Got the car (Finally!) Now diagnosis-Advice?
06-11-2008, 10:15 PM
#1
Got the car (Finally!) Now diagnosis-Advice? UPDATE! She's running on all 8 now (Freakin finally). My next problem, keeping it straight on the road. Every time it gets into boost, it starts spinning and the rear end tries to come around. 
When we last left our hero (me), I'd rushed to get the virgin Turbo installation up and running and drive it to Houston, TX from upstate New York. But at the witching hour, it was throwing a code (Left O2 Lean) and it had started backfiring whether in open or closed loop. I decided to punt and caught a flight back to Houston and opted to have the Z28 transported via car hauler. Well, $1,050 freakin' bux later, she got here today.
I eagerly took her the one block back to the house where I'm staying during my contract here in Houston. She's still backfiring... ugh. The LT1 edit scanner showed the Left O2 was lean and the BLM was 160 (maxed out trying to add fuel. I first checked for all vacuum hoses connected and intact. Check. I made sure all the injector connectors were on and tight. Check. I verified the TPS was .69 to 4.5volts in a linear fashion. Check. Hmpf.. so much for an easy fix. Well hell... let's put her on jackstands and have a look at plugs and O2 sensors/wiring. I pulled a few plugs on the drivers(left) side. Crap! I thought it was running lean. These plugs with 25 minutes of driving on them are black and wet and look more like they came out of a 120,000 hard mile farm truck. I pulled the rest of the plugs till all 8 were out. 6 of them looked the same, one was kiiiinda okay and one was just wet and shiny.
So, my first question is, would one bad O2 sensor make the PCM throw so much fuel at both sides of the motor that it loaded up the plugs?
Next question, you guys running the Mototron 60#, what is your PCM poundage set to? Example: When I had the SVO 30#, I set them to 31 or 32 to lean them out. Did you do something similar with the 60's? I've got to get some more Autolite plugs tomorrow and probably an O2 Sensor. I'm going to set the injectors to 62 also to see if I can lean them out.
As if this weren't frustrating enough, the powers that be decided I needed another bite of the 'dung' sandwich. When I was under the hood listening for things, I noticed, "Hey, the Electric water pump isn't working!". Sure enough, even when I put power directly to the pump, bypassing the relay, it's gone. Sigh..I've got one on 'Next Day Air' from Summit and it'll be here Friday due to the late hour order.
When we last left our hero (me), I'd rushed to get the virgin Turbo installation up and running and drive it to Houston, TX from upstate New York. But at the witching hour, it was throwing a code (Left O2 Lean) and it had started backfiring whether in open or closed loop. I decided to punt and caught a flight back to Houston and opted to have the Z28 transported via car hauler. Well, $1,050 freakin' bux later, she got here today.
I eagerly took her the one block back to the house where I'm staying during my contract here in Houston. She's still backfiring... ugh. The LT1 edit scanner showed the Left O2 was lean and the BLM was 160 (maxed out trying to add fuel. I first checked for all vacuum hoses connected and intact. Check. I made sure all the injector connectors were on and tight. Check. I verified the TPS was .69 to 4.5volts in a linear fashion. Check. Hmpf.. so much for an easy fix. Well hell... let's put her on jackstands and have a look at plugs and O2 sensors/wiring. I pulled a few plugs on the drivers(left) side. Crap! I thought it was running lean. These plugs with 25 minutes of driving on them are black and wet and look more like they came out of a 120,000 hard mile farm truck. I pulled the rest of the plugs till all 8 were out. 6 of them looked the same, one was kiiiinda okay and one was just wet and shiny.
So, my first question is, would one bad O2 sensor make the PCM throw so much fuel at both sides of the motor that it loaded up the plugs?
Next question, you guys running the Mototron 60#, what is your PCM poundage set to? Example: When I had the SVO 30#, I set them to 31 or 32 to lean them out. Did you do something similar with the 60's? I've got to get some more Autolite plugs tomorrow and probably an O2 Sensor. I'm going to set the injectors to 62 also to see if I can lean them out.
As if this weren't frustrating enough, the powers that be decided I needed another bite of the 'dung' sandwich. When I was under the hood listening for things, I noticed, "Hey, the Electric water pump isn't working!". Sure enough, even when I put power directly to the pump, bypassing the relay, it's gone. Sigh..I've got one on 'Next Day Air' from Summit and it'll be here Friday due to the late hour order.
Last edited by mightyquickz28; 07-08-2008 at 06:18 PM.
06-26-2008, 11:31 PM
#2
Update. After reading SEVERAL accounts where people reported a timing set off a tooth could make a car run like mine has been, I pulled the timing cover off and had a look. I must mention that this engine has a custom and expensive turbo cam spec'd out by Bret Bauer and that it had specific information for degreeing the cam. When I provided all the information to my engine builder (gave him the cam card) he went after it and afterwards, stated he had to move it 2 degrees ( I don't remember now if it was 2 deg advance or 2 degrees retarded) to get the Intake Center Line method to line up. I thought, "Great! He's thorough!". Well, after all the stuff I've replaced and checked, I decided it HAD to be the cam phasing so I pulled off the timing cover. Only to see it's dot to dot. WTF?.... Add to that, the timing cover bolts were all finger tight. Now it looks like I've got to get a degree kit and check it out for sure myself.
06-28-2008, 09:46 AM
#3
Found my cam specs. Going to pick up the cam degree kit plus the nut you put on the crank to turn it over. I have to wait till about noon today to meet the guy (Fbody Buddy of course! The best guys/girls on the planet!) to pick up his kit, accessories. I did a little more research (prompted by fellow LS1Tech'r Chuck Norton. Thanks Chuck!) and found that not only did my engine builder not adv/retard the cam 2 degrees as he'd stated, the timing set (CLO-9-3145) doesn't even have a provision for just 2 degrees. It has 3 keyways. 4 degrees Advanced, "Standard/Dot-to-Dot" and 4 degrees Retarded. (For those in Rio Linda, that means you can't *just* add/subtract 2 degrees with this timing set). Something stinks here (and it's not just that shirt I've been wearing while under the car) Using the ICL (Intake CenterLine method) the cam should show a 112 ICL if it's degreed properly.
06-28-2008, 12:08 PM
#6
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Found my cam specs. Going to pick up the cam degree kit plus the nut you put on the crank to turn it over. I have to wait till about noon today to meet the guy (Fbody Buddy of course! The best guys/girls on the planet!) to pick up his kit, accessories. I did a little more research (prompted by fellow LS1Tech'r Chuck Norton. Thanks Chuck!) and found that not only did my engine builder not adv/retard the cam 2 degrees as he'd stated, the timing set (CLO-9-3145) doesn't even have a provision for just 2 degrees. It has 3 keyways. 4 degrees Advanced, "Standard/Dot-to-Dot" and 4 degrees Retarded. (For those in Rio Linda, that means you can't *just* add/subtract 2 degrees with this timing set). Something stinks here (and it's not just that shirt I've been wearing while under the car) Using the ICL (Intake CenterLine method) the cam should show a 112 ICL if it's degreed properly.
look at the spec's.
http://store.summitracing.com/partde...5&autoview=sku
06-28-2008, 02:31 PM
#7
Ah.. very true. I put it into my own context of relating the adv/ret at the CRANK sprocket when he could have very well meant the effect at the CAM. That being said, it was neither advanced or retarded. I just got home from picking up the CompCams degree kit. I'm changing into my 'car repair' clothes and heading out into the garage to see what's what. I'll report what I find. If nothing else, I will have removed yet another question mark.
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07-03-2008, 09:22 PM
#10
Well... Just put a new stock coil ($37) and Ignition Control Module ($71) and a set of stock Duralast/Autozone Plug wires ($35) on the car and just the 'old' opti to spin/generate the spark signal. What? No spark? Wait, what's that noise? The old opti is making a bunch of Chattering noises inside. Then I remember, "Oh, that's right. This is that piece of crap non-functioning(the high voltage part) Opti of someone elses that HPE gave me when they screwed me over on that roller cam motor". So, I just put 3 plug wires with plugs on them onto the New Summit Opti bolted to the engine. I spun it over. What? No spark?.. Oh wait (sheepish grin) I forgot to hook up the harness to the engines opti. Hooked it up, said a prayer, spun the engine. Hot damn! Sparks! And evenly timed too (at least it seems so at this point). I'm going to put the sparkplugs in the heads, route the plug wires as best I can around the Hotsides Log manifolds and once everything is connected to the point I can start it (no waterpump, etc is hooked while I'm in diagnostic mode here) I'll fire her up. I sure hope I'm greeted by a V8 running on all 8 for a change. It appears now it's been the LTCC box the whole time 
