Hey guys, i'm kinda new hear so bare with me but i had a problem with my STS kit the other night, so hear it goes

My Camaro is having some problems with the STS turbo kit. I was driving home two nights ago and hear a loud ringing; it wasn’t anything mechanical so I assume it was the oil alarm. I pulled over immediately and killed the engine trying to see if I could find a problem. I didn’t really find anything so I was only a mile from home so I pushed and coasted most of the way home.

The next day I started looking around a little bit more to see if I couldn’t find a problem after I put her in the garage. I noticed an oil water mixture coming from the exhaust there was a fairly good amount in the exhaust enough to cover your figure and for it to drip out the tail pipe. I checked the dipstick and it was fine, just straight oil, fearing that I thought a head gasket had blown.

After looking in the STS manual in the trouble shooting section I checked in the inline fuse to see if it was blown and sure enough it was. I replaced the fuse and as soon as I turned the key to the on position (Not starting the engine) the fuse blew again.

I jacked up the rear of the car and started investigating that maybe I had ran over something and jerked a wire loose or something to that nature. I found nothing out of the ordinary that I could see, but I did find a white wire that was spliced into a factory plug on the driver’s side right above the rear axle. The white wire had fresh cooper at the end of it, but could not find where it had came from or what the wire was even for. So I guess that my first big problem, is where does this wire go?

Another thing that I had found was that a brown wire that was tucked back into the wire loom had the power wires for the oil pump (Yellow and black wires). It was cut even no cooper showing and was just tucked back into the wire loom. So where does this wire go?

Another discovery I found was I a small plastic hose, looks like a vacuum line was broke off and or melted in half, I have no idea where this would go either, I looked around under the car for a couple hours trying to find where these wires and vacuum line would go with no luck. I do have a boost gauge and it works just fine. So I’m confused as to what it does or goes too. This vacuum line was also in the same group of wires that headed into the wire loom for the power wires to the oil pump. Does anyone know what this is.

I did change out the secondary relay and in doing so broke the mount that was supplied but, after I changed out the relay I started up the car, and no oil alarm and everything appeared normal, I started to back out of the shop and the oil alarm went off again. So I’m not sure if that mount is needed to ground out the relay or what. Does anyone know?

Needless to say I’m very stumped with this situation. I also have no experience with aftermarket turbo systems or anything this complex. I just bought the car a couple months ago and have been please with everything so far. This is kind of a bump in the road but I was hoping you guys could help me out. If anyone has a wiring schematic or diagram that would help me out a lot. I’m not mechanically retarded, I’m a mechanic in the USAF but, trying to correct a problem with no literature about how things should work properly is my weak point. I do have the instruction manual for the STS kit, but I was hoping there would be a wiring diagram or schematic to help someone out.

Anyway thanks for your time guys. I’m going to try and get some pictures of the wires and broken vacuum line so you guys will know what I’m talking about. Anyway thanks a lot.

 

It sounds like common problems, it shouldn't be too bad to sort it all out. Usually one of the first upgrades sts guys do is a better oil pump + wiring.

The loose wire that is above the axle on the drivers side could be the fuel pump feed wire. The oil pump relay should receive the signal to turn when it is spliced into this wire. So when the fuel pump turns on, the oil pump relay gets a signal which then turns on the oil pump.

The stock sts oil pump set up operates at two speeds. Low/high the burnt hose might have someting to do with this. Lots of people have had problems so they usually run the oil pump at full speed all the time and remove the double relay/ hose set up.

Random cut wires without any insulation/ tape is very bad. I would go back and take a close look at everything that was done just to double check it. I try to solder most of my wiring and then I wrap with a little fiberglass tape then shrink tubing if it is exposed to the elements. I've had a car start on fire because of wires shorting out, so I don't take any chances.

Relays are usually grounded by a ground wire, not by being bolted down. Check the electronics section for relay info. Basically it is a +12 wire, ground wire, low power signal in, and high power + out to whatever you are running.

 

Thanks for the help, i did crawl under the car tonight for a little bit and did a little bit of searching and wire chasing.

The first picture is the wire i described that was spliced into the factory plug behind the rear driver side seat. Its tapped into the factory wiring with the end going to....idk what?

the second pictures is the vacuum tube and brown wire that is apart of the STS wiring. The wire and tube both head into the same wire loom as the oil pump power wire and pressure switch. The brown wire ends up hooking up the PCV valve, the vacuum line ends up going to a T fitting along the fire wall up by the computer.

Can anyone help me out here?

I guess i should have also stated its got the 2 Stage dual boost controller from STS along with a methanol injection kit. From what i hear went the toggle switch is flipped forward its supposed to activate the high boost and trigger the meth injection.

sorry guys i'm a complete newb when it comes to this turbo stuff. feel free to break it down so a third grader could understand and i might get it. I searched the forum for a couple hours looking at all the different STS threads and seen a whole lot but nothing that could really help my problem

I think tomorrow i may try and just by pass the resistor from the STS kit and see if that helps, and also remove the Oil pump itself to see if its even working. All i know is i gotta get rid of that damn oil alarm that things is louder than hell. and i can't help but laugh cause all i think about is the movie dumb and dumber "Hey, you wanna hear the most annoying sound in the world?"

Thanks fella's

 

Also can anyone tell me how i can tell if my STS PCV vavle set up is already gone and upgraded to a catch can?

 

Anyone? Any and all advice would be helpful

 

The factory connector in the first picture is where the fuel pump signal wire is. The relay that operates your oil pump is spliced into this wire. So when the computer tells your fuel pump to turn on, your oil pump should turn on at the same time(if your relay and pump are working).

The t tap connector that is in that picture is garbage I would never use that type of connector. That is a horrible way to connect wiring especially for something on the under side of a car where it might see water, salt, road debris. You should solder the connection and use shrink tubing. Or at least a butt connector with tape and then shrink tubing to keep out the moisture. Those t tap connectors are not very reliable, they could come apart, or corrode easily.

A relay is basically a high powered switch that is used for items that need alot of amperage to run. They are turned on by sending them a low power signal(which is why you splice into the factory fuel pump signal wire).


The relay is connected to the battery, or alternator or starter to get the high current positive signal (with a fuse in between for protection).

The relay has a ground wire (usually a ring terminal bolted to the chassis, make sure it is a good ground as in no paint or rust at the contact points).

The relay has a signal wire, it tells the relay to turn on. The signal wire needs to be connected into the factory wiring to turn on the oil pump when the fuel pump turns on. So you add this signal wire into the factory fuel pump signal wire (cut the factory wire, strip both ends to remove the insulation, strip the end of the wire you are adding and connect all three ends together by soldering or butt connector).

The relay has a positive out wire that goes to you oil pump. This this the high current positive wire that is only live when the relay is activated.

Hopefully this helps. You might have buy a wire stripper/ crimping tool and some insulated butt connectors. Basic wiring is pretty easy. A simple test light is important too if you don't have a voltmeter.

As for a catch can follow the vac. hoses from the valve covers and see where they go. Do they go to a catch can? Do they go to the sts switch?
I don't know anything about the sts boost controller or meth kit.

 

Thanks for the info. Yeah that T connector is junk, i'll be fixing that, just trying to figure out where the wire goes is one thing. Hopefully tonight i'll have more time to snoop around underneath there.

the wiring i'm not really worried about as long as i have a diagram to go off of or a schematic or something. I change out aircraft generator wiring harness in the air force for a couple years now. and i have that down to a fine art, but without a schematic i might as well be hellen keller with some wire cutters and eletrical tape trying to figure something out...

 

This thing is frustrating me fairly well.

I pulled my oil pump off and direct wired it with a couple jumpers to a battery so i know it works.

I discovered that i think my PCV system has been disabled except for the switch. I found a lot of hoses going to what i beleive is a catch can.

I found the wire and everything for the two stage dual boost controller. It just i have a methenal injection kit installed as well, so i'm not sure if that is all working or not.....

Ohh and my intake tubes are full of oil

 

damn. I would direct connect (of course fuse) the oil pump/ scavenge pump.

I would completely redo-your pcv setup and get ya a catch can. I would also vent both valve covers.

if you have specific questions I don't mind answering, if you have time check out the last 5 pages or so of my build (newest) upgrades.

 

I had a similiar prob occur when I had my STS. The sysem uses 2x wiring harnesses (a front and a rear). Where the two join is near the headers. In short, the wiring harness had contacted the header pipe and created a short...... which kept blowing fuses. It might take a good hour to investigate, but this is a good start point.

Also, it sucks....but you need to clean the MAF + all oil from the charge pipes, or it will cause more issues in the future.

I did a write-up on "oil-control" a couple years ago. Heres the link:

https://ls1tech.com/forums/forced-in...ust-pipes.html