car starts then dies 1997 Z-28

well i dont know if the opti is going bad or the wirring harness,maybe coil or what. thought i would get some opintions. the car starts right up then dies. the only way to keep it running is to hold the gas pedal all the way down and turn it over several times, then it will fire but you have to keep on the gas until the rpms rap out and then it will clear up and runs fine. i have good fuel pressure and have just replaced all the fuel components just a few months ago. this just started a week or two ago. it has new plugs new wires. the cars is as posted a 97 lt-1 with a few bolt ons, like hypertech programer, headers, high flow cat, borla cat back, venom injectors(24lbs) holley FPR, new fuel fillter, K&N, new fuel pump(stock replacement) MSD wires and delco plugs. also the only code the cars pulling is an evac code i beleive for the charcoal canister, i was told it may be leaking or just bad. where is it and how do you get to it. thanks for any and all help.

larry

If the charcol canister is bad it will cause the problems you have. Each of the cars I have previously owned, except my current 97, the canisters have gone bad. The canister is in the driver side rear wheel well, remove your rear tire and then the fender liner and it's right there. It should have 3 lines coming from it.

thanks alot for the info. ill try to change it first and hopfully that will fix it. again thanks.

I'm not sure if it's a good idea or not, but on the older cars you can disconnect it and plug the lines and see if that fixes it. Also I know several people run without one without any problems, so you might try that first before dropping cash on it.

well i replaced the canister yesterday and so far so good. the problem with stalling after i start it seems to be fixed so far. i still have the ses light on even after reseting it by disconecting the neg. battery post. it went out then came back on. im going to chase the lines down from the can. to see if they are ok. there was one unpluged so i want to follow them out to see if they may be unpluged some were else also. does anybody have a drawing of the route of the lines? and the headers on the car has the air pipe pluged off. would this cause the evap code aswell? everything still there but its just pluged off on the header. thanks for all the help i thought the opti was going out you guys saved me alot of money. ..........:bow:

well the cars in the shop now!!!!!!!!!!!!! i hate taking my car to a shop. well i was driving and the car started missing and died. the car started back up but ran like crap. the other day when i changed the charcol canister i noticed there was charcol in the line. i thought i got it all out but who knows. i think its plugged up but my mechanics saying opti. he said the right bank is running lean and is going to check the 02. the car started running warmer than ever before.(220) would it running lean cause it to run hot (i think so but do know for sure) well any thoughts????????let me know:confused:

So you disconnected the charcol canister and everything was fine except the light and then you put a new one on at it started running like crap again? My guess would be stuff in the line clogging stuff up, lines are routed wrong, evap solenoid gone bad, stuff like that. I'll see if I can find the stuff on shoebox's site and post it up for you.

http://shbox.com/1/1996_evap.jpg

Couldn't find one so far for the three lines coming from the canister, one goes to the engine bay, one to the tank and I'm not sure about the third.

well i looked at shoeboxs code retreival and came up with 25,31,33,35,55,24,32 then cleared it like it said and then got 25,35,55,24,32. i looked up the codes on the list and im not quite sure what some are. i also saw a rewire for a ss rear spoiler taillight with leds. i do have one but would this cause some of the codes? i am going to put the relay in like it says to do when i get off work. the fuel pressure is good but drops like 3 lbs. when you barely touch the throtle but then goes back up the more throtle you give it and is about 52lbs at wot. why would it drop before it goes back up??? bad fuel pump(its only a couple months old) the car started running fine after i put the charcol canister in it but when i reset the fuel pressure is when it really started running bad. its running fine again right now but im affraid it wont last. still has the codes listed above. any suggestions? thanks for everybodys help!!!!!!!!:confused:

I don't think the fuel pressure dropping slightly when you first hit it to be a problem, that's just timing for the fuel pump to increase it's output to match the load being placed on the engine. Reset the fuel pressure? How did you set the fuel pressure?

The codes you listed have you all over the place and they are also OBD-1 DTC's which is odd to me and also none of them are for your EVAP system. Here is the DTC list so you can see what they're for.

http://shbox.com/1/Dtcs.htm

ok i pulled the codes just like shoeboxs said for a 97 z turn the key to run then back off. take the radio fuse out and turn the key to acc. and it chimes then turn it back off the back to acc. within 5 sec. and it chimes 3 times and is in dia. mode. the security light blinked 1 then 2 so thats 12 saying its in dia. mode correct? then the codes blinked in the exact order listed above. 12,25,31,33,35,55,24,32. then i cleared them buy holding down the unlock button and it cleared some of the stored codes like 31,33 thats it. as far as the fuel pressure,,, i put a new pump,afpr,venom 24lbs. injectors in it and set the fuel pressure to 41-43lbs. for a stock set up. then a couple of days ago i was replacing the (charcol canister) and ran across a fourm about fuel pressure. when i set mine a few months back i didnt take the vacume line off when i set it so i thought i should restet it the right way, and thats when the sh** really hit the fan. it started cutting out like the opti was dieing or something just cut out. then i put the fuel pressure back to were it was before i lowered it and it seemed to be doing better but then it started cutting out again. the ses light has been on for almost a year since i bought the car, so im not sure what all has been done to it or should i say not done to it. im am just now trying to learn about the computer end of this stuff and im tired of taking it to my so called machanic so it can sit there for a few weeks and not get fixed. im a ok shade tree but i dont know anything about the computers. so no better time to learn. i need to buy a scanner for the obdII so i can have a better guess at whats going on. any suggestions on which ones not to much money but will work good?

I've never pulled codes like that before so I don't know. I use AutoTap and just plug into the OBD2 port and it reads them. You can go to AutoZone and they will scan your computer for you for free and tell you the codes. You went back and set the pressure correctly so that should be good. I don't know anything about Venom injectors but I would make sure that they are all spraying and also check to see what FP they are rated at. They should be 24lbs at 43.5psi if they are 24lbs at a higher pressure than 43.5 then you are running really lean and need to get your computer tuned. Either way get the computer scanned to see what the codes are and then you can go from there.

i just bought my first scanner so ill get to find out what codes are there for sure tomarrow. ill post tomarrow when i find something out.:D

well i pulled the code, and is saying it is running lean on bank 2. so i changed the 02's and it was still giving me the same code. i tried bumping the fuel pressure up to 50lbs and still the same. the venom injectors have been giving problems so i think ill buy some delphi's and try them. any oppinions??????

I would check to see if your injectors are spraying. Search for Accel injectors and you will find several tests you can run to make sure they are spraying. Accel has a bad rep of injectors crapping out and destroying motors cause they stop spraying fuel or don't spray enough.

I noticed this wasn't answered yet.. If your car is running lean it will run hot. The fuel actually cools the cylinders. I know this doesn't help you much but it's nice to know. :)

well i just ordered the racetronix injectors so ill change them and im going to change the opti to either a delteq or dynaspark dont know which one yet. any sugestions on which one is the better of the two let me know. and yea i did come to the conclusion about the lean fuel causing the over heating. i really do appreciate all the info and help. thanks alot guys........(oh and gals)

I would go Delteq, Dynaspark is nice but the voltage is still running through the opti which is the main cause of opti failure. Did you ever check the injectors or are you just swapping parts?

yea the injetors have been giving me problems from day one. i have already had two of the serviced by a injector shop here in houston and now i pulled the injectors yesterday to check them to see if they were leaking and three of the injector boots and o-rings are completely gone????? i was told they should have just burned up and out the exhaust. i dont know about that but im tired of dealing with these venom injectors there a nightmare!!!!!!! so i was going to buy the racetronix injectors in the first place but they were on backorder then and i was in a hurry so i ordered the venom and that bit me in the ass. so now i ordered the racetronix like i should have done in the first place. i have been running 2 of my stock injectors becouse 2 of the venoms have some issue with them now.( not sure what) you can hear them working but they cause a missfire on the cylinder. the stock ones in the same place it runs fine. so even if the injectors are not the hole problem they are for sure part of it in my opinion and i would rather just get away from them.

ok here is the deal. i took the car to a real mechanic and he fixed it for $250. it ended up being a bare wire shorting out on the frame. thats why it would come and go. i have driven it awhile now with no problems. he basiclly charged me for about 5 hours and a couple of small items. i love good mechanics !!!!!!!!! im just glad to have it back... i felt lost. lol well again to everybody thanks for your help and just wanted to let everybody know what the problem was.

thanks
larry:bow:

I had a bad circuit problem with my 72# Seimens injectors. Bad solder joints. Leaned the left side when I was losing the 12vdc +. I tought it was a bad O2, but, I was losing the injector circuit 12vdc. Took me 2 weeks to solve. Since then, I have reviewed my ability to solder and wire. Sorry I was late to your post. (97SS 383 D1) B.

too bad i just saw this, i could of told you my car was doing this last month and my bud said to inspect all the wires at the red pos junction box and terminals on the battery. they were dirty so i shot electronic parts cleaner and cleaned and sandpapered all connecting surfaces with 600 grit till they were nice and shiny. put it all back and wouldn't ya know it's all good and running even stronger than before.

he said the battery wasn't getting enough juice to the system during running. i always thought the alternator took care of that but i was wrong, the battery power is also needed during running

hey guys just to let you know the wire that was bare was the water pump temp. sencor in the front of the water pump. someone at some time or another changed it out and when they put it back together they didnt even use butt connectors. they just twisted the wires together and put tape around them. god i love peoples mechanical abillities.........