Bank1 keeps getting flooded with fuel – mystery solved! 10/29/16
#1
Bank1 keeps getting flooded with fuel – mystery solved! 10/29/16
Hi guys,
after hitting the ground with my longtubes at very very low speed, bank1 (drivers side) gets flooded with fuel. And I can’t find the reason. Help!!
I’ll try to explain everything as good as I can, so please bear with me.
First things first: it’s a 2002 Collectors Edition Trans Am, M6, T-Tops. And it’s been modified quite a bit. Here we go:
Right before I had the impact with my header to a bump, the car drove smooth for 100 miles. After the bump the passenger side y-pipe slipped off the header, car becoming REALLY loud. I drove it for another 2 miles to my garage and parked it. Couple of days later it was towed to the mechanic where it’s currently at.
Because of the damage I ordered a new y-pipe and new headers. After the new headers and y-pipe went in I started the car and noticed something was still wrong. You could hardly breathe because of that much pure gas was exiting the exhaust. So I looked again under the car and noticed that the drivers side header was leaking fuel! When I removed the y-pipe it was easy to see that the drivers side header was literally washed out by fuel! There was also quite a lot of gas in the oil. The passenger side looked ok. So I tried everything that came to my mind to determine WHY.
Right now the LS1 is running only on the passenger side bank. How do I know? When the engine is running and I pull fuse INJ1, it’s not changing anything. No difference. Also I measured the heat with a FLIR (infrared) cam, I attached the images – big difference between the two banks. The drivers side headers are A LOT colder than the passenger side. I can also feel this with my bare hand
Compression: did a compression test on all cylinders, all pretty much apart but not specific to one bank. I wouldn’t trust the measurement too much, since the engine was cold and static compression is something the MS4 supposedly can’t do very good.
Fuel: fuel pressure is right where it should be, I have a gauge in the a-pillar. Also I lifted the fuel rail a little bit and watched the injection while turning the key. All 8 looked identical and emitted about the same amount of fuel. A noid light also shows nothing abnormal. I’m pretty confident to say: fuel is not the issue.
Spark: all 8 spark plugs looked pretty much identical: black. A lot. I tried to see if I have spark on the drivers side bank at all with the help of a timing light: it looks like it’s firing on all cylinders. But is the spark “strong” enough??
I already installed new TR55 spark plugs, Denso o2 sensors, MSD ignition cables and even MSD ignition coils.
In HP Tuners I can see the passenger side working like it should, the o2 sensor heats up pretty good and shortly enters the sinus pattern. The drivers side o2 is VERY slow to respond and barely moves.
I still have no idea why one side is running fine and the other side is barely, or not running at all.
ANY help or ideas are greatly appreciated
after hitting the ground with my longtubes at very very low speed, bank1 (drivers side) gets flooded with fuel. And I can’t find the reason. Help!!
I’ll try to explain everything as good as I can, so please bear with me.
First things first: it’s a 2002 Collectors Edition Trans Am, M6, T-Tops. And it’s been modified quite a bit. Here we go:
- TSP MS4 cam
- Hooker headers 1 ¾” + Hooker ORY
- Magnaflow cat-back exhaust
- AFR 205 heads
+ Ferrea F1021P/F1022P valves
+ Crane gold rockers
+ BTR .660 dual valvesprings w/ titanium retainers
+ Morel lifters - MTI clear lid, smooth bellow
- FAST 36# injectors
- Walbro 255 fuel pump
- LS6 flywheel/clutch
- Bilstein/Eibach suspension
- BMR SFCs, LCAs
- Eaton LSD 3.73
- Wilwood brakes + steel lines
- Stock rims, widened to 11” in the back w/ 315/35/17s
Right before I had the impact with my header to a bump, the car drove smooth for 100 miles. After the bump the passenger side y-pipe slipped off the header, car becoming REALLY loud. I drove it for another 2 miles to my garage and parked it. Couple of days later it was towed to the mechanic where it’s currently at.
Because of the damage I ordered a new y-pipe and new headers. After the new headers and y-pipe went in I started the car and noticed something was still wrong. You could hardly breathe because of that much pure gas was exiting the exhaust. So I looked again under the car and noticed that the drivers side header was leaking fuel! When I removed the y-pipe it was easy to see that the drivers side header was literally washed out by fuel! There was also quite a lot of gas in the oil. The passenger side looked ok. So I tried everything that came to my mind to determine WHY.
Right now the LS1 is running only on the passenger side bank. How do I know? When the engine is running and I pull fuse INJ1, it’s not changing anything. No difference. Also I measured the heat with a FLIR (infrared) cam, I attached the images – big difference between the two banks. The drivers side headers are A LOT colder than the passenger side. I can also feel this with my bare hand
Compression: did a compression test on all cylinders, all pretty much apart but not specific to one bank. I wouldn’t trust the measurement too much, since the engine was cold and static compression is something the MS4 supposedly can’t do very good.
Fuel: fuel pressure is right where it should be, I have a gauge in the a-pillar. Also I lifted the fuel rail a little bit and watched the injection while turning the key. All 8 looked identical and emitted about the same amount of fuel. A noid light also shows nothing abnormal. I’m pretty confident to say: fuel is not the issue.
Spark: all 8 spark plugs looked pretty much identical: black. A lot. I tried to see if I have spark on the drivers side bank at all with the help of a timing light: it looks like it’s firing on all cylinders. But is the spark “strong” enough??
I already installed new TR55 spark plugs, Denso o2 sensors, MSD ignition cables and even MSD ignition coils.
In HP Tuners I can see the passenger side working like it should, the o2 sensor heats up pretty good and shortly enters the sinus pattern. The drivers side o2 is VERY slow to respond and barely moves.
I still have no idea why one side is running fine and the other side is barely, or not running at all.
ANY help or ideas are greatly appreciated
Last edited by FlorianGee; 10-29-2016 at 09:36 AM. Reason: solved!
#2
Are the intake threads for the rocker bolts sealed well. It looks like oil on the plugs. I don't think it would be this bad though. Have you cleaned the maf? Header leak at the flange?
#3
It is possible to get a Bad 02 sensor. I would look into that again and check the wiring and make sure it didn't get damaged.
Was there anything else that was done or changed when you changed the headers?
perhaps you moved or disturbed some electrical wires?
Was there anything else that was done or changed when you changed the headers?
perhaps you moved or disturbed some electrical wires?
#6
BUT: o2s don't matter really, because when you start the cold engine they are irrelevant -> open loop. The engine should start and idle with or without o2s.
Was thinking about electrical damages too, but so far I could not locate any pinched wires. It would also help to pinpoint the problem if I knew what is causing the drivers side to be that much colder.
That'd be friends and me.
#7
I'm no LS1 expert, but I'll throw my hat in the ring anyway.
Have you tried disconnecting all injectors of bank 1? Maybe something as simple as a bad driver or short in the harness causing one or more of the injectors to stay open? IIRC the injectors are fed with 12V on one end and the PCM pulses the other end to ground to open them. If that wire somehow got grounded (like by sheet metal cutting into a harness, molten insulation, etc.), it may cause the injector to stay open all the time. Or the PCM driver could be shot and stay open all the time.
Have you tried disconnecting all injectors of bank 1? Maybe something as simple as a bad driver or short in the harness causing one or more of the injectors to stay open? IIRC the injectors are fed with 12V on one end and the PCM pulses the other end to ground to open them. If that wire somehow got grounded (like by sheet metal cutting into a harness, molten insulation, etc.), it may cause the injector to stay open all the time. Or the PCM driver could be shot and stay open all the time.
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#8
Good idea, but I already veryfied that the injectors are doing what they should:
Fuel: fuel pressure is right where it should be, I have a gauge in the a-pillar. Also I lifted the fuel rail a little bit and watched the injection while turning the key. All 8 looked identical and emitted about the same amount of fuel. A noid light also shows nothing abnormal. I’m pretty confident to say: fuel is not the issue.
#9
All 8 looked identical and emitted about the same amount of fuel.
KOEO....Pump should prime. Injs should not open, until the pcm sees a rpm signal.
If you are going thru what I just described, seeing fuel flow, something is triggering the injs when they should not be operating.
KOEO....Pump should prime. Injs should not open, until the pcm sees a rpm signal.
If you are going thru what I just described, seeing fuel flow, something is triggering the injs when they should not be operating.
#10
That's exactly whats happening. Pump primes (I can hear and see that with the fuel pressure gauge in the a-pillar), no fuel flow until PCM sees RPM, when it sees RPM all 8 have equal fuel injections
#11
Update: I tried to see if supplying direct current and ground from the battery to the coils would help anything. Answer is: nope, changes nothing
I also tried a full reflash of my PCM. Didn't help either.
Removed the valve cover of the head on bank1. Everything looks ok, valves operate normally when cranking.
Next I'm going to try a PCM from a friend... *sigh*
I also tried a full reflash of my PCM. Didn't help either.
Removed the valve cover of the head on bank1. Everything looks ok, valves operate normally when cranking.
Next I'm going to try a PCM from a friend... *sigh*
#12
Mystery solved!
The mystery of one bank not running is solved!!!
It took me only about 3 month, countless hours of head scratching, worrying, swapping parts and money to figure out: Hooker fucked up big time!
I mentioned that I installed brand new Hooker 2470 headers and their 16723 y-pipe... well, turns out the "y-pipe" I received is more of an "I-pipe"
Who would have thought of something like this?!
I am a bit worried about something being damaged... piston rings? Valves?
Jeeez, I am SOOOO mad at Hooker for delivering something like this.... Quality control, hello?! There are not enough "mad" smilies to express what I feel. What would you do to Hooker?
But see for yourself:
It took me only about 3 month, countless hours of head scratching, worrying, swapping parts and money to figure out: Hooker fucked up big time!
I mentioned that I installed brand new Hooker 2470 headers and their 16723 y-pipe... well, turns out the "y-pipe" I received is more of an "I-pipe"
Who would have thought of something like this?!
I am a bit worried about something being damaged... piston rings? Valves?
Jeeez, I am SOOOO mad at Hooker for delivering something like this.... Quality control, hello?! There are not enough "mad" smilies to express what I feel. What would you do to Hooker?
But see for yourself: