UPDATE! She's running on all 8 now (Freakin finally). My next problem, keeping it straight on the road. Every time it gets into boost, it starts spinning and the rear end tries to come around.
It's hard to tell what the boost level it's getting to and at what RPM when it comes into boost so quickly and the tires start spinning at 50mph. Plus, shortsighted me... I put the boost and A/F gauge down on the console so they look really pretty. Too bad you can't see then while driving cause the farking shift **** is in the way. Lol... Pod on the column, coming up.


When we last left our hero (me), I'd rushed to get the virgin Turbo installation up and running and drive it to Houston, TX from upstate New York. But at the witching hour, it was throwing a code (Left O2 Lean) and it had started backfiring whether in open or closed loop. I decided to punt and caught a flight back to Houston and opted to have the Z28 transported via car hauler. Well, $1,050 freakin' bux later, she got here today.


I eagerly took her the one block back to the house where I'm staying during my contract here in Houston. She's still backfiring... ugh. The LT1 edit scanner showed the Left O2 was lean and the BLM was 160 (maxed out trying to add fuel. I first checked for all vacuum hoses connected and intact. Check. I made sure all the injector connectors were on and tight. Check. I verified the TPS was .69 to 4.5volts in a linear fashion. Check. Hmpf.. so much for an easy fix. Well hell... let's put her on jack stands and have a look at plugs and O2 sensors/wiring. I pulled a few plugs on the drivers(left) side. Crap! I thought it was running lean. These plugs with 25 minutes of driving on them are black and wet and look more like they came out of a 120,000 hard mile farm truck. I pulled the rest of the plugs till all 8 were out. 6 of them looked the same, one was kiiiinda okay and one was just wet and shiny. The O2 sensors looked fairly alike. The Left one did have a bit more soot on it.

So, my first question is, would one bad O2 sensor make the PCM throw so much fuel at both sides of the motor that it loaded up the plugs?

Next question, you guys running the Mototron 60#, what is your PCM poundage set to? Example: When I had the SVO 30#, I set them to 31 or 32 to lean them out. Did you do something similar with the 60's? I've got to get some more Autolite plugs tomorrow and probably an O2 Sensor. I'm going to set the injectors to 62 also to see if I can lean them out.

As if this weren't frustrating enough, the powers that be decided I needed another bite of the 'dung' sandwich. When I was under the hood listening for things, I noticed, "Hey, the Electric water pump isn't working!". Sure enough, even when I put power directly to the pump, bypassing the relay, it's gone. Sigh..I've got one on 'Next Day Air' from Summit and it'll be here Friday due to the late hour order.

 

Check your temp sensor. Thats the only thing I can think of to make it run that rich. The beauty of 60 pdrs is that they actually run at 60 pds.

 

The water temp was 104 at the time. I'm having to guess it was the one bad O2 sensor. It certainly wasn't lean! Lol...

 

The water temp should have been higher than that, my logs show mine at like 170 with 160 stat and e-waterpump. I know it adds fuel when it's cold, that could be the problem. Try driving it more to see how it's reading.

 

I'm sorry. I should have been more revealing. Yesterday when I ran a quick test, it had cooled down and I'd restarted it just long enough to see the scan results. When I originally started it in New York and let it run for 20 minutes, I let it get to full operating temps. The "LEAN O2 Sensor" DTC started from the moment I started the car and stayed that way the whole of the 20 minutes. The one sensor showed regular readings but the other was showing 17x and lower and switched slowly/seldom. Thanks!

 

Just got back from VatoZone and have two new Bosch O2 sensors, 8 new spark plugs. I'll put them in this afternoon and report back what, if any, improvement I see.

 

How much did vatozone charge for the new AC delco O2's ? Hope you get the problem solved. Looking forward to the results of your labor.

 

$52 each. Better than I thought they would be locally, plus they had them in stock so, no waiting.

 

keep us updated dave!

-B

 

So far it has been beyond merely frustrating...
https://www.camaroz28.com/forums/sho...d.php?t=613758
I'm still in the hunt though!

 

Looks like I may have isolated it. TurboBobs LTCC has a couple of LED's inside the housing for the processor. I'd PM'd Bob last night asking if he had any idea if the LTCC could play a role in this. He asked me to pull off the cover of the box and look at the LED's.
Upon "KEY ON", they go thru a bulb test and flash once. Then, when you crank, the green LEN *should* illuminate and stay on. Mine does. The red LED is for diagnostics. Here's what the .pdf file just told me....

Red LED flashes once = Cylinder Decode sequence error.

Red LED flashes twice = Wrong number of Hi Res Pulses counted between Lo-Res Rising edges.

Red LED flashes Three times = Wrong number of Hi Res Pulses counted during a High Lo-Res pulse or a Low Lo-Res Pulse.

Red LED flashes four times = EST (Electronic Spark Control) signal from PCM = missed pulse. Check connection to white wire.

Mine is flashing 3 times.

I've sent a PM to TurboBob to see if this means its wiring or time for a new OPTI.

 

Just for ***** and grins, have you checked your opti harness for corrosion.

Mike

 

Mike,
I sure did. I hoped that was all it was. I pulled it completely off and cleaned it and put it back on. Same 3 blinks greeted me. Nevertheless, I ordered a brand new one along with the brand new Opti from Summitracing.com this morning. Everything should be here tomorrow.
I'm SOOOOO looking forward to driving this car instead of battling it every freakin' day. Hahaha...

 

Goodluck Dave!!!!!!!

 

Thanks Jon! I'm using this 'off' time to install the boost gauge and the wide band A/F gauge in the console of the car. I'll go ahead, drain the radiator, pull the water pump, pull the Harmonic balancer off and loosen the bolts on the old opti tonight. That way when I get home tomorrow from work, I can put the new one on pronto before it gets dark and take a test drive. I should probably go ahead and put the 60# mototrons back on while I'm in there.