I have not had any problems with my car. I installed headers, wires, plugs, cat back about a month ago. I never had a problem. yesterday car was running great, go to start it today it runs like A$$. SES light comes on and keeps blinking the whole way to work. It feels like a hesitation, or a stutter in from the engine when I give it gas. How could this happen over night?
What can I check? 97 Z28, 6 speed.

 

Check your o2's, then wires.

 

Do the usuall checks. This gets asked daily.

Check ignition. Test coil, inspect wires. How old are plugs/wires?

Check fuel pressure. When was fuel filter changed last?

Opti is a possiblity if it hasn't been changed before. Any of these things could cause problems over night.

 

if it idles high it could be the throttle body, either the sensor or just dirty, my car has done that twice out of nowhere the car idles at 1500 and has a major hesitation in it. this probably isnt your prob, just tryin to give you somewhere to start.

 

You have a missfire. Theres a good chance you melted a wire on your headers, so check your wires. If those look good, check your sparkplugs. then opti, and coil. If youve put a few miles on your car with the missfire, theres a good chance the unburnt fuel in your exhaust stream has ruined the precious metals in your o2's, so look forward to replacing those as well.

 

Put a scanner on it and see what the codes are. I am pretty sure Bodie can put a scanner on it for ya. If he is still there. He was when I left Hawaii 2.5 years ago. BSM is the name of the shop.

Z

 

I've read that the paint/coating burning off of new headers can cause the 02's to go bad. Someone will surely correct me if I'm wrong...

 

Hey guys, I had it scanned it showed a P0300 Random multiple misfire.
How can it be random when it does it constantly. I thought the scanner would have picked up what clinder it was. Do I need to find a better scannar.

It runs like crap constantly so it should not be random.
I will check wires, plugs are brand new (1 month) NGK irduium (spelled wrong I know).

How will I know if it is the opti?

 

Take a spray bottle with water and spray it on each header coming out from the cylinder. One or more will prob be colder than the rest.

Z

 

It can be "random" because it wasnt missfiring before it started, so as far as the computer is concerned, its random. Or, its the opti and at certain rpm all cylinders are firing correctly. after checking plugs and wires, if you find nothing wrong, pull the car through the entire band up to redline and see if it runs correctly at any point or the light stops flashing. if so, its probably the opti.

 

You probably burnt a wire on one of your headers... typical symptoms... I as well as anyone with headers has had the same problem one time or another. Re inspect the wires and replace the bad one, and invest in some nice heat shielding. My car had that SES light that went on and off when ever the car was giving a computer recognizable miss. Probably the only reason it took me so long to figure it out was that I thought the car was ok when the SES light went off. Till the car started shuttering badly in over drive gears....dead give away.

 

Ok guys I just started to trouble shoot it at night to see if there is an arc.
There is a nice arc coming from the 3 or 5 cylinder. I think this is it. It looks like it might be 2 arcs and it is constant, but I cannot see what it is arcing againist. There are a few plugs that glow, I was told this was normal, but there is a definite arc. I will do more toruble shooting in the morning.
Keep he advice coming, you guys are awesome.......

 

IT'S FIXED,IT'S FIXED, IT'S FIXED,IT'S FIXED, IT'S FIXED,IT'S FIXED, IT'S FIXED,IT'S FIXED,

You guys we were right. But I have not idea how it happened. I replaced the plugs and wires the same time I did my whole exhaust and headers. I made sure I routed them correctly so they would not touch. But sure enough the #5 plug wire was lying right on the header and melted the wire. I bought new MSD 8.5 and the car runs freaking awesome, IT'S ALIVE.

Now is it ok to use zip ties to keep the plug wires from touchng, or do you knos know of something better?

 

Heat sleeves and wire looms from summit for a few dollars are nice...