also, dont buy from a kid. (btw im 19). They will generally abuse it more.

 

spent nearly $800 trying to solve an oil leak. This may have been cheaper if i was doing the work and had the experience. We had the valve cover gasket replaced and it didnt fix the problem and then we had some bolts tightened up and then we either replaced the intake manifold or replaced a gasket or some sort not sure but it all ended up being a pain to the shop and back and was sorta expensive. 1996 z28 M6 55,000 miles

Oh and i also just had the rear brake pads replaced and gonna need new tires soon...prob get rid of the salad shooters and get some cragar s/s

Oh and also going to need to do plugs, wires, and maybe coil depending on what kinds of gains i see in mpg and also if i see any emlimination of popping during revs and early morning shifts when the car is frigid

 

The dreaded intake manifold leak!!!!

 

hehe... don't worry I know...

1st car 85 camaro, blew motor slipping tranny
2nd 92 GMC Jimmy, blew the headgasket, tranny had some problems do to me
3rd 94 camaro, motor runs like a champ.... I go through 50,000 mile tires in 12,000 miles, 4th clutch may have jsut taken a dump, rebuilt tranny needs rebuild again, 2nd rear end...

basically if I am goign ot pay for all this stuff, why not ahve a car that can move(don't worry I plan on taking better car of this car, I have imporved my car care with each car)


I am pretty meticulous about prevenitive maintenance...


On the intake leak where is it usually located(front? back?) and about how hard woud you say a slightly above average guy with cars, could get to it...

torn down my upper intake and fule system on my 94, torea aprt my 85 camaro motor, rearaxle swap, 4 wheel disc conversions... Rocker arm adjustment so I have some expereience but no expert...

 

Bought my car w. 53 k. miles on the clock, now 4 years later it has 75 k. miles.

Replaced parts:

Opti
Water pump x 2, first replacement did last only 7 k. miles.
Power steering pump
Brake discs
Pass. side power window motor
Intake leak fix
All rear axle bearings, pinion seal
Oil pump
Tranny started to slip -> converted to M6 -> burned one stage III kevlar clutch already.

Of course I have replaced a lot of things because of modifications and normal maintenance items.

 

Eric,

The intake leak problem is on really nothing IMO. It can be easily fixed in about 2hrs with ~$10 in parts. All you have to do is pull the manifold off and reseal it better.

If need be I'll come over and help. I've done it on my car twice now (screwed up the first time). The only trick is you can't drive the car for at least 8hrs after you're done to allow time for the RTV to cure.

Its really more of a nuisance than anything else. I certainly wouldnt let it stop you from buying a particular car. Hell personally I would hope it has the leak, that gives you something to bargin the price down with

 

ITs not gonna stop me from getting a car but I am going to look into fixing kinda right off the bat.

I am gonna put down a big chunk of money on this car don't want TOO many surprises with it, used sports car can do that to ya

 

we can do it in the parking lot out front, its really not difficult, besides hot chicks come by asking whats up when your working on your car in front of the apartment (w00t!)

 

I have 171,641 miles on my Z. I brought it with 161,000 miles. It was poorly taken care of. It had alot of dirt in the filter and a ripped intake elbow. In the 10,000 miles I have driven it I has been great. I have the mods below but I have replaced shocks/struts and opti and its getting all this stuff plus a fuel pump as we speak. I'm also replacing O2's and the Igniton control module. When I get it back I know it will last many more miles. I plan on dropping a cam in it before it explodes

 

Here's a case study on my 95 camaro with 146,000 miles

I've had to replace or fix:
1. the infamous low rpm hesitation...
2. optispark (once)
3. waterpump failed, prelaced with CSI electric (once)
4. corroded coil wire
5. coil
6. alternator (once)
7. fuel filter (3 times regular maintenance)
8. intake oil leak (twice)
9. clutch (twice)
10. seat belt guides on the seat (twice)
11. air pump (under warranty)
12. fog lights (I cant count the times)
13. windshield (once)
14. 02 sensors (once for maintenance)


Things I or plan to do:
1. full checkup, compression test, vacuum test, diacom.
2. replace all suspension bushings (probably with 1le bushings)
3. o2 sensors
4. fuel filter
5. fix the oil intake leak again
6. ported heads cam and 1.6 rockers.
7. reapaint the front end. Detroit highways decimate the front of these cars!!

Strong durable engine for what it's worth. we'll see how long a high mileage lt1 holds up to a heads/cam upgrade!

 

yeah I know what oyu mean... have wheel off rotor off, new pads in hand, and painting the caliper and a gilrs comes up and says... "I have Jumper cables" I should hav etaken her up on her offer... but hey if it strikes up a conversatoin with a girl its cool.


alright I am feeling more confident...

main lt1 specific things are the waterpump, opti, and intake leak..


And of course normal high mileage manual tranny car thing...

 

one last TTT then I'll let it die...

 

hey mobleman, how did you fix your low rpm hesitation? i think we have it pretty much sumed up with what goes wrong with the lt1. oh yeah, i forgot to mention tires come and go pretty quick too. lol

 

cals400ex,

Long story behind that question. It was the classic low rpm hesitation, car works fine when first started, but once it was warmed up and in closed loop it would hesitate or bog at aroung 2000 rpm. I spent a 1 1/2 years chasing the problem and even logged diacom data to see if I could find any trends. I could actually see the hesitation onth e data plots!!
This topic has been discussed at length on this board, but I'll give you my take on it.
Things I tried and or checked:

tp sensor
maf sensor
o2 sensors
replaced knock module with lt4 module
checked and changed wires
checked fuel pressure
checked egr operation
pcv valve
thourougly cleaned the throttle body
checked the canister purge system by temporarily disabling it

 

Continued,

All of those changes didn't make much of a difference, although the lt4 knock module removed much of the false knock I was getting.

I believe the key to the problem is that the hesitation only occurred once the car was warmed up which means all systems are at operating temperature and the ECM is operating in closed loop. I decided to test a theory by forcing the car to run open loop while warm (simply run the car with the maf sensor unplugged). I could notice a difference, the problem was still there somewhat but it had improved. So I replaced the optispark.
Whamo, Car is running better, not 100% but definitely better.

Next came the biggest improvement. I installed mac headers and an off road pipe hooked up to my flowmaster catback. Car ran like a top!! I'm thinking, "Wow, that’s one of the best bolt ons for the money!!”
Turns out that wasn't the only reason for my power gains.
The next weekend, just out of sheer boredom, I decided to cut the catalytic converter off of the stock y-pipe. What I found convinced me that the hesitation could be one of or a combination of, two problems. The cat was severely melted on the inlet side, there were air passages, but flow was severely limited.

Hang in there, I'm long winded but here's the summary:
My theory on the cause of the hesitation problem:

First the coil wire. Way back when the car was one year old, I had a corroded coil wire which caused the car to stall and not start whenever it rained and I had run threw some small puddles. While trying to restart the car it would start hard, backfire, stumble etc and then die again. Eventually the car would start. This I believe caused a specific chain of events:
a) The hard starting backfiring and stumbling damaged the optispark.
b) The hard starting caused unburnt fuel to enter the exhaust and partially poison the cat, causing the front portion of the brick to melt slightly. I had checked the cat externally before (glowing the smell of rotten eggs etc. but could find no indications (externally) that the cat was damaged.

I believe that the problem occurred once the car was warmed up and the ECM was in closed loop, exacerbating the optispark problem. Additionally once the cat was at operating temperature it further restricted exhaust flow.

That’s my take on it. Feel free to email me if you have any questions. Hope this helps!!!