New LS1 owner - engine problems
Guys but please help me with another issue, that worries me much much more... That is terrible vibration that I wrote about, it starts soon after 1500, at 2500 it's so severe that the whole car is shaking, then by 4000rpm it's gone. It's all happening when revving it standing still. I was worried first that engine is disbalanced, but it would have exploded long time ago if it was the case...
Help!
P.S. I could try to film it with my phone, but not sure if it will be seen
Help!
P.S. I could try to film it with my phone, but not sure if it will be seen
Let me get this straight:You bought a car that won't idle cold,blows clouds of smoke untill warm and vibrates so badly it shakes the whole car?I think you should of kept looking!
I would take it to a speed shop for diagnosis immediately for an ESTIMATE and see how badly you've been ripped off.Hopefully you got it very cheap, knowing in advance you were going to get stuck with a lot of repairs.If not, it's a lesson we've all learned!Good Luck.
I would take it to a speed shop for diagnosis immediately for an ESTIMATE and see how badly you've been ripped off.Hopefully you got it very cheap, knowing in advance you were going to get stuck with a lot of repairs.If not, it's a lesson we've all learned!Good Luck.
Originally Posted by waldershrek
As for the vibrating I'm of no help but the first problem sounds like valve seals. Is this vibration more effected by vehicle speed or RPM's?
Guys I'm in Latvia, that's like 6000 or 8000 miles even from East Coast 
There is no way I could check the car myself. I relied on some people to check the car. The price was a bit lower than medium but the car is 146K miles. Although owner said he has changed a lot of things. So I was kinda prepared to have some problems, although I didn't know it wouldn't idle when cold, and engine would shake, and the clutch doesn't hold.
Next, there are no people in my region that tune american cars. I was the first to try, and I've taken the risk. I have no shops to count on, all I can rely on is online help from ls1tech.com people, and google.com
With your help I hope to build the fastest street car in my region But for the start, these issues have to be addressed. After that, I would put turbo on it. Not charger, because I don't know anything about them, I was playing with turbos on my Nissan Silvia (managed to get 165hp/liter with some basic mods and extensive ECU tuning).
OK, enough of lyrics Let's get back to the problems, please help to sort them out
Maybe some cylinder or two is not working on idle, and this causes the engine to vibrate at certain rpms? Can it be checked somehow?
There is no way I could check the car myself. I relied on some people to check the car. The price was a bit lower than medium but the car is 146K miles. Although owner said he has changed a lot of things. So I was kinda prepared to have some problems, although I didn't know it wouldn't idle when cold, and engine would shake, and the clutch doesn't hold.Next, there are no people in my region that tune american cars. I was the first to try, and I've taken the risk. I have no shops to count on, all I can rely on is online help from ls1tech.com people, and google.com
With your help I hope to build the fastest street car in my region
But for the start, these issues have to be addressed. After that, I would put turbo on it. Not charger, because I don't know anything about them, I was playing with turbos on my Nissan Silvia (managed to get 165hp/liter with some basic mods and extensive ECU tuning).OK, enough of lyrics
Let's get back to the problems, please help to sort them out Maybe some cylinder or two is not working on idle, and this causes the engine to vibrate at certain rpms? Can it be checked somehow?
Originally Posted by lovin myls1
Let me get this straight:You bought a car that won't idle cold,blows clouds of smoke untill warm and vibrates so badly it shakes the whole car?I think you should of kept looking!
I would take it to a speed shop for diagnosis immediately for an ESTIMATE and see how badly you've been ripped off.Hopefully you got it very cheap, knowing in advance you were going to get stuck with a lot of repairs.If not, it's a lesson we've all learned!Good Luck.
I would take it to a speed shop for diagnosis immediately for an ESTIMATE and see how badly you've been ripped off.Hopefully you got it very cheap, knowing in advance you were going to get stuck with a lot of repairs.If not, it's a lesson we've all learned!Good Luck.
I don't like the idea that neither of us saw this car for a couple of months before he got it...
Chuck was fine!
LS1 Tech Stories
The Best V8 Stories One Small Block at Time
Gas Monkey Built a 6-Wheel Ferrari Testarossa With a Corvette LT4 Engine
Verdad Gallardo
7 Most Reliable High-Performance Engines GM Has Ever Built
Verdad Gallardo
Amazing '71 Camaro Restomod Is Modern Muscle Car Under the Skin
Verdad Gallardo
6 Common C5 Corvette Failures and What's Involved In Repairing Them
Pouria Savadkouei
Retro Modern Bandit Pontiac Trans AM Comes With Burt Reynolds' Autograph
Verdad Gallardo
Top 10 Greatest Cadillac V Series Performance Models Ever, Ranked
Pouria Savadkouei
Top 10 Most Powerful Chevy Trucks Ever Made!
Hennessey's New Supercharged Silverado ZR2 Has 700 HP
Verdad Gallardo
Coachbuilt N2A Anteros Is an LS2-Powered C6 Corvette In Italian Clothes
Verdad Gallardo
Launching!
Joined: Aug 2005
Posts: 213
Likes: 0
From: NWFL, AKA - Redneck Riviera
Vetal, with this vibration, does it go away after the smoke clears after the car warms up?
I ask, because I had a similar issue caused by dirty fuel injectors. For about two weeks, when the car was cold, it would idle rough, surge, and then after it warmed up, and I throttled up about 1/3 t o1/2 throttle, it let out a bunch of grey/black smoke and then ran fine, until it cooled back down. I had two injectors on the passenger side plugged, causing lean conditions on two cylinders, and rich on the other two. And finally, after the two weeks, it threw a random misfire code, P0300 if I remember correctly. If you have a tuner, EFI Live or HPTuners, I think you can check for those conditions (help me out here guys on this part ). If not, and you can find someone over there with a GM Tech2, use that to see if you can get into the computer's history and see if anything along those lines comes up. This is just a suggestion of something to look into.....
And another thing, you may want to buy a service manual from Helms Inc. if you haven't already, I think it's definately a must, especially for you since you're in Latvia.
Good Luck...
I ask, because I had a similar issue caused by dirty fuel injectors. For about two weeks, when the car was cold, it would idle rough, surge, and then after it warmed up, and I throttled up about 1/3 t o1/2 throttle, it let out a bunch of grey/black smoke and then ran fine, until it cooled back down. I had two injectors on the passenger side plugged, causing lean conditions on two cylinders, and rich on the other two. And finally, after the two weeks, it threw a random misfire code, P0300 if I remember correctly. If you have a tuner, EFI Live or HPTuners, I think you can check for those conditions (help me out here guys on this part
). If not, and you can find someone over there with a GM Tech2, use that to see if you can get into the computer's history and see if anything along those lines comes up. This is just a suggestion of something to look into.....And another thing, you may want to buy a service manual from Helms Inc. if you haven't already, I think it's definately a must, especially for you since you're in Latvia.
Good Luck...
the cam is a TR 214/220 .600/.523 115 LSA...when it's cold out, it's a bitch to warm up...thought that was just normal for a cammed car, even a baby like this one - forgive me, this is my first cammed car. I don't know how cold it gets in Latvia..it only gets to the teens (F) here in the States, but once it's warm, it ran perfect.
I'm in the process of changing slipping clutch, I had flywheel resurfaced and balanced. Can I start the engine with just flywheel/plate/disc on, without the gearbox, to check whether balancing has eliminated vibration? Or is it dangerous in any way?
I just hope disc will not move from the center
I just hope disc will not move from the center
To answer some previous questions:
don't have HP Tuner/EFI Live yet
it was about 20C here when I posted. I have to press pedal for few minutes before it can idle on its own.
there was no book in the trunk
don't have HP Tuner/EFI Live yet
it was about 20C here when I posted. I have to press pedal for few minutes before it can idle on its own.
there was no book in the trunk
To update a bit - vibration seems to be much less now after clutch change (flywheel was resurfaced and balanced too).
I've checked AFR after cold start - it goes as low as 10:1 That happens with air temp of +40F. Is that normal with that cam?
I've checked AFR after cold start - it goes as low as 10:1
That happens with air temp of +40F. Is that normal with that cam? Last edited by Vetal; Dec 6, 2007 at 01:50 AM.
This may sound stupid. The vibration sitting still could be your motor mounts. As you rev the motor is vibrating faster causing the motor to vibrate quicker and almost balance out a bit. When you changed your clutch did you change your transmission mount? If you did change it, it would take away some vibration. Which would explain why some of your vibration went away. Also with your motor running rough, maybe misfiring on a cylinder or two, and broken mounts at low rpm and especially sitting still it would shake pretty bad. I would also seafoam that car when you get a chance. I would probably do it after the valve seals but before I changed spark plugs just to clean out any crap. Good luck with your car man.
Ya the flywheel sounds like it could have been your problem with the vibration. Hope you bought a whole new clutch and everything. As for not wanting to run while cold, thats in your tune. A good tuner will set you up so she will be able to start just fine.