Yo,

So I did a few things to my car this week:
-Removed ASR and cruise control and installed a standard throttle cable
-removed and sold my MSD 6AL (I've got a Digital 6 in the mail)

Tonight I buttoned it all back up. As usual I was extra careful and made sure that I reconnected all sensors and whatnot, and that everything was back together correctly.

I took the car out for a little drive just to see how it ran without the 6AL, and to make sure the new throttle cable was set up right. It drove fine under normal driving conditions for about 25 minutes.

I then got a little out of town and got on it through 2nd gear...40-80, car pulled good and all was well.

About 20 seconds after that I stopped on a country road and nailed it. (NO NITROUS INVOLVED) The car took off and was getting no traction, then all the sudden at the top of 1st the car bogged a little...then BOOM!!! There was a massive backfire (I could see a giant flash behind me, then there was a good size cloud of smoke in its place) The car died immediately. I thought it was done for, but I tried to start it. It still turned over, but wasn't starting. On the 3rd try it started and made an aweful grinding noise, then died again. I tried again 2-3 minutes later and it started fine. I drove about a quarter mile then pulled over in a parking lot. Whatever happened blew a vacuum fitting off the intake manifold and seperated the MAF from my Cold Air Kit. I reconnected everything and started to drive back home. The car sounded like it was running fine, but it was getting a lot of knock retard on the Scanmaster, so I took it really easy. When I was giving it a little more gas to get up a hill it died. Again it would not start...I waited 2-3 minutes, tried a few times, then it started and I drove home. Any time I put a load on the car it sputtered and almost died.

I got it back home, and rechecked EVERYTHING...all was connected properly. There were no problems with anything I could find. There was a kind of burning smell under the hood though, and the engine seemed a little noisier than usual on the top end. I could hear the fuel pump running, so that wasn't an issue. The car had a half a tank of gas too.

I'm at a loss as to what could have happened. I made 2 simple changes...the car ran fine before them, and ran fine for 30 minutes after, but now it is definetly messed up.

Please let me know if you have any idea where I should look.

Thanks,
Eric

 

You made changes to the ignition which caused a backfire. I'd start by checking the opti. Something may be starting to come apart inside it.

 

You say you heard an awful grinding noise along with a burning smell...that almost sounds like a spun bearing to me. How's your oil pressure?

 

Man the same exact same thing happened to me tonight, Top of first gear and BANG, everything went out. Tried to turn it back and it sounded REALLY BAD, metal hitting metal. and grinding noise. This sucks.

 

If you find out anything about this let me know please. Im being told its probably a bearing.

 

Well oil pressure seems to be fine, but my stock gauge always reads low, so I can't get a real good reading.

I was thinking that it was ignition related too, but why would taking my MSD off make the car run like crap? Could the Opti have been going bad and the MSD was masking the problem and maybe kinda keeping it alive???

I've got another opti, but that is not what I want to start out with on my list! Although an opti is better than a spun bearing.

I would say that this is all ignition related, but that horrible grinding noise the 1st time I started the car has me worried...

Keep the suggestions coming. I will go back over everything again today to make sure there are no loose connections.

Also, there were NO codes thrown, and I left the car running in my garage in the dark after it happened and there were no signs of any arching.

Thanks for the help, and thanks to anyone else that chimes in!

Eric

 

Well after some disacussion with a few people it seems that the problem may be related to a cylinder not firing and loading up with fuel.

My only concern now is that the grinding noise I heard after the 1st big backfire was becasue of a washed cylinder Oh well, I am gonna start tearing stuff apart to see what's up.


Eric

 

if it never made the grinding noise again maybe you hit the starter a little too soon after trying to crank it up and it was the starter/flywheel grinding. or maybe some of the crap in your opti flew apart, which i've heard of and seen at the track, but that doesnt figure if you could start er up and drive er home.

 

If the backfire was bad enough to blow the vacuum line and the bellows off, you might want to check the condition of the MAF sensor and the MAP sensor, both of which could have been damaged. Also, check the throttle blades to make sure they are still straight... I had a closed throttle nitrous "pop" that bent the bottoms of the blades to about a 45-degree angle. Keep in mind that there is also a vacuum line connecting the inlet bellows to the Opti case.....