I made a trip to Canada about 2 weeks ago. Like 1,400 miles total, the car ran flawlessly. There's this annoying driveshaft vibration around 130...

I park the car and had a real busy week work wise. The next time I want to use the car, about 10 days had passed. Dead battery. Stone cold. HUH, I must have something drawing power. Jump it, it starts right up, I let it run good and long to charge the battery, no probs.

After doing this, it runs like crap. It's like there's a plug wire off. All looks good. I have a new vented Opti with the MSD cap, rotor and coil with about 3,000 miles on it.

Is my cap & rotor shot allready? Is this the expected life of these things?

It's such a bitch to change that I'm considering the LTCC system.

Any pro's/con's aside from cost?

 

The LTCC still relies on the optical sensor in the opti.
Assuming it's good, you will be fine.

Double-check all of the plugs (fouled?) and wires for cuts and burns first.
It's a pain in the butt, but it may save you some cash.

Did you happen to run higher octane fuel on this trip?

 

Yup, the Optical pickup is still used with the LTCC system.

I'm in the middle of changing plugs to the NGK TR55IX jobs.

 

So I've completed the spark plug change. What a bitch! 6 & 8 are best started from under the car. Some of the plugs were somewhat oil fouled.

The car runs a bit better but the problem remains. It's dead from a standstill yet gets better with the higher RPM's. I'm getting no SES codes. WTF??

Looks like a call to Bailey for the LTCC is in line for Monday.

Guys, anything else I should look into?

 

on your driveshaft vibe note....you still using the stock steel LT1 driveshaft?? If so, those are known for their vibration issues. Switch to a 1LE or LS1 alum driveshaft or get a custom one.....

 

Your wires all look fine I assume?

and have you checked the air filter? (You'd be surprised how many people don't)
if they are fouled, it's probably running rich.

 

I have a feeling that after normal driving for a couple of days itll be fine. My car doesnt run very well if the battery has disconnected but after a couple of days it's smooth again.

 

I have a friend with a blown '66 Impala producing about 750 HP. He twisted and chopped up his drive shaft pretty good, causing an additional $4,000 worth of chassis, body, tire, safety loop, exhaust & transmission damage. It was supposedly a 3 inch steel shaft good for 1,500 HP. One fine day, I'll upgrade to a new steel shaft with the larger joints, I just couldn't trust an aluminum shaft.

The air filter is about 1,500 miles old. I'll check it but I don't think that's it.

Yup, the plug wires look great, Taylor Thundervolt's.

Loss of battery power caused loss of memory? I thought about that but again, I have my doubts.

The car does run better with the new plugs at higher RPM. Seems everything below about 3 grand has a miss/stutter/stumble.

Next, I'll hook up a fuel pressure gauge to see if that's the culprit.

As I now recall, during the period that the car sat, we had two very hard rain storms here in NYC. While the car is covered, it's still outside. Maybe some moisture worked it’s way into the Opti?

Thanks for the suggestions so far boyz....

 

OK, I found the problem. # 5 plug wire laying squarely on the header tube. I run them on the L/S under the header so even while changing the plugs, I didn't see it. I only caught it by seeing the spark in the dark. Burned it right to the core. Replaced the wire, wrapped it with some heat cloth and I'm back to melting the BFGDR's.

HOWEVER, I still hate the Opti system and the hokey way the wires run from the cap ('specially on the the R/S) so I'm still seriously considering the upgrade to the LTCC system. I like what I've read posted here about the performance/reliability gains and it does look sooooo cool.

Now, if only Turbo Bob Bailey would email me back...... Does anybody have a phone number on him?

 

Hope everything runs nice and smooth for ya

 

Yeah, it's running good again. I'm onto doing other things like a new CLS, water wetter and fixing lamps. Every other lamp socket I touch needs replacement. How do you get to the front side marker lamps?

Thanks fer the help guys.