LS3, left bank is randomly going lean
Engine:
LS3, stock bore/stroke
ported heads
Comp cams 54-453-11
The EFI system uses a separate O2 sensor in the passenger header for feedback, then I have one more sensor in each header for the gauges.
The last time it ran good I was attempting a burn out but the car bogged down. Drove it home with what felt like a dead cylinder. Ohmed out the plug wires and found an open one, changed it out and checked the plug, it still looked decent. Ran it in the driveway and it seemed good. Next day I drove the car, got a couple blocks away and had the same symptoms. Over the next few weeks I changed all the plugs, swapped coil packs and fuel injectors from side to side, ohmed out the coil pack harnesses, removed intake (checked for a bad o-ring seal), checked for vacuum leaks, replaced all vacuum lines, swapped O2 sensors side to side, relocated O2 sensors into the collector (previously mounted a few inches downstream from the collector). The issue was still present on the same side of the engine. Compression test and leak down tests were all decent.
Here is a video of what was happening.
First 12 seconds was cruising, constant throttle, 13-17 seconds light acceleration, 18-23 decel then back to a cruise.
Had an Atomic MSD efi system in the car, at that point I thought it was possibly a faulty fuel injector driver circuit. Called them up, told them what I have done so far, they agreed it was possible. Sent it to them, they tested the system and it was found to have no issues. In disbelief I bought a different system, purchased a FAST EFI 2.0 and installed it. Exact same issues. Started thinking it might be a mechanical issue.
Removed valve springs and had them checked, thinking possibly one is week and I have a valve not closing properly. Springs were all good. Removed the heads and valve stem seals, found I had some very sloppy valve guides. The engine was rebuilt and has about 3500 kms on it. Almost all of the valves had noticeable movement like this.
Worn valve guides:
While the heads were off the cylinders looked good and the tops of the pistons had no damage from valves or detonation.
Heads had all new guides put in, noticed 2 valves were bent while lapping so they were replaced. Removed the large roller rockers in favor of an OEM style with a trunion upgrade so that I can run the OEM valve covers with baffles for the PCV so the catch cans don't get so much oil in them. Installed with new pushrods and valve stem seals.
This video is from getting it back together yesterday:
This is from start up this morning at room temperature:
One thing I have noticed every time is that it doesn't seem to be an issue until the engine has some heat in it, around 100*F is when it starts to go lean.
Thats a good idea, but thats not my dyno sheet. I haven't dyno'd this engine yet mainly because of the large distance to the closest dyno around here.
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Going to take it to a shop once the snow melts and use a different system to fill the intake system with smoke, see if there is a leak.





