I went to drags wed night and had problems half way through the night. Here's how it went.

First time racing on drag radials(hoosiers),first time on heads,cam,and moser,basically a virgin at the track.

1st run- Not enough burnout- 2.0 or 2.1 60 foot( Yuck). Ran good after the launch though.Ended up with a 12.2 @ 119.47mph

2ND RUN- Not enough burnout again(amatuer) 2.0 60 foot..Ran strong to get a 12.2 @119.xx

3rd run -Heated them up much better,lowered tire pressure to 15 lbs,and launched at around 3500-4000rpm. That felt much better and netted a 1.88 60 foot but half way down the track my check gages light flickers and car starts sputtering.I noticed before the run that the car was a little hesitant to start.So after sputtering across the line 18 seconds later@ 56mph I pulled back into the lanes.I tought I would give it another try to see if it would do it again.
I go to get in the car 10 minutes later and it wont start,the battery was dead.So, push it out of the line and push start it.I then let it idle for 10 minutes and drove around the track for 10 more minutes to charge the battery

4TH run- Same as before, except on launch which was a 1.8 again, my check engine light comes on and sputters even worse down the track.I didn't think it was going to make it.
That was it for me for the night.

I took the battery in for a test today which took a fricken hour and he comes back and says "it's marginally ok, but I'll replace it anyways".
Now off to Auto zone to get my SES code read because I don't have the technology yet. Light is off by now and no codes are stored they say.
I get a fuel filter and replace it to rule that out. The car is still falling flat on it's face after 1/2 throttle, and I got a new SES just now while it was sputtering.I just finished changing out the plugs to some fresh TR55's and it's still doing it.Also just checked fuel pressure and it seems good.It's @ 60psi at idle and when I gas it up by hand.
I'm running out of ideas. o2 sensors maybe.Only have two, the rears are tuned out.Maybe injecters??How do you check them.

Thanks
Jay

 

Car will run fine without O2 sensors, it will just run rich.
Sounds to me like you have a charging system problem, since your battery was dead, it also makes sense, because The higher you rem, the more voltage you need to go to the coils, which sends spark to the spark plugs, which ignites the fuel, etc etc. I had this same very thing happen to me, come to find out, it was the alternator. Get it checked out, let us know what happens, keep an eye on your voltage meter.

 

Thanks, that makes sence.

I'll update later today hopefully.

Jay

 

Codes are po131 and po151 o2 sensors.
They had one so I bought it thinking I had one at home. Have to run out and get another. I can't see how both went out at the same time though.Thinking this may not fix it. Still leaning towards a fuel pump or charging.
This kinda stuff doesn't happen everytime you race does it?

 

No it doesnt happen everytime u race....Chances are its not the O2S. If the car runs lean/rich it can throw an O2S code. I would lean a bit towards the MAF or charging system. I have seen some instances that an alternator will lose voltage the higher you rev the motor vs increasing in voltage like it should.

 

I see. Going to take in the alternator now for testing. I think i will put the stock size alt pulley on while I'm at it.

Thanks
JAy

 

I would guess its the MAF or alternator. Get the alternator checked first, but when my stock MAF went out, it would sputter just like that, except mine was doing it on the freeway

 

You guys that said MAF and alt hit it on the head. Figured the sputtering but having alt troubles still.Here's my post from my local message board.
Here goes day 2.



Changed out my o2 sensors

Removed the old alternator so I could go get it checked out. Discount says it's shot, bad diode. I head to pepboys because it's still under warranty there. Go home and put my stock alt pulley back on ( forget about underdriving the alt anymore) and corresponding new belt.

So at this point I have new battery,o2's,fuel filter,tr55's and alternator.

Test drive sucks. Barely made it around the block spitting and sputtering, everything but stalling, but the volt meter is better then ever. Reading 13+volts.

Back to the driveway.

Just getting ready to research new fuel pumps (even though the two times I checked it it read 50+ psi) and I decide to check the first thing I should have; the air filter. I have a whisper lid, maybe one of the first 10 made in 98, so it's a bit worn. You know how they tell you to weatherstrip the inside lip? Well you won't fricken believe this!!!! A piece of my weathersripping was dangling about 8 inches long through my descreened MAF and near my TB. Instantly figured that was the whole problem.Put everything back together minus the weatherstripping and went for test drive no# 34 . This time volts are perfect,no lights are on and what do you know. It runs like a raped ape. I figured I would head to my favourite side street for a real 1/8 mile test run. Launch it, shift light comes on, wind out second, to redline and letoff. Just then my CHECK GAUGES light comes on and volts go down to the red about 10.5 volts.If I rev to 3900 the light goes out, anything less and the light comes back. Volt meter stays in the red the whole time. I think I just killed my "new" remanufactured in mexico alternator.

It ran perfect until I redlined it.



Jay

 

Chances are it was just a bad alternator. If I was you I would take that alternator back to Pep Boys and see if you can get a refund. Then get one from GM.

 

Sounds like a good plan.

JAy

 

NAPA is my mainly parts source 99% of the time but truth is that ive never been happy with their accessories. The way we put it is never buy the more expensive one with a lifetime warranty when you can purchase the same thing with a 3 year warranty. 3 years is plenty enough time, you will be replacing it before then. HAHA