my car is idling pretty rough, nothing dramatic though. i don't have all the power i should either. the car is running kinda sluggish, almost like a misfire but i haven't thrown any codes and the wires and plugs were changed in Oct. and i can't see any arching in the wires either. the oil pressure is usually around 60-80ish. i noticed yesterday that the pressure is around 75-100. thats not normal for my car. i have 160K on the engine but it was rebuilt in Oct. i am wondering if the exhaust can cause all of these symptons. would a bad egr or perhaps even a slightly or fully clogged cat cause these (changed all the O2 sensors in oct as well)?? even the oil pressure? never had any problems with the cat but its factory and has 160K.

 

Sounds like you could have spun a bearing. Ask Rob (shoebox), he just got done doing one.

 

wouldnt that make all kinds of noise though? might as well ditch that cat too, at 160k im sure its not at optimum performance.

 

When I spun a few bearings, everything you mentioned was what I had cept the high oil pressure..Mine was 10 psi lower and it was flucuating up/down...Engine wasnt making any noises at all but I wasnt surprised when I drained the oil and saw metal everywhere..

Cody

 

i just changed the bearing a few months ago, not that it would matter. however, i just changed the oil this weekend and no metal in oil. what would cause the bearing to go anyway? i haven't driven the car hard at all since the rebuild. i'm sure i'm getting back pressure from somewhere....i just can't track it down. i did notice just a few days after the last oil change that there was some oil on the cap. i noticed some smoke coming out to. it wasn't a lot of smoke, just a little smoke almost like steam. i've never removed the oil cap with the engine hot so i don't know if the smoke is common or not. would a clogged cat or bad egr cause back pressure within the engine or oil??

 

You keep mentioning back pressure. What would exhaust have to do with oil pressure? You could have 2 different problems.

Let's assume the oil pressure is not a problem and tackle the rough idle, low power problem. First clean the EGR and the IAC and see what that does.

 

He's complaining about high oil pressure I'm totally kidding...

Smoke out of the oil cap is normal when the engine is hot.

Another thing to look into is removing the stock oil cooler. Its a total waste of time. It can also become gunked up on higher mileage LT1s and cause the filter to be bypassed therefore raising oil pressure. Thats kind of a long shot in your situation, but something to look into.

You definitely have two different issues going on here. And I think that you are on the right track with both. You may have a clogged CAT like you said. The way most muffler shops check for that is by removing the O2 sensors and seeing if engine performance returns.

Good Luck with the problem.

 

When my dad's L98 in his 89 GTA blew, there were no true signs of spun bearings, other than the car wouldn't accelerate over about 50-55mph. He said there weren't any strange sounds, no burning oil, nothing.......