thor2580

Hey everyone new member here and new camaro owner just bought 93 z28. So I just did plugs and wires what a terrible experience lol in fact I didn't change the passenger side wires caus I can't get underneath it (its lowered a couple inches) but I did change all the plugs and driver side wires. I used tr55s and jets 8.0 pow'r wires and when I first fired it back up I noticed loud clicking/ticking noise. So I rechecked all the wires and seemed to get a couple on a little more I guess and its maybe a little quoted now but still pretty noisy. So my question is does it seem like I still have something not on right or are bigger aftermarket wires actually louder? I'm sure all the plugs are in tight enough and I made sure the gap was at .50 and it seems to run fine. Any input would be appreciated thank you

Injuneer

"Larger" wires just have thicker insulation. The wires should not make any noise at all. It's probably the spark arcing to ground. Run it in the dark, open the hood, and look for arcing on the wires.

Hopefully you gapped the plugs to 0.050"

thor2580

Haha yea .050 I just started it up and didn't see any arcing it definitely seems like its coming from the side with the new wires

thor2580

I think I ream somewhere that the routing of the wires was really important and if re routed different than stock could cause issues but I had to re route because with then being thicker they didn't fit into the plastic tab things is it bad if some of them touch each other? I thought the stock ones were touching before too but I don't remember

Injuneer

When I installed a set of 8mm wires, everything fit in the stock location. 8.5's were a problem.

Are you sure the wire boots are snapped tight on each plug? Sure you didn't crack an insulator on the plug when installing?

Was this a ready-made set of wires specifically for the LT1/Optispark ends? Or did they have to be cut and the ends installed?

thor2580

Well I just rechecked everything again and it all seems fine but the ticking still seems louder on the drivers side so I don't know I'm starting to think it could've been there before and I just don't remember (didn't drive it for almost a month) the whole reason I did the plugs was caus it runs really rich but that didn't seem to make any difference I guess it could be a manifold leak caus it has pacesetter lt's it smells like gas a lot and I get around 10-12 mpg and I have whitish smoke come out of the exhaust and the exhaust tips are pretty black it only has 109k on it I'm really hoping its not a head gasket

thor2580

Oh also it goes from the LTs to 3" all the way back I think but it looks like the o2s are just plugged into the pipe so would that make it run really rich also? There's no CEL or anything and the air pump is disconnected I noticed also but I wouldn't think that would make any difference

Injuneer

You didn't answer the question - did you use a set of wires specifically for the LT1, with the correct "Opti" ends?

Are you now saying there are no wires connected to the O2 sensors? If the AIR pump is disconnected it will not set a trouble code as long as there is a good fuse in the circuit to the AIR pump relay. You should have codes if the O2 sensors are not connected.

Scan it for codes even if the SES light is not on. Does the SES light come on like it is supposed to when you turn the key to start the engine?

thor2580

Yea sorry it was made for the lt1 the ends are the exact same as the stock wires and yea all the lights come on when you start it and the o2 sensors do have wires going into them I don't have a scanner but I should get one

Injuneer

You don't need a scanner for a 93. You can flash the codes on the SES light by shorting two pins in the ALDL connector.

What do you mean by " the O2 sensors are just plugged into the pipe"?

shoebox

If you have no arcing and still hear a tick, then I would suspect you have a loose spark plug. An arc will sound more like a "snap" and a loose plug more like a "tick" or air leak.

thor2580

Yea all the plugs are tight and threaded right I think i just assumed it was the plugs caus i had just changed then and i hadnt driven it in awhile but I think more and more its an exhaust manifold leak or something definitely on the driver side but it doesn't seem to get much better when it warms up I'm not sure anymore I do appreciate the feedback just think I'm looking at the wrong thing I do know however I have sludge in my coolant and white smoke out of the exhaust and it looks like the intake manifold gasket might be leaking too so i think it might be time to put it away for the winter and do all new gaskets in the spring