i am looking at a 92 z28 355 tpi and i am gonna go see it again on friday. the car is beautiful in and out. but it definitely is not running right. the owner told me it has a exhaust leak on the drivers side. i can definitely heard soemthing from that side, and the car sound funny and definitely is feelings under poowered for what it is. it kind sound like the engine is revving up than down, but its really not that just how the exhaust sounds. so what should i look for to make sure its just an exhaust leak.

 

I would say that your other senses are more important then your vision on this one. Start up the car and get underneath it. Closely follow the exhaust throughout the car. If you hear anything, hold out your hand (but don't burn yourself) and feel if you feel anything. You could also sniff around and see if you smell anything. Don't forget to check out the exhaust manifolds as well.....

Just take a close look at it and you should be fine.

Nick

 

often an exhaust leak will give you a tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, tick, ...... id be a little worried if the motor was feeling seriously underpowered that would only be caused if you had a huge leak relatively close to the headers which you would definitly notice or some form of other problem. Also you realize a 355 means the motor has been rebuilt at some point right? Those cars always scared me a bit see if you can find out where it was stripped and put back together. If i were you id find a buddy who knows a ton about cars and bring them to see it. The other thing you can do if the seller agrees is if you think youre going to take it, give him a down payment, and have it taken to a mechanics that you trust, and let them look over the car and see if they can find anything, mind you most mechanics are horrible so i hope you have a mechanic that you trust or like i said earlier a good buddy who knows a ton about cars

 

It sounds like maybe the engine may be "missing". Could be plugs, ignition wires, distributer cap/rotor etc. Does it idle smooth without the car shaking real hard?

 

Got a scanner to see what codes are present and what the ECM is seeing?

 

its definitely going tick tick tick and to me it seems like it coming from the drivers side header. also yes i know its been rebuilt and it has less than 2,500 miles on it and they have all the reciepts. they actually had a chevy dealership do all the work i guess they know the guy there, i dunno if thats good or bad. my uncle is coming with me on friday to take a look he has been a mechanic and diesil mchanic for 25 years know and owns his own semi truck shop know. he knows alot and always goes with me before i buy a car and so far he has never let me make a wrong decision.

 

sounds like youre all set then, good luck with the car and let us know how it turns out