Ok here is the deal, I installed heads/cam/headers on a 1997 LT1 get everything back together and fire her up and she flat won't idle and the driver side exhaust gets super hot in mere seconds while the pass. side it just barely warm. I talk to Joe Riggs and he says check for vaccum leak and I remember I have not yet sealed off the EGR tube. So I seal the EGR tube and let the car set for a while, restart the car and things are better but not cured. Now she will start up and surge to about 1500rpm and then level out to about 1000 and seem to run fine but after about a minute tops she drops rpms to about 500 and spits and sputters SES light comes on and she dies or I turn her off. Again the exhaust headers on the driver side are super hot and the pass. side only warm. I am at a loss as to what the problem could be and I can't A-Tap the car.

I have check the plugs and wires count less times.
I pulled and checked the opti and timing gears all appers to be correct.
I have plugged any possible vaccum leaks that I have discovered.
Valve lash was set the same way all the way around.

It is as if the driver side is running super lean and causing excess heat. Do any of you LT1 folks have any ideas?? Help Please!!

I installed Hot Cam kit with 1.6 roller rockers/ my ported and polished heads/hooker headers w/jet hot coating.
Also a PCMforless tuned computer.

sorry this is a repost but i thought we solved the problem but turned out not to be solved... i repeat we have been up and down and all around.... got a miss fire code on it... getting scanned today.. hopefully autotapped...

ANY info or insight ideals ect. is appreciated.... very frustating times.... makes me wanna almost give up...

 

sounds like your running lean on that one side of the motor.maybe check your voltages on that bank, check the a/f ratio on both sides, and Ill bet one os way off

 

Double check your O2 sensor connections. You must have removed and reinstalled these sensors during the header install maybe you did not re-connect one of them or it got damaged.

 

o2's on both the old set and we installed new ones after header install... we thought that ourselves... but ran fine..... we thought a huge leak on my stock manifolds and clogged cat was initially causing this case.... well we was wrong...

my question could a defect in the porting of the head cause it to run so lean? we started it up pulled it a car length turned it off opened the hood and water on the hood hit the driver side header and hissed..... ODD

could opti have any play in this? i dont see how but we getting miss fires thrown at us to.. (flashing SES)

 

I might be way off so dont shoot me, but it sounds like what was happening with my cousins car and mine. Try replacing the $15 water temp sensor on the water pump.

 

you might be on to something i dunno i wont turn anything down... but we'll look into it..

 

could it be a coolant flow issue through the head?
did you install the air bleed tubes in the back of the head properly? or did you strip that bolt and replace it with a regular one?
I dont thing minor differences in porting could cause such a problem but i could be wrong..
A clogged exhaust could certainly cause it or a bad O2.
header leak mabye... but i doubt it.
pre-ignition problem due to combustion chamber irregularities...
fuel injector thats not firing.....Thats about all I can think of...

 

It either sounds like you put the timing chain on wrong, you didn't cut the opti dowel down proporly or probably the likely solution, you have a leak at the headers somewhere throwing your o2 sensor readings off.

 

One of my buddies (Kertong) was doing a hotcam kit and he had similar problems (one primary glowing red, other side weird, and running horribly). It turned out that his timing chain was off one tooth. Mebbe get someone else over there to look at it and offer and second perspective? My money is on timing chain.

Matt

 

Have you tried setting the valves again. Also, how many turns did you go when you set them, and what procedure did you use?

 

yeah we thought that at first but it doesnt sound exactly like a timing issue does it? i mean bank 1 is extremely lean and bank 2 is just cool as all get out... i figured it would be spread out... or like maybe one cyclinder on both sides would do it... or vise versa something to that effect...

i was thinkin the clogged coolant but temp gauge reads fine.. and thats why i went ahead and put the headers on because when we intially fired her up we belived that it was a veryt bad leak.... and you could see the dust blowing from under the car.. but turns out to not be the case re placed o2s (left back 2 off)
oh an di ment to add it has NO pick up whatsover... NONE
the guy installed the heads used the GM instructions taht came with the hot cam kit... he said it was differnt from his proceedure but used it anyway just incase... but thanks guys we'll be using your sudjestions to weed this out.. hopefully soon

 

I have seen a couple of previous posts where people experienced what you describe after a cam swap. The cam was installed one tooth off.

 

I'm not an LT-1 "guru", but what you mention above, IF it was a throttle-body car, would be the symptoms of a leak in the fuel injector O-ring. (I've had that problem. It was a b**ch to track down.) Could you have an injector problem? (O-ring, bad injector/injectors, wiring, FUEL PRESSURE lower on one rail--maybe one side (rail) plugged somehow, etc.?) MIGHT explain the "one side running lean" problem. Just some thoughts. Good luck!!

 

P.S. I know they ALL have throttle-body's. I mean throttle-body injection "TBI". I don't know what effect an injector putting out a LOT of gas would have on a multi-port engine. But on a TBI it floods it out giving the idle symptoms stated. (Old car I used to have did that!!)

 

Ive seen it hydrolock a cylander with fuel and bend a rod.
FI leaks are no good.