servo2055chevy

So yesterday I replaced my intake gaskets, I was careful not to get any dirt, carbon, or old gasket in any of the ports. I started the car and had to re time the ignition. To zero degrees (I hope that's correct) and it just taps away. I changed the oil before even starting the engine. The engine taps constantly, and I feel an intermittent misfire at idle. I never even had the valve covers off so I know it's not the rockers being out of adjustment. Any help would be appreciated. A few ppl mentioned that there's different lengths of intake bolts??? I don't remember them being different when I took them out and put them side by side. I just know that 2 or 3 have the studs on top for the wire harness and throttle linkage bracket. Engine is a 305 tbi. Thank you so much

servo2055chevy

Also what should the timing actually be? There is no hood label because it's not a factory hood?

Tuned Performance

iTrader: (92)

Tbi timing is tdc with the est disconnected. Sounds like you installed the incorrect bolts going into the valley and could have bent a few pr.

servo2055chevy

Are the different size bolts though? They didn't look different. And the tap goes away sometimes

Tuned Performance

iTrader: (92)

The engine lift bracket bolts are longer. I can't recall that any of the other ones are longer.
http://parts.nalleygmc.com/showAssem...modelYear=1988

servo2055chevy

Do you have a picture of the engine to show where the tw lift brackets go?? The diagram doesn't show the second bracket. There's two lift brackets then the throttle cable bracket

servo2055chevy

Well I think I found the problem. I bought Jegs ignition coil, cap, rotor, and 8 mm wires, and throttle body spacer, I took the throttle body spacer and aftermarket ignition coil on and replaced it with oem one from autozone and the clicking stopped. So far

Mrbanados

Maybe you had a spark plug wire not fully seated on the spark plug?

servo2055chevy

They were. It still misfires intermittently. Maybe plugs bad? After doing intake gaskets maybe something fell in the cylinder and is slowly fouling a plug(s)

servo2055chevy

I retract my previous statements... I drove the car on a long drive. Put it in park and it's taping again

86iroct5

video of tapping?

servo2055chevy

I can, how do I upload a video to here?

BlackJet

It seems that your problem started when you decided to change intake gaskets?
You never said why you changed them. What was the problem that led you to do that?
And what's tapping? You are not very specific about that.
I'm sure these guys would help you, but you have to be a little more detailed

servo2055chevy

I replaced the intake gaskets because toward the front of the intake, coolant was seeping. So I thought I'd change it before winter to avoid any problems. So I decided to do it Thursday. Everything went smooth. I was cautious when lifting the intake off of the engine. Before I took it off, I blew off any dirt/debris out of the intake area so nothing would fall down. I took the intake off. I layed a bunch of rags on top of the engine and stuffed little wads of paper towel into all the ports so nothing would fall down while cleaning the gasket surfaces. I cleaned everything off the intake. I cleaned the ports with carb clean, cleaned the surfaced. Then I cleaned the surfaces on the engine itself. Took a rag and sprayed with brake clean and cleaned the gasket surfaces. I lifted all of the rags out and paper towels. There was SOME debris in the valley of the engine so I got a shop vac and vacuumed out anything I saw. There was some carbon on the valves but I didn't even bother touching anything. I didn't have the valve covers off. I set the intake in after installing the gaskets with the little aluminum "block off" piece in the back of each side. I installed the bolts ( hopefully in the right spot) I made sure that the bolts with the studs on top were in the right spot. But I torqued the intake and realized I had two switched. So I had to switch a studded bolt with a non studded bolt. I put everything back, aligned the distributer the best I could. Changed the oil. Started it. It ran decent then the warmer it got it ran like **** and tapped consistently. So I had my friend help me time the engine after trying to drive around the block and it stalled and had a god awful knock. It was way out of time. So we set it to zero and it's drive able but it has a slight miss fire and now taps after it's warm.

During installation I put a hypertech high voltage ignition coil, cap, rotor, and 8 mm wires on. But the main issue at first was that only half of the wires were seating on the distributer. They would go down and "click" on the terminals but, the rubber on the boots were longs and causing them to pop up not contacting the dustributer terminals. So yesterday I put OEM coil, cap, rotor, and wires on. The tapping when cold went away except for a few seconds at start-up then comes back when warm. And the car has a misfire intermittently. It bucks every few seconds in park and in drive/reverse, at a red light or whatever. Another thing is I normally use 10w-30 oil but the store Thursday only had 5w-30 (not that I think it truly matters) it's winter time in jersey anyway. Today is like 13 degrees outside, but after changing the oil I but a quarter of a quart of transmission fluid in the oil hoping anything would clear up. And it didn't. So my next move is spark plugs. Maybe a piece of paper towel fell down I to the cylinder and got jammed up and didn't burn off because of the plug wires not even making contact on the distributer after innitial start-up??? I'm so discouraged. It's the first time doing any actual engine work to my car and it's ****ed up and I have no clue what's wrong. I followed everything by the book(chilton Haynes camaro repair manual) luckily the car is drive able :/ kinda

BlackJet

I think tuned performance said something about those pushrods, did you check that?

servo2055chevy

I haven't checked yet. What's the best way? Just pop the valve cover, loosen the rocker arm and pull the push rod?

BlackJet

Try here under Push rods all chewed up article

servo2055chevy

The link won't work

servo2055chevy

I was also thinking maybe somehow the ignition module went bad?

servo2055chevy

I looked at the article. But like I said, when I did the intake I never even had the valve cover off.

servo2055chevy

I CAN tighten the rockers down if they are loose, but, it was fine before I started. Unless driving the car without proper timing and backfiring like I did bent something? But I mentioned the plug wires weren't installed correctly until I cut 2 mm off of the boots that went on the distributer

BlackJet

Servo, trying to help you here, but I'd probably follow the mans advice and check those first. Seems plausible you may have bent something when putting the intake bolts back in place if you got the sizes wrong. Also go to the how to section for Manolis1969 and find the rocker arm adjustment video to adjust. Good stuff to know.
One item at a time, or your going to be chasing your tail

servo2055chevy

I gotcha. It's just so overwhelming. I am mechanically inclined. But this is getting stressful. It's hard to try to learn through the process and try to figure out what got messed up

servo2055chevy

Well, I found the tapping. Sure enough, there was a longer stud in the wrong spot that was up against a push rod. Luckily the push rod wasn't bent. I corrected the problem and the tap is gone. There's still a bucking when the car is running. So it maybe a missfire or the timing could be off??

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

I had nearly the same thing happen to me. The bolts all went back in the same place so it wasn't anything like that. But I left a vacuum port unplugged first of all, and it ran like crap. Found that and it cured that part of the problem. Also the timing was way off because when I reset it I didnt know about the ESC plug. Did you disconnect the ESC plug before you set timing? If you dont know what Im talking about then that is VERY likely your problem. If you didnt disconnect it, then the computer is adjusting the timing while you're mechanically adjusting the distributor so you dont know where mechanical base timing is actually set. It will run awful that way. The tap that developed just went away later in the week. As far as I know that was just some fluke thing because I daily'd that engine for another couple of years with no issues until I pulled it for my 350 swap.

servo2055chevy

Well I do understand a slight tap is normal because of the fact that your opening up a sealed engine so the little bit of "pressure" keeping oil in the lifters drains out and has to pump back up again. Or any dirt that gets in has to clear out. And yes base timing was set with the wire un plugged. But it still runs rough. Tap is gone though. Thank God

Barlow8869

iTrader: (1)

i would check for a cracked plug, i had one do the same thing to me one time ... or take it out on a back road at night, leave it running and turn all the lights off, pop the hood, and look to see if you have any sparks jumping from any wires

servo2055chevy

Gotcha. Yea, since I freed up the push rod, now it just runs rough. No taps anymore or anything. Just consistently running poory. Feels fine driving. But at idle or at a red light it shakes like it's got a heavy cam in the engine... It's stock haha

BlackJet

Good news then.
Injectors? and that EGR valve?

servo2055chevy

Would egr cause it to run rough? Injectors seem fine

servo2055chevy

Could the egr be the culprit?

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

Heavy camming sounds can be ignition issues. The firing order is off or you've got a misfire or plug boots that arent seated etc. Do you get any signs of the engine running rich at idle? If you rev it at idle does any black-ish smoke come out?

servo2055chevy

No black smoke. Feels like bad plugs

BlackJet

I think so, also a good time to take a look at those vacuum lines, and fuel pressure regulator.
One question Servo. Did you check for codes before and now? One thing seems consistent here on ThirdGen is checking codes before replacing parts searching for a sollution.
Check, clear, and check again.

servo2055chevy

I did not check codes. And I'm pretty sure the vacuume lines are ok. Egr may be faulty. I did have an egr code when I first bought the car

servo2055chevy

Well. I was driving home from work and the car stalled at a red light and wouldn't start without carb cleaner. So I'm leaning toward egr valve sticking???

BlackJet

Yeah, I might get corrected here, but I think thats a place to go back to.
Check for codes, clear the codes and check again. EGR will cause issues.
Glad you figured out the pushrod thing

servo2055chevy

Thank you. Yea I hope I don't run into that issue again. Died in the middle of an intersection and I almost got hit like 5 times

servo2055chevy

Yea. Now the car keeps stalling out on me

BlackJet

What is it idling at in park and in drive? Did you check your tps? with ohm meter? Your egr needs dealt with too.

servo2055chevy

I put the egr in, ran great then died and now won't start again

BlackJet

Servo,whats the situation with your car now? Air, fuel, spark. Fuel pressure?

servo2055chevy

As I said before after I fixed the ticking, the car would randomly stall and only start with a shot of carb clean and feathering the idle for a few mins. It did it 4 times total. Well today I went to put the egr valve in and it ran fine for a while then stalled -.- tried to get it started bit it wouldn't start. And as usual the injectors weren't firing until I got it running on some carb cleaner, so I tried switching the ignition module from my brothers 93 305 tbi pick up truck... It fired right up but it idles EXTREEMLY low and runs rough... So I don't know if maybe it's not the same calibration maybe?? Different year vehicles?

servo2055chevy

I just looked on autozone's website and the part numbers are the same... So now I'm lost again

servo2055chevy

I'm chasing my tail here and I still have no clue what the hell is wrong. The only thing I haven't done yet is plugs

servo2055chevy

And now once again, the car don't start at all. It sputters like it's getting fuel though

naf

iTrader: (7)

Pull your plugs and clean them or replace them before going any further. If it's been misfiring and running like crap they're certainly fouled up by now. As it runs rough the plugs just get more fouled and the misfire worsens.

Recheck your plug wire routing. Take all the new ignition components off and reinstall your old ones. Recheck your timing. If it runs better with the old stuff back on, swap in the new components one at a time to isolate the issue.

servo2055chevy

I have to do the plugs still, but it won't start at all now unless I treat the car like it's carborated and feather the gas while cranking. It's 30 degrees here in jersey and the idle won't come up to warm the engine like it should. Iac was replaced over dinner but last night I took it out of the throttle body and started the engine to see if it ran. And the iac pintle extended all the way out like it should. But I swapped the icm with one in a truck. Same p/n and the car just didn't run right (when it was actually running). Could I have damaged the sic by starting the car with it uninstalled but still hooked up to the connector?

InfernalVortex

iTrader: (4)

You may want to investigate the CTS. I wouldn't replace it, just put a voltmeter on it and see what it says. Go for the one on the intake, not in the cylinder head.

servo2055chevy

Cts?