not seen the carfax so i dont know what it is.
ill look at the block numbers the next time im under it.

i cleaned that maf,
defiantly helped.
as for the 02's theres no way im spending $70 each on them which is what autozone wants.
screw that.
ill be going longtubes with off road y here soon.
so ill just have to keep my foot out of it.

i wired the fan switch in the same way i wired in the one in my t/a, in my cousins t/a, and in my friends camaro.
theres is fine.

and yes i checked the gap on the plugs.
theyre correct

All you need to replace are the front O2's. The rears don't affect how the car runs. $70 is cheap. I paid $102 for the 13111's (corvette front O2's) which is what most run after long tubes because of the longer wires but not a must.

Check the compression

check the PCV to make sure it is working correctly.

Check out and clean your tps. My car was running lean on the dyno and we couldnt figure it out. Didn't throw a code either. Swapped it out and picked up 30whp. Car wouldn't go into PE.

i just dont have $150 to blow on o2's right now.
got a house payment to pay lol.
hopefully next week.
i think the ones behind the cats are whats throwning the code if i remember correctly.
where is the pcv valve?
ive never messed with them before.

as for the tps, i think its already been cleaned,
ill give it another run through but the throttle body was spotless

If the O2 sensors are original they need to be replaced. trust me it isn't money you are blowing. The front sensors determine the fuel trims that the engine needs to run properly. If you are planning on headers, the originals won't reach anyway and you will need to replace them. I just ordered new ones from Amazon for $52 each (Denso 234-4617 Oxygen Sensor). These are for 2002 Corvettes but will work in our cars and be long enough if you are running headers. you might as well order these and put them in and be ahead of the game when you get the headers. :cheers:

Why don't you take it by an Autozone and see if you are throwing any codes. Can't hurt and it's free.

i have taken it to autozone,
2 codes for o2's and one because i wired in a fan switch.
something like "fan ground error" or something

Ok... First of all, buy an OBII scanner ASAP... If you have a modded car you should always have one, they are cheap anyways.

When cleaning the MAF alot of people are misinformed and due it wrong. They actually just clean inside the plastic housing. You buy maf cleaner for the tiny maf wires... That's how you clean a MAF... I'm amazed to this day how many people will actually spray that crap on the plastic:eek2:

You can test your O2 sensors by taking one out at a time and swapping sides if your throwing a code...That way you will only have to buy one, and you'll know which one.

With that many miles on your car, you might as well run some Seafoam through their as well. You most likley have carbon build up from hell. Do this before replacing your O2 sensors though...

Good luck:drive:

Ok... First of all, buy an OBII scanner ASAP... If you have a modded car you should always have one, they are cheap anyways.

When cleaning the MAF alot of people are misinformed and due it wrong. They actually just clean inside the plastic housing. You buy maf cleaner for the tiny maf wires... That's how you clean a MAF... I'm amazed to this day how many people will actually spray that crap on the plastic:eek2:

You can test your O2 sensors by taking one out at a time and swapping sides if your throwing a code...That way you will only have to buy one, and you'll know which one.

With that many miles on your car, you might as well run some Seafoam through their as well. You most likley have carbon build up from hell. Do this before replacing your O2 sensors though...

Good luck:drive:

i cleaned the maf just as you described.
ill try doing that with the o2's
im pretty religous about using seafoam.
every 3 oil changed through the vacuum line

Compression/leak down, dont spend anymore money untill thats done