OneSickSix

Theres one up here in Michigan, an Alero coupe with a 5spd and a 2.4 Twin Cam engine. He has a nice intercooled turbo setup and has surprised a few guys in his day

AronZ28

you need to take your car to a shop that specializes in fbody's. I'd imagine that a shop that works on them all the time could tell you your problem. Also AutoZone scans your codes for free, so that would be the first thing I did if I were you, before I spent another nickel on parts.

transamdude95

I feel the same frustration as him on this problem. After all that I have read about this problem, it seems that there isn't a real solution to it that doesn't involve spending at least $1000 or more, depending on if you can do the work yourself or not. My car feels to be getting progressively worse... Since Monday is Labor Day, and I probably won't have to work and certainly don't have any classes, I'm going to put a good chunk of time and money into this problem, hopefully resolving it. Tomorrow morning if I'm able to get up early enough before work, I will try the Seafoam.

sharpe

Oh, it very well does make sense. I have spent more money trying to fix this car than I would spend on making slightly higher payments with an LS1 car. "Unknown hundreds more to find a 'better' car ?" What are you talking about? Ebay, Trader, LS1tech.com, word of mouth, the Internet... all theses things are free and fun to use. I have never spent money looking for a car. Besides, I already found several cars I want, and some one who wants my car. Let's see... should I sell it? Hell yes. It wouldn't make sense not to. As for the possibility of having problems, that is the case any time you buy any car ever. I know this one has problems.

If you read the other threads like mine, and there are a lot of them, you will see people spending hundreds and hundreds of dollars, doing everything and more than has been suggested in this thread, and not fixing this same problem. I'm going to learn from their experience and sell this car now, while I am at only -$300 (yes, that is a negative sign) in my bank account. So far, in the last three weeks I have spent about $800 chasing this dragon, and about $1,000 total but that is counting other things that needed done to the car.

I cleaned the MAF, TB, and MAP. It seems like I cleaned something else, too. No difference. I have this Opti, but, well, I have less than no money so it isn't getting installed any time soon. Maybe it will fix the problem. Either way, I'm selling the car, or getting rid of it in another fashion.

AronZ28, AZ scans cars for free? I'll call and see about this. That would be great.

sharpe

I called AZ and they said they would scan it for free. Well, I had to draw it out of them. They asked, "Is is showing a check engine light?" I told him it wasn't so he said that they couldn't scan it. I explained to him how stupid that was and he listened so I'll be scanning it tomorrow at around 5 PM or so hopefully.

AronZ28

Free code scanning is the only reason I go to AutoZone. The one by my house is terrible, I think its run by crack addicts.

transamdude95

Learned 2 interesting things. The front header bolt that holds on the #1 primary(not sure if it's called that) is no longer there! It came loose and fell out at some point. That accounts for my exhaust leak. The other thing, I have hi-temp plug wires (up to 600 degrees) and my friend told me that he thinks headers get hotter than 600 degrees... I didn't think it did. That might explain my hesitation. The wires don't look burned anywhere though, so is it possible that it may not look burned but it is? I'm ordering the OTVC kit from ThunderRacing now anyway.

zachw1036

How do you know if you have a clogged cat? I think one of mine may be.

mrz28 73/97

How many miles on your car, maybe you cat is clogged that will surely kill your power.
Oh and by the way I had a guy in one of those supercharged Regals try me and I scarred him up good like 10 - 15 cars.

transamdude95

I found my problem. This may not be the same problem that everyone else is having, but it sure was mine. My #5 and #6 plug wires were caked. Just glancing at them you could never tell... maybe because of their position.... but they were burnt and brittle(very brittle). I used my old plug wires from the first replacement that weren't burned and stuck them on there. Of course I re-routed the wire. I routed the #5 up above the headers, zip-tied to the cruise control module(think that's it). The #6 I zip-tied to that was under the engine on the passenger side(obviously). I have no clue what it was... but it works! I tested my car out tonight with my friend Tim... fun fun. We went down to US31 in Greenwood, IN, which is a spot around Indy where people go to street race a bit. Surprisingly busy for a Monday night there. I whooped up on everything down there, except a Ninja. As soon as I hit it, I heard him hit it from a car length behind me. At first he seemed to struggle to catch me, but then blew by lol. I did beat an LS1 Z28, well actually my friend did this, I let him drive. Spanked him. Then I spanked a GTP, Mustang GT.... others. Car is running great now.

So, if you have hesitation and headers, I suggest checking all of the plugs/wires. Not just looking at them from afar, but take them out, pull the wires off and check them. If you can't see the whole wire, run you hand along it. Easy to feel for burns. They were a complete bitch to put on though. The #5 wasn't bad at all(maybe 25-30 minutes), but the #6 was insane. I couldn't really reach it from top or bottom well enough to pull it off.... had to take of alt., tensioner, valve cover(just because)... never done any of that besides tensioner before so it was a learning experience.

Good luck all! :


edit: I am still going to use the OTVC kit when it arrives, and I need to order header bolts because the first one on the #2 primary is missing Exhaust leak now.

sharpe

I finally got my Opti installed, along with one of the O2s. I think the problem is fixed, though like last time, it has been raining and the pavement is always wet. Has been for the last two days and is supposed to be for the next two.

But, I'm sure enough that the Z's problem is fixed that I am posting on this long forgotten thread in case someone else searches through it for help.

So... plugs, wires, fuel filter, one O2 sensor, an Opti Spark and a $13,500 black '99 WS6 M6 later, I think I fixed the Z.

sharpe

Oh, by the way, the computer scan (private, not by Auto Zone) showed that my Opti was bad. So, in retrospect, I should have had the car scanned first. Hindsight's 20/20.

During the process, my normal mechanic, the one who changed my Opti, said that he would change my plugs and wires for $85. He puts the car on his lift and drops the manifolds off. Says it's real easy, only taking three hours at the most. He did a '94 teal Z right before mine who was chasing the same problem, but could not afford to have the Opti changed.

transamdude95

Congratulations on fixing your problem! I've had no more problems with that since the OTVC kit, but I have an exhaust leak still. Grats on the 99 WS6 too, sounds like a good deal.

karl81talt1

to the guy that got beat by the f350. my buddy got beat by a stub nose freightliner in his 91 z at capital raceway in maryland. In his defense that truck ran a 15 flat spinning all 8 tires and he ran a 15.3 but it was still funny as s***. We still f with him about that today.

izzyz28

Glad to hear you got the problem fixed. On a similar note my car was starting to slowly go down hill. It would run rough in the mornings and it seemed to have a general lack of power, though it wasn't too bad. It just felt a little sluggish. I decided to install my Mallory 685 on Sunday and as I was doing so I removed the coil wire. The terminal was coated in corrosion, as was the post on the coil. I cleaned it off and it's as good as new. I can't believe I hadn't checked it sooner, but the problem wasn't really that bad and I wasn't too worried. I have seen this happen on numerous other vehicles we would get in the shop, but I was surprised since the Taylor wires were only seven months old. Always check the simple stuff first.