CoronaL

iTrader: (6)

to make a long story long!

I bought 2000 WS6 with 42k miles this past summer. Car didn't seem to have good power, but price was right so I bought it. Tried tuneup/fuel filter w/out help. Actually started tripping SES light after plugs/wires. Wanted to mod it anyway, so thought wtf, I'll get heads cam, take a look into motor and if cyl walls look like junk, just pickup a LS6 shortblock or something.

So I tear down topend of motor, 2 bent pushrods had me figuring that that was power culprit.

Put on new 5.3 Stage II Patriot heads, TSP 231/237 cam, #30 FMS injectors, LS6 intake, Mac headers/off road Y, and Magnaflow cat back.

Finally got it buttoned up tonight. Cranked her over plenty good w/fuses pulled for fuel pump and coil packs disconnected. After oil psi showed some life, I connected everything and it fired right up. Sounded mean as hell. However "blipping" the throttle had a very very noticable off idle bog/hesitation I'd say almost a second. Revs would then climb and no undue engine vibration. Vavletrain was kind of noisey for about a 1-3 minute period after initial startup and then quieted down nicely. Much more quiet than my 01 Z06 with comp/crane spring(i forget what they put on at Speed Inc). These heads have patriot springs and I can say kudos to Patriot for making a good spring that doesn't sound like a sewing machine.

Anywho! Took car for a spin, and it feels like a pooch like it did prior to all of my mods. So now I'm freaking out thinking wtf did I do????? Car idles fine. There is a SES light now, but I don't have loger so might have to run by the O'Rieleys Auto parts store to catch the code.

I have all connections "connected" finally, and no vacuum leaks I can tell.

orangeapeel

iTrader: (18)

You might want to look into a tune. What is the CR for those heads? like 11.X something right?

CoronaL

iTrader: (6)

sorry
I have had madz28.com tune the pcm for the injectors/cam/ etc.......

it's very wierd b/c the motor behaves just like it did prior to install leading me to believe that something else was the problem for my poor performance.

I wish I could describe it better

CoronaL

iTrader: (6)

oh one more thing that's wierd

my TCS off light comes on after say 20 seconds of car idleing after startup. Never did this before. Hitting the TCS button does nothing. Prior to that timeframe, you can turn TCS off and on with the switch

grrrrrrrrr
damm gremlins

baldurann

iTrader: (15)

Sounds like it's just some electrical gremlins. Make sure you check all the grounds from the engine, and make sure all the electrical connections are good, and none are fried, broken, or on the verge of being broken.

CoronaL

iTrader: (6)

baldurann---I think you might be right!

I was going to drive it to work this AM and get scanned at the parts store, but there was a touch of snow on the ground when I opened garage. Plus I haven't called my insurance agent to throw coverage back on for driving yet. So I decided to play it safe and just leave it at home today.

Also, I was doing a search for potential problem. I read something similar to what my cars doing, but it wasn't explained in the thread.

When I open the throttlebody a bit manually when the cars running, ie twist the throttle arm/cable I hear a "whoosh" of air being sucked in the airlid area, but again there's the bog. 1/2-1 second later I get climb in revs etc...

Wierd thing is, it idles well. But it drives like it's running on 6 cylinders or so. I dont understand why it would idle so relatively well(it's got some shake due to cam but no missing) but be so "off" while driving.

So I'm thinking more vacuum leak or fuel problems, but then again I can barely think right now b/c I couldn't sleep last night obsessing about this damm car

LostCauseZ06

iTrader: (4)

do a plug check... see how your plugs look, if your not firing on a cylinder it will be soaked in gas or a different color than the rest... you can tell alot about your engine just by looking at the plugs...

blacktransam

iTrader: (13)

have you ever thought of a compression check??

CoronaL

iTrader: (6)

yeah I have thought about it lol! However doing it myself became quite the PIA so I aborted it after 3 cyl's were checked and seem to spec out fine.

As far as plugs, I have read the plugs and all appear to be pretty evenly colored no excess white or black soot. HOwever, I have not removed them hot ,to check for gas on them

CoronaL

iTrader: (6)

I have an appt Dec12th to take into a shop I trust. Guy has worked on my 12 sec s/cd mustang, my 96 WS6, and a few other cars along the way.

I'll have him do either compressoin or leakdown on motor, then install a 255 in tank pump, some lowering springs I wanted on car, new motor mounts(b/c I want poly) maybe some LCA relocation brackets, maybe a torque arm and figure out wtf is wrong with this pile

then in the spring, on go some HP Evo's

6spdpewterZ

I had the same problem. I used champion plugs--I know, what a cheapass--and that was the problem. Went with ac delco again and fixed the problem. make sure the plugs are gapped right too.

CoronaL

iTrader: (6)

I just changed plugs to NGK TR55 about 50 miles ago
same problem as before plug change
I'm gonna order some taylor wires
and scan teh car tonight
hope I can give u guys some codes to work with

kpowr82

iTrader: (9)

your TCS light is turning on and off because of low vaccuum at idle. I'll bet your throwing a MAP sensor code.

CoronaL

iTrader: (6)

no map sensor code
I did get a bank 1 knock sensor low imput or missing code
I have it written down, but forgot it at work

bshell

iTrader: (24)

The knock sensor code could just be a pinched wire under the ls6 intake. Might be good to remove it to check the wiring for chaffing / pinching. Also make sure the knock sensor harness is fully plugged in at the back of the intake. You didn't remove the knock sensors during the h/c install for any reason did you? If you did, make sure they aren't loose as well. There are only 3 DTCs for knock sensor functions on a 2000 fbody. One for bank 1 (P0327), one for bank 2 (P0332), and one for the entire circuit (to the PCM) (P0325).

CoronaL

iTrader: (6)

no I never removed it
but I'm thinking about getting a new harness if you can just disconnect it. b/c when I was removing the green plastic clips to clear the LS6 intake, the tape was so baked and fragile that as I took off one of the green clips I hear and felt a snapping in the line. I figured it was just the tape, but part of me feared the wire may have been compromised.

Now I will say this. When car first started, the pass side header was hitting a heatshield. I bent this out of the way.

I cleared code last night and ran car for 3 minutes before wife came out into the garage screaming and yelling about waking up the neighborhood :O. So I'll have to drive it around a bit. Even with the cleared codes it's still bogging.

I should also note, the scanner listed the knock sensor thing as a "pre-code" w/e that is.

glennhl

You may want to run a compression check and leak down check on all 8 cylinders.

MyGoatBites

iTrader: (1)

you could just say screw it, pull the heads and cam and ship em to me. I will install them on my ride and trouble shoot for about 25k miles or so, write you a full report and send them back to you once my 408 is finished. All kidding aside. I would bet on the vaccum leak. You should have some idle issues though if you have enough of a vaccum issue to throw codes and deactivate the TCS. I wish I had something more valueable to add. I wish you luck fixing it. Where do you live? Maybe someone that lives close could come by and take a look...another set of eyes never hurts.

CoronaL

iTrader: (6)

lol
no I think I'll have it fixed first ;p