pontiacstogo

Just got off the phone with the mechanic - Y pipe and power steering pump are done.

Car runs a little rough for my liking so I had him do plugs and wires while the Y pipe was off. Old plugs on 3 and 7 were sooty and old leads (MSD 8mm) were in rough shape. Compression test showed even numbers on all cylinders on both banks. Unfortunately, car runs no different after plugs and wire change. He feels the problem is somehow left bank related - O2 sensor? Optispark? Cap and/or rotor? I don't mind spending money on this thing to get it right, but I'm not sure replacing parts until the problem is corrected is the smart way to go...

I guess my next step will be to get the car back from him, try and get the scanning software/cable to work and post the results here?

All opinions welcome

pontiacstogo

I know no-one's really following this - but what the heck....

So plugs and leads didn't solve the on fire on 3 and 7. We ended up replacing the OptiSpark as well. In hindsight we probably could have just replaced the cap and rotor, but I figured while we were in there, we may as well replace the whole thing. I did a bit of research and narrowed the OptiSpark choices down to Petris and the seller on eBay that rebuilds them using new Mitsibushi sensors and vented MSD cap and rotor. I ended up getting the eBay one. When we removed the non-vented version that was on the car, the terminals in the cap were pretty corroded and it looked like a parts-house replacement.

So - new plugs and wires, rebuilt Opti, AC Delco water pump, Felpro gaskets (replaced everything in the timing cover), fuel filter, drive belt, new power steering pump and she is all back together and running great - no more missing or rough running, no more leaks.

Oh and we ended up putting the old Y pipe back on the car after welding the split seam up. Turns out someone had already gutted the cat so we kept the Walker replacement as a spare.

DrewHMS97SS

Nice. I bet the opti was causing your woes, but I am sure it feels good to know all the other stuff won't need to be worried about. Cheers!

Injuneer

We really do care

Thanks for the feedback. I wish everyone would post the solution so that others know the complete story.

Good luck!
Fred

pontiacstogo

Ha!

Finally having some fun with this thing - didn't want to run it with dead cylinders. It's wicked smooth and pulls strongly. It's also quicker than I thought it would be - I have 2 x other RWD v8's and this thing might just outrun them all!

Now I can start the hunt for some decent rolling stock. The chrome ZR1's make me cringe

DrewHMS97SS

Check out: Shop by Category - Camaro - 93-97 Camaro - Wheels & Brakes - Wheels - OE Replica Wheels - Hawks Third Generation
I went with C5 Z06 wheels =D

pontiacstogo

OK - I know I started this in the exhaust section...

Car is running great following all of the recent work. One of the (many) things on my list was the battery tray/coolant reservoir. It was broken at the front edge where the battery seats and I saw from other posts that it's a pretty common problem. I ended up ordering a 'Dorman' replacement from Amazon for around $30. It literally took 20 minutes to swap out - I found the easiest way to get the grommet out was to simply hacksaw the bottom off the old one so that I could push it through from the bottom up.

Battery is now securely mounted - we'll see how long it lasts.

Ananta1369

(Quote) I know no-one's really following this - but what the heck....

Believe me, I'm following. Promise you that there are others as well.

Zman3030

I am following every post that comes up with a misfire. I am glad that you posted your fix as others are not doing the same. Alot of good info and I also bought the Ebay rebuilt Opti with the Mitsubishi optical sensor and was perfect. Unfortunately my engine is still misfiring. Guess that is the woes of buying a used Z28 from someone who didnt tell you it had bad heads that had melted and let coolant into the engine. He went as far as to drain all coolent and replace the oil so that when I went to buy it and checked the oil it didn't show signs of foamy goodness. The one thing i didn't think to check nor thought I needed to as I have never checked it was the coolant level. Was an expensive lesson for a mistake that i will never make again. But being that it had double head problems, I think it might have trashed the engine enough to make every effort to get the misfire out null and void. Luckily I have found someone local with a low mile engine so crossing my fingers that it fixes the problem.

pontiacstogo

Oh wow - yeah that sucks.

When I test drove my car it had a definite miss - the owner tried to convince me that it didn't - maybe he'd been driving it that way for long enough that he thought it was normal? Who knows. In any case, I offered him a price that allowed for plugs and wires along with the labor to do the work and he accepted. The symptoms were not a random miss - cylinders 3 and 7 were completely dead. It would also fall on it's face completely at higher revs (the seller tried to pin that on the rev limiter).

I had hoped it would just need plugs and wires, but that was not the case. I did a bit of research and narrowed the Opti choices down to the eBay one or one from Petris. I went with the eBay one and so far so good. My car also had a pretty good oil leak from the front cover that is now completely gone with the replacement of all of the seals (the power steering pump was also leaking so that got replaced at the same time). So after a few parts and a wad of cash it is running very well and how I would expect it to run for a car with 47K miles.

It's tucked away for the winter now - but I'm plotting and planning the work I need to do once spring arrives. Headliner needs replaced, and there's some drivetrain clunks and noises I need to address. Wheels and tires are definitely getting replaced too.

Hope you get the problems resolved with yours!