I just had my motor swapped out and my tranny replaced and my fuel pump replaced. When the newer motor went in the spark plugs were changed and the wires are new aswell. The only modification is pacesetter long tubes, open. After running the car for about 15 minutes the SES light pops on but the cars guages appear normal and the car doesnt act any different.

About 45 minutes later the car starts to surge at all rpms. If I rev the motor real quick it appears to stop for a couple seconds and then it will come back. I found the nearest rest stop and pulled over, I check everything I could see( it was dark) and nothing appeared out of the ordinary.

I know the car will run rich if the headers are open but will it also cause it to surge and run really bad? I guess Im just unsure if this is normal or not. I will be getting the exhuast put on in a week or so, and Im not driving it till then but I just need to know if this is most likely my culprit. Opti was tested prior to me leaving with my car, it showed both high and low res pulse.

 

check spark plug wires, make sure they are not burning on the new headers. you got the O2 sensors in? re-check all the wires you might have moved out of the way when installing the headers? I take it you removed the smog pump, might need to get some PCM editing...

 

Its going to run bad with the collectors open and air mixing in with the exhaust and making the O2 sensors think its running lean. You're probably dumping in extra fuel the engine doesn't need.... not a good way to run the engine for an extended period of time. Its going to foul the plugs and maybe wash the lubrication off the cylinder walls and dilute the oil. It would probably have been better to leave the O2 sensor unconnected, and let it run in open loop.

To check on the SES light, get it scanned. Might be related to the engine running rich, might be something else.

 

The only problem with getting it scanned is that I do not know anyone in my area that can scan a obd1 car. I hope I didnt mess anything up, it was a 150mile trip home.

If I hook up my ory and my flowmaster catback should that solve the problem of it running really bad?

I will have to check the plug wires today, as it was really dark last night when I was looking under the hood. I did not see any arcing though, but I couldnt see if the wire looms were glowing either. I really dont want to do plugs again for a while.

Something I did forget to mention is that the air is removed but the egr is still hooked up. The fittings on the headers did not match the fittings for the air system. The are plugged right now though so its not just open, and the motor has a block off plate.

All new parts are listed in my signature if that helps.