New Guy New ZR1 Owner Few problems Need Assistance

[WB9MCW]

NICE PIC -- LOOKS GREAT --MAYBE THE MISS WILL SMOOTH OUT AS YOU DRIVE MORE~~~OR IF NOT WELL IT WILL BE THE NEXT THING TO FIGURE OUT.

my buddy just got his Z and we made up a nice page on links for him you may want to know about too~

http://zr1netregistry.com/forum/show...66&postcount=3

[tomtom72]

Merry Christmas guys!

Hummmmm, a skip that is new? That's how my OEM injectors first telegraphed that they were retiring. Check the plugs and ohm out the wires, in pairs with their respective coils...just to be sure it's not an ignition issue..

On this skip. If it is a fact that your injectors are OEM, and the skip starts to get worse it may indeed be yours are retiring also. Usually the alcohol gets the coils & shorts them. It shows up as a miss, and depending upon just how many injector coils start to short, that's how bad the miss seems to be. Also, if the miss gets worse as the motor comes up to closed loop temp....it's a good bet that the injectors are n/g. You may even smell the lean condition at the tail pipes. The plugs will look too clean also. A scan will usually show something even in the early stages of coil failure.

A plenum pull may be in your future. Oh, sorry to be so long on this post. Now on the plenum pull. You know that a lot of "stuff" lives under there. Jeff's site, PNWZR1.com has the skinny. Also a great write up is at CorvetteActionCenter.com. Look it over and decide what to do once you determine that the skip = bad injectors. It's the old saw about "while we're here"....or, " as long as we have it apart, we might as well do this & that, etc..." The one good thing about doing a plenum pull for injectors is that you get to actually see what's under there and how it works. That is a great teaching tool for us Z owners. Plenums 101, most of us took that course & it is not as tough as it looks! If ya want to do it yourself, just post up and the boys will walk ya thru it, they did for me and I learned some stuff about an LT5.


Tom

[XfireZ51]

When you say "skip", under what conditions? Part throttle,
idle, WOT? How many miles on car?

[TFENT]

Originally Posted by XfireZ51

When you say "skip", under what conditions? Part throttle,
idle, WOT? How many miles on car?

Part throttle, light load.

26K was in storage for more then 3 years. I burned the old fuel out and just installed a Marc H. chip. We are replacing plugs and filters this weekend.

[tccrab]

I've always liked the simple, easy to understand and perform diagnosis techniques.
Get the car good and warmed up. Drive it around the block a few times, making sure to "Blow the Carbon Out" really good.
(my favorite thing to do)
Park it in the garage and leave it idling.
Open the hood and pull a plug wire one at a time and slowly lift it about an inch.
If the coil is working properly you will hear a snapping and crackling sound and the engine will begin to run rough.
If you don't hear a snapping sound, the coil or wire is suspect.
If you hear a snapping sound and the engine "tone" doesn't change, a spark plug or fuel injector is suspect.
Do this with each hole.
You will be surprised how much this will tell you about the condition of your motor.
Vacuum leaks, here's another easy and remarkably simple test.
Get the car warm and while idling, spray the suspected vacuum leak areas with propane from a unlit portable propane torch. You know the kind the plumber uses to solder pipes under the sink, etc.
Don't go crazy, propane after all is flamable. (duh).
If you have a moderate vacuum leak, the idle will rise a few hundred RPMs when the engine sucks in the propane and uses it as additional fuel.

Regards,

TomC
"Crabs"

[WB9MCW]

I've always liked the simple, easy to understand and perform diagnosis techniques.

Indeed ~~ tried and true!!

[XfireZ51]

Originally Posted by TFENT

Part throttle, light load.

26K was in storage for more then 3 years. I burned the old fuel out and just installed a Marc H. chip. We are replacing plugs and filters this weekend.

IOW, high engine vacuum. I'd start by looking for vacuum leak, FWIW.

[TFENT]

Update 2-27-09

OK thought an update was in order as I am just getting the Z back today with some more issues and some fixed. LOL gotta love GM cars.

Fixed:

The whole stereo system needed to be fixed all the amps were bad. FIXED

The Headlights were acting retarded so I found a guy in LA that makes machined aluminum gears. Why the metal gears?? Cuz the additional weight of the ballast for the HID bulbs ruined the nylon ones after a few days of just testing them. FIXED

Alarm added as well

New Wheels and Tires installed today

New HID's with Hella Headlight capsules and HID foglights installed. They look Bitchin

NEW PROBLEMS:

While at the stereo shop 2 things occurred.

1. starter froze up on day and the car had to be rolled to break it free, no problems since. TG
2. car backfired this week while they were working on it. Now there is a SES light and car runs rougher then usual and no secondaries.

Plus one addition item. While on the way home from the tire shop at a light alternator gauge started to jump and dash lights and LED's flickered on and off. At freeway speeds all is well. Just at an idle this is now occurring plus the idle gets worse. Plus i can feel and hear it missing. I think the Intake is going to have to come off for an inspection of all those nice plastic vacuum line huh??

Also the far left rear (driverside) parking light keeps burning out


So I did some searching but you guys are so god that there is an information overload here. I started to read this one thread and thought ok this is the problem but it has all the symptoms but not that one. So I search again and nope that's not it I checked that. Man searching is alot of work and there is so much to go through. So I throw myself at the mercy of the ZR1 gods and beg for your advice here. Help a newbie out please!!

[tccrab]

Originally Posted by TFENT

Update 2-27-09

NEW PROBLEMS:

While at the stereo shop 2 things occurred.

1. starter froze up on day and the car had to be rolled to break it free, no problems since. TG

Don't have any experience with this problem with my Z. Used to happen with my MR2 Supercharged. I kept a 2 foot 1/2 extension bar behind the seat and when the solenoid wouldn't retract the starter gear I'd give it a good whack with the bar and the problem would usually go away.
Ultimately, replacing the starter cured the problem for good

2. car backfired this week while they were working on it. Now there is a SES light and car runs rougher then usual and no secondaries.

MAP sensor hose was blown off with the backfire. Behind the plenum on the drivers side is the PCV connector, check the small piping just to it's left, there are two connectors, one upper and one lower. It's always the lower one that seems to blow off. Just push the hose back onto the connector and you'll be good to go.

Plus one addition item. While on the way home from the tire shop at a light alternator gauge started to jump and dash lights and LED's flickered on and off. At freeway speeds all is well. Just at an idle this is now occurring plus the idle gets worse. Plus i can feel and hear it missing. I think the Intake is going to have to come off for an inspection of all those nice plastic vacuum line huh??

Also the far left rear (driverside) parking light keeps burning out

Pull the battery leads and clean them with a wire brush. Check all the grounds that you can find, I'll have to go looking for the list. It's around here somewhere. The lights flickering is likely battery leads or ground issues. A common thing in 'Vettes.

So I did some searching but you guys are so god that there is an information overload here. I started to read this one thread and thought ok this is the problem but it has all the symptoms but not that one. So I search again and nope that's not it I checked that. Man searching is alot of work and there is so much to go through. So I throw myself at the mercy of the ZR1 gods and beg for your advice here. Help a newbie out please!!

Good luck!

TomC
"Crabs"

[TFENT]

Thank you sir!

I did see the 2 PCV hoses off and one small vac line disconnected at the rear of the intake. Is there another farther down the back of the intake?