camarosource

The other day I was pulling up to the last traffic light just before pulling into my work parking lot. Just as I approached the light, the engine started hesitation, thumping.. Symptom as I've had many times since my headers of another set of wires being burned thru. Put car on hoist work and all wires appeared unburnt where the headers were (wires are covered with thermal wrapping where headers may touch wires)

After work I had a HECK of a time getting the car to work.. LOUD BANGING thru the exhaust, car shaking so hard my rear view mirror was coming out of adjustment! Stalled around 5 times before I could get home (approx 30 mins drive) nearly stalling at every few traffic lights. Loud knocking, whistling, banging.. engine just and hood shaking like crazy.

The next day I took out the camera to video tape the car as I would drive to the shop to drop the car off. I had a LOT of trouble getting the car to keep going, and have it all on video..

The shop called me a day later and said they were puzzled at first. Wires (outside) appeared perfectly fine, however INSIDE the casing, the wires were burnt. They mentioned something about possible low resistance? The car was actually running on 4 cyclinders.. And get this. 1 WHOLE SIDE of the engine is not firing!?! They changed the wires and the spark plugs and have done compression test and don't see any problems. I will be now without a car for a week while they look deeper into it.

Engine. L98 5.7L V8 350. TPI, Mild Cam, Headers, MSD Ignition, Larger rocker valves..

VIDEO: [autostream]http://autostream.com/camaroz28/?page_type=firebirdplayerthumbnail&framepage=548&t ransactionid=1300512980-17318391181&posted_by=camarosource_camaroz28.com[/autostream]

ANY IDEAS????

Marc 85Z28

The first thing I would look at is that MSD ignition. I assume it's a standalone box right? They're world reknowned for failure And while I've never seen firsthand issues on a TPI, I have dealt with them on carbed SBCs and EFI Fords, and that acts an awful lot like a bad box. Do you know anyone that you could temporarily swap yours out with?

It wouldn't hurt to check a few other things like the MAF (hopefully you're not still running speed density, but it you are, the MAP) and ECT. Do you have a scanner capable of datastreaming?

Edit: Wait a minute. Didn't you have problems with your starter, and also have issues with your idle not too long ago? And you took it to these same mechanics, and they couldn't figure out any of that either? I would stop going there #1. And from what I remember, they hacked your timing too, right?

quickchicken

first thing i would do is get a timing light and hook it on each wire to see if your getting fire. if you are start looking at your timing and if what Marc said is tru then they ither really screwed up your timing.

do you know how to set timing on a TPI car? if not, unplug the tan wire with the plug that looks like an o2 plug connector while the car is running and pref warm as this makes it easier. set it to the base timing on your emissions sticker on the hood, after you get it set, turn car off and re plug the connector.


hopefully its something as simple as that, keep us informed.

camarosource

Hello,

Thanks for the replies. In regards to the starter, at the time it turned out it was a low ignition voltage being sent to the starter. I had taken it to an alternator/starter professional shop who deals with nothing but starters and alternators (VERY well known in my area with over 30 years) and they QUICKLY determined it was a low voltage to the starter seconds after they heard it.

He added an extra relay solenoid on the firewall hooked to the ignition. The ignition would power the secondary relay, and in turn supply the extra power to power the starter solenoid fully. And I ever since I have had ZERO problems with the starter not working right. Unfortunately I don't see this being an issue here as it occurs after the car tries to start...

In regards to the MSD "box". It doesn't have the BOX rather a MSD bullit ignition (distributor cam and MSD cap and rotor).

mako350Z28

Not to hijack the thread but what is wrong with SD? I never had a single problem with it.

Marc 85Z28

It becomes problematic when you change the airflow characteristics of the engine it feeds. Higher flowing cylinder heads, extensive intake manifold modifications, and mostly altered cam timing make for a poorly running engine. The SD systems are more tuner friendly when it comes to extensive modifications, but MAF systems handle mild mods best.

And these cars have been out for a long time now. Tuners have had LOTS of time to figure them out. I've yet to see a good running SD TPI setup, period.

Injuneer

Did they check the injector fuses?

camarosource

ok. well I called them up and they say noticed that the entire one side is not mechanically working.. They believe (they aren't open monday but took a quick look they said when the service manager came into the shop for a hour or two), that 1 or more valve springs may have been broken inside and will find out tomorrow.

This seems VERY strange.. HOW can a rebuilt engine break it's NEW (3 years old) valve springs in a car that is NOT driven hard (I baby it), drive 15 mins to work and back, and usually is parked at home when I'm off work, be broken???

Marc 85Z28

1. 3 years old isn't even remotely new.
2. New engines can break upon first startup, after 2 weeks, or after 2 decades.
3. How could they know that an entire bank isn't operating mechanically if they haven't even pulled the valve cover? If they had pulled the cover, they would know exactly how many springs were broken and would have a good idea why.

I think they are on track to a misdiagnosis.

camarosource

They have discovered that barely any oil is coming thru the pushrods and are saying this will cost $1400 to remove the engine minus parts.

redneckgames

you need to stop going to that place.

camarosource

Why?

Little late now considering the engine is disconnected and after I stopped by just now, they have removed the intake and are starting to dismantle it.

They explained that 5 cylinders are not working but the ignition system is working fine after they replaced the cap and rotor, wires, and spark plugs.

camarosource

The original engine builder says that it sounds like the the block oil plug behind the timing cover likely popped out which is why there is still oil pressure but not pushing the oil thru to the push rods.

I will find out more tonight when I call this other place after they remove the parts inside the engine.

camarosource

btw: This shop is not the same people who I dealt with before. I basically told them where-to-go.

camarosource

With barely any oil coming thru the pushrods, what type of damage am I looking at perhaps.. Would it be worth it to get a crate engine or start with a new block? Will it likely now have to be rehoned, what about the camshaft?