LWCS561

iTrader: (1)

I live in arizona and I bought my 01 ws6 from a dealer in indiana. He had a guy drive it all the way out here for me to take my trade. He told me that the trans am ran great, that it had a chip and exhaust. When the guy got here it was 130am so I was barely awake. I noticed that the SES light was on. I took it for a quick drive and realized that there was an exhaust leak, a bad one. I looked under the hood and the car has an slp lid, smooth bellows, k&n filter, and a granetelli maf. I ran the codes yesterday and they came up with this0171, p0174, p0420, p0430, p0442, p0137. With my trade I paid 17,500 for the car with 73000 miles. What do i do?? From what I hear, with those codes present I wont even pass inspection. HELP

SLOW30th-TA

iTrader: (29)

What was your trade in???

And you paid 17,500?

a dealer was open at 1:30AM?

If your answer to the last two questions is YES....take it back....you paid to much and there are much nicer cars out there for less with no problems....

LWCS561

iTrader: (1)

the dealer is in indiana and im almost 2000 miles away. It's a nice car other than those few problems. I called him today and he said that the chip that was put in is making the car run lean and with a hotter spark. Where is this chip so I can take it out. He said that he took the car to a shop to have it looked over and they said the car was fine. Where would that chip be installed? its not in the obdII slot either.

spec_j

iTrader: (3)

from what i know they cant install a chip on a LS1.. then again i could be wrong. They could have used a hypersuck programmer on it. IMO I would make them fix the problems and take $2500 off for your troubles if not more. Also how much did you pay for the car? Over 17.5K is ALOT for a car with that many miles..

keliente

iTrader: (22)

Holy ****, you paid a lot of money for that car.

The codes are not a big deal though. P0171 and P0174 are saying the car is running lean on both banks. There may be a mechanical issue (vacuum leak), the aftermarket mass air may be causing it, the tune may be causing it.

The p0420 and p0430 are saying the cats are bad. So either the catalytic converters have crapped out (as they do on many f-bodies and are covered under GM's extended warranty) or someone removed them and never deleted the codes in the PCM.

P0442 is a small problem with the EVAP system. Loose gas cap, cracked hose, damaged charcoal canister, etc. Do a visual inspection and see what you find.

P0137 is pointing to the rear o2 sensor on the driver's side. Either the sensor is bad, the wiring is burnt, or someone removed it and didn't delete it in the PCM.

Fix the problems, take it to a local tuner to either put the tune back to stock or finish the tune correctly.

What motivated you to buy an overpriced car cross country without putting your eyes on it first?

BigZee71

iTrader: (5)

I paid 15K for my 00ws6 with 60k miles 5 years ago. I think I paid too much then.

Seriously consider taking the car back. You can find the same car with no problems for 5-7K cheaper.

LWCS561

iTrader: (1)

im taking it to my corvette guy to put the skip shift eliminator in the car tomorrow, so ill be able to look underneath the car. I had bought an 01 vehicross back in may and it was absolutely awful on gas. It's cheaper to drive my dad's vette than that car. The reason it was 17,5 is because i owed 13 on the suv. The car itself is only 12,8. The trans am also has a bbk 80mm throttle body. I called the dealer this morning and he said that he had some professional shop go over the car before he had his man drive it here and they said the car is mechanically fine. He said that this chip is what is making all the codes come up. I dont know where this mysterious chip could be or I'd pull it out. its not in the obd2 slot either. I've been lookin for months for a ws6 and this is the best i could do. I dont know what I could say to the guy to get him to give me money for the parts. he said he could sell me a warranty....

pitbull14218

iTrader: (3)

I dont think you can put a chip, only mail order tunes maybe.

keliente

iTrader: (22)

Ok. It makes more sense now that you said the car is $12,800.

These cars don't get chips, they get flashed. The PCM is located near the firewall on the passenger side in the engine bay. So to take it out/modify it, it needs to be reflashed by someone with tuning software.

Don't buy the warranty, it's probably not going to cover ****. What you need is a good local f-body shop to go over the car for you before you blow even more $$ with the stealership in IL.

LWCS561

iTrader: (1)

well i called the dealership and the guy said that the chip is plugged into the processer like a memory stick for a computer. and that the shop he had look at it said tht that's the sole reason why its runnin the way it is. I told the guy this wasnt my first rodeo with a trans am and performance parts so he didnt think i was some dumb kid. Im going to get the cags put in tonight, so ill be able to look under the car, then ill pull out the cpu and check for that stick. i told him i'd never heard of that before...thoughts?

TA-Swede

iTrader: (4)

Hmm, couldn't all of those codes (except P0442) be caused by a header-install that wasn't followed up with a proper tune ?

Weezzer

My thought is they forgot to use the vasoline on ya....

BigZee71

iTrader: (5)

SO it might be plugged in BETWEEN the pcm and the harness? These no way there is a memory stick anywhere in your car, so thats my best guess. The guy just insnt familiar with these things and is relaying what may have been told to him. So just take what he says lightly.

2001NBMZ28

See if it has a SLP air temp module (timing tricker) plugged in between the IAT sensor on the lid and harness. Maybe that's the "chip" they're talking about.

LWCS561

iTrader: (1)

i dont remember seeing the air temp module but ill check again. the car hasnt had headers. and they used sand not vaseline lol. the guy is relying on what the shop said. its like listening to a political debate with this guy. he has no idea what hes talkin about, and when u ask him specifics he gives little detail. He was surprised to hear how much i knew about the car..he kinda got quiet after

TA-Swede

iTrader: (4)

I wouldn't worry though.

Stick some LTs on it, and get it tuned, and you should be good to go.

LWCS561

iTrader: (1)

lol but i want this car to be more stock. i dont want to go with headers n stuff. i did that before. I have them on the vette so i want the trans am to be more of a dd

keliente

iTrader: (22)

Yes but he said it didn't have headers..

TA-Swede

iTrader: (4)

Yes, but only after my post.....

ghardester

See if there is anything there. I had a V-6 with a chip module plugged in there. If you have the LS1 it doesn't belong there. Maybe someone's an idiot.