I posted yesterday about putting LS1 injectors in my car to see if it would fix my low power issue. Well long story short, it didn't... So now i'm trying to decide where to go next. Basically the symptoms are, very rich idle that makes my eyes watery and just sluggish power in any RPM that feels like its running on 6 cylinders. It pulls all the way through to 6400 but just has no power and back fires pretty good when I let off. This all just randomly started. I had driven the car 2 weeks ago and it was just fine and had all the power in the world. But now it's a completely different car. No codes are thrown.

After I did the injectors last night, I decided to check the plug wires for arcing. I noticed about 6 little blue sparks (not very big) all over the wires on both sides following the insulation sleeve I had put on the wires when I replaced them just a month and a half ago. What's causing that on brand new wires? Now i'm going to assume and hope that that is my issue but how do I make it not do that? I think i'm just going to buy new wires again and not put that insulation on it and see if that works. I'm guessing the spark is just weak which is causing it to be sluggish and overly rich?

Anything else it could be?

 

Ok, I'll say it....the opti did it!

They are devilish little buggers!

 

Tried scanning it yet? Sounds like an o2 sensor is out.

 

BTW, I'm not just blowing smoke out my ***...

The backfiring, sputtering, and popping is a classic opti failure symptom, I've had it happen first hand.
Ditto with no power.
Ditto with weak spark.
Ditto with running rich as hell.
Ditto with no codes set.

It's on it's way out is my guess, usually when all that ^**** starts, it's only a matter of time....

http://www.superchevy.com/how-to/031...ottom#cxrecs_s

 

I'm gonna try to datalog tonight and see what the O2s are doing. Hopefully they didn't get fowled out. Also gonna get my fancy paperclip out and scan for codes lol.

 

Lol I didn't want to point to that godforsaken Opti but I didn't dismiss it just yet. I've never had an Opti problem ever. I replaced it 7 years ago with a new GM one "just because" back when I was a newb. But I suppose it could have failed on me finally. Has about 40K on it. I took it apart and loc-tited the rotor screws when I did my cam swap and it looked fine then but who knows, it literally just happened like someone flipped a switch and now it runs like crap.

 

You just jinxed yourself with your "no opti problem ever" statement!

Welcome to my world!

 

Leaking plug wires cause misfires that will throw the O2 sensors off. I had a similar issue with the plug wires, ran good-next time I drove it a couple days later it was stumbling and wouldn't carry 6th cruising on the highway. I think EFI will mask a lot of problems as they develop until it runs out of authority and bam you have a drivability problem.

 

Wouldn't doubt that, I suppose it had to happen sometime lol. Of course it happens the week I was going to go the track to see what I gained from the cam swap...

 

Yeah i'm really hoping I just have a ground issue or bad wires. I'm going to do both before I condemn the Opti. They were cheap Autolite wires so that might be the problem. Going to spend a little more money this time.

 

I had a set if expensive Delphi wires crap out on me. Currently using ACDelco (different looking than Delphi wires). Next time I'm going with Moroso wires. I agree with you, it's too early to condemn the Opti.

Looking forward to Seeing what you run with your 503.

 

Likely NOT the opti. Likely it is the wires.

 

I go with the wires! I am the 3rd owner of my car and neither of the first two owners decided to swap the old rotted wires out and swap them. Mine was running very rich,would sputter at idle and would never really put power to the ground cause it would bust out like it was hitting a rev limiter. So I Put in some new NGK TR55s and MSD street fire wires and it ran like a new car. Fuel economy went back up, fuel mixture leaned out and didn't bust out anymore. Hope the wires fix it!!

 

What sort of wires are you using that only last one month?

^Disregard...autolite?! That's ford junk....

Jegs make a nice budget LT1 wire set if that is the issue...

 

I had the $30 Jegs POW'R (lol) wires on my car for 4 years or so. Never had a problem with them and the yellow looked kinda cool.

 

Was definitely plug wires.....

Found the boot and wire on #6 literally burnt in half. I couldn't see it because of that insulation covering it. I am so sick of burning plug wires on #5 and 6 cylinder. The stupid primary is so damn close to the boots it's hard to keep them together. I'm going to buy a new set tomorrow so hopefully it takes care of it.

 

I protect some of my plug wires with aircraft hose fire sleeve. Smaller ID for individual wires and IIRC 1 inch ID (-16) will cover a plug boot. This stuff is way better than anything you can get at the auto parts store.
http://www.aircraftspruce.com/catalo...firesleeve.php

 

The factory aluminum boot shield combined with fire sleeve for the wire....stupid simple and just works.

 

Do it the OTVC conversion once and be done with it!

 

That's exactly what i'm doing this time. i'm going to order custom length wires.

Thanks for the heat shield ideas guys. I wish I still had the factory heat shields.