I thought they were the same. If not - don't tell me. It'll ruin the whole thing for me.

 

I'm so glad I spent the money on an original GM TV cable to replace that sketchy aftermarket one which was on the car. The car shifts a lot better now. It feels like a different car. While the trans guy was under there, I also had them replace the rear trans mount.

There were 7 TV cables for my car in the GM warehouse when I ordered mine, that means 6 left, if anyone wants one.

Now to work on my rough idle. I'll start by cleaning out my IAC. Maybe tomorrow.

 

Soapy water and a razor blade is all you need to remove the glue. If there is still pieces of old tint that are stubborn first spray the glass with the soapy water put a plastic such as a trash bag on the window as if it were tint and let it set in sun for 30 mins or so. But a blade and soapy water should work fine.

 

Heat is the key.

 

Here she is at a club event tonight. I also had the pleasure of meeting Scott Moyer tonight, who happened to be staying in a hotel down the street.

 

Looking good there Chaz!

So in hindsight - with everything you know now - would you have still bought it?

 

Yes, I suppose I'd rather have a stick. But...my wife, daughter and yes...even my mother seem to like it. So, that makes me happy.

 

So I'm having a low RPM misfire. It's very subtle and probably no one who wasn't familiar with the car would notice it. I thought it was only at idle, but after cleaning up the TB, IAC etc., which made a slight idle improvement BTW and unmasked the misfire, feels like it goes beyond idle, like maybe up to 1500-1700 RPM. I was thinking the O2 sensor, but that looks new. No idea who the manufacturer is, but in the past I've found that it makes a difference if you use an AC Delco O2. I may change it anyway, but I hate to just keep changing parts at random.

Any ideas?

 

Just ordered an AC Delco O2. We'll see what happens.....

 

Cap, Rotor, Plug Wires would be top on my list to replace if I were in your shoes Charlie...

 

Sounds like a reasonable plan to me, Jeremy.

I remember on the '83, it felt like it didn't want to rev very eagerly. I never suspected the cap, rotor, coil since the PO had given me a bunch of receipts, one of them showing that stuff as being replaced, right before I bought the car.

I decided to replace them anyway, and when I looked under the cap, it had a 10/82 manufacture date. IOW, they were the originals. Anyway, the new AC Delco cap/coil/rotor took care of that.

 

Not saying your issue is the same that I had but, last year, what I though was a misfire at around the same RPM, up to around 35-45 mph, but only when accelerating. It turned out to be the torque converter. All the shop did to fix the problem, was to change the trans fluid. Not a full flush. The shop said, and many people on this board say, that that may cause more damage.

 

Fluid was replaced when new TV cable was installed...

 

While charging the AC, I noticed this loose connector coming out of the harness.

Anyone know what it is?

 

I think it's the fuel pump test jumper wire.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/tech...o-you-put.html

 

Thanks.

 

So I ordered an AC Delco O2 and installed it. Anyone else notice that their hands and fingers seem to be getting bigger?

I can't really say I feel much of a difference. Most probably, I replaced a fairly new AC Delco O2 with a brand new AC Delco O2.

Was it worth the 20 bucks and skinned knuckles? Yeah, if for no other reason so I can scratch it off the list. I've certainly spent more and gotten less in the past.

 

Okay, I'm going to need some of the smart kids' help.


Beautiful day today, driving with the top down, Moody Blues playing, life is good. Then I get into the mother of all traffic jams. three semis collided and the State Police closed everything down. So I sat in traffic idling for over an hour. After about 30-40 minutes my low RPM misfire got worse. RPM fluctuating between 575-650. Then it actually died on me. I restarted it and will see if it has a trouble code when I get home. After I restarted, I also turned on the AC and RPM went up to 750 without further incident.

What do we think? Bad TPS? I hate to just keep swapping parts.

 

Bad ICM maybe? Whenever I hear heat and car died that is the first thing to pops into my mind.

 

Yes, could be....

Wouldn't a bad ICM also have high RPM symptoms?

Also, this is the first time that H2O temp exceeded 220 * since I've owned this car.

 

We need to have it data streaming on a computer when it acts up, that could help immensely. A bandaid fix that the car would be benefit from would be a custom program that runs the fans sooner.

 

Be right over....

 

when you're ready to leave the People's Republic of Chicago let me know.... :-)

 

Sounds exactly like when my ICM was bad. You can pull it and have the parts store test it for free!

 

So this idle speed misfire thing....


With the AC on, if not completely eliminated, it is greatly diminished. Something happens when it goes through the AC circuit and picks up 50-75 RPM. There is a diagnostic piece of info here, that I just need to figure out.

 

Did you have any higher RPM symptoms?


As an aside, even with all of these little issues, I have been enjoying the heck out of this car. This morning I realized that I've put more miles on this car in 2 months, than I have on my black '89 in the last 6-7 years.

 

I am having the same issue with my 91 vert, same engine and trans as yours.
My RPM flucuates and sometimes stalls, especially when going from park to drive, when the a/c is on the idle goes up and all is good. I know it is normal for the idle to kick up with the ac, not sure what controls that. I only have this issue when cold, the thing seems better once at temp and usually does not stall. one thing I noticed is the rpm does not go down when I turn the ac off, not sure if it should.
I am going to replace my ICM this weekend as I am in need of a complete tune up and will let you know if it changed anything.

 

Yes, please let us know....

 

I did the tune up including the ICM and it did not fix the stalling problem. The 2 prong connector to the distributor was VERY rusted on both the module and the plug. I cleaned the plug side before hooking it up to the new ICM.
I did find my problem, a previous owner drilled a hole in the t-stat to allow water to flow through it. The engine was not coming up to operating temp and running rich. The rich smell is also gone and the car idles great now after replacing the t-stat. The idle still stays high when I turn the ac off.

 

Thanks Vinny. I was poking around under the hood last night and noticed that the long vacuum line which comes out of the cruise control and goes around by the MAP sensor is pretty dry rotted. I'm not sure if that's my problem, but it wouldn't hurt to change it out.

I also have a small oil leak on the intake. I wonder if that could also act as a vacuum leak?

 

I would change those vacuum hoses for sure. Check the hose that tees off that line and goes down into the drivers quarter panel, it goes to an accumulator ball. When I got my car that hose was dry rotted and leaking.

I don't think an oil leak would cause a vacuum issue but not sure.

 

I'm nearly certain you didn't fix your problem, it is just masked now with the proper operating temperature. Overcooling could affect your mileage, but it shouldn't run so rich that it causes problems and it shouldn't run so rich you can smell it. I drive some of my cars pretty late into the fall, sometimes it's in the 30s or 40s when I leave work, and they start and run fine when the coolant temp is really cold. When these cars were new they didnt run funny in the cold and they shouldn't now. By the way it's common to drill a hole in the thermostat on a small block chevy. I do it all the time. The issue is keeping the hole small enough not to cause the overcooling you experienced.

It's possible that the intake manifold bolts are loose, which can allow oil to wick up the threads and pool on the intake. Loose bolts will also not support the intake manifold gasket and can cause a leak. It's very unlikely, but it is possible and I have seen it happen. The original 305 in my IROC did something similar. It didnt have a vacuum leak but was leaking water into the oil.

 

[QUOTE=1MeanZ;5944244]I'm nearly certain you didn't fix your problem, it is just masked now with the proper operating temperature. Overcooling could affect your mileage, but it shouldn't run so rich that it causes problems and it shouldn't run so rich you can smell it. I drive some of my cars pretty late into the fall, sometimes it's in the 30s or 40s when I leave work, and they start and run fine when the coolant temp is really cold. When these cars were new they didnt run funny in the cold and they shouldn't now. By the way it's common to drill a hole in the thermostat on a small block chevy. I do it all the time. The issue is keeping the hole small enough not to cause the overcooling you experienced.


I was experiencing poor mileage also. Today was the 1st time that when I got to work the car did not have that rich smell, nor did it stall when I put it in reverse. The trans. shifted much better also. I Have checked all the vacuum lines and they are good. Any Ideas on where I should look next?

 

Like I said earlier, this doesn't prevent me from enjoying the car. And really, 8 out of 10 people wouldn't really notice it. But I'm OCD when it comes to little things like this. I can accept not being the fastest car on the street, etc., but I do expect a car to perform flawlessly within it's performance parameters.

While we are on the topic of performance, this is not the fastest 3rd gen I've ever driven, but not the slowest either. I does have a nice combination of relaxed cruising and low end torque.

 

Charlie, if you are interested, I have a used Z28 grille. It's a used take off with a bit of patina and the red bowtie needs a little love, no screw holes from a front plate.

 

You have a PM, Andy.

 

Great to see you today Charlie, hope the grille works out great for your Z.

 

Same here, Andy!

I also had a chance to check out Andy's Polo Green and gold Z03 '92, and holy cow, that car is spectacular!

 

You've gotta love California cars. They have the nicest, easiest dirt. I removed the tail lights today, so I could clean them and behind them. Pretty easy compared to the Minnesota clay I had to remove on the yellow car. I can't really say it looks much different from the outside, but at least I feel better knowing that it's all clean back there.

 

Now there is a guy going above and beyond the call of duty. Looks great behind there now.

 

 

[QUOTE=vinny R;5944283]Is the check engine light ever on? When is the last time you replaced the O2 sensor? Is the Coolant Temp Sensor reporting accurate data? If the car runs to your satisfaction, then enjoy it and live your life. I'm just saying these cars didn't have drivability issues when they were cold back in the 80s, and they shouldn't have cold drivability issues now if everything is working properly. So while replacing the thermostat and getting up to proper temperature was certainly the right thing to do, you might still have a small issue.

 

Charlie, does your car still have the Multech injectors?

 

No, Multechs are long gone.

 

Quick update. I haven't really been driving it very much recently, but I did find a vacuum leak which I believed could be related to my low RPM miss. The vacuum line from the cruise control to the MAP was fairly rotted. This is about a 5-6 foot line. I replaced it and I could tell immediately, that something happened. I probably should have cleared the ECM before starting it up, but I didn't. I think the MAP is saying, WTF just happened?

My idle went up to about 1100 RPM. After a while, it slowly came back down to normal. I took it around the block and that misfire seems to be gone - or at least 90% better. At full throttle I am getting some slight detonation which wasn't there before. I just think the ECM needs to relearn the MAP's inputs.

 

The only reason it would detonate in this case is because it was lean. The fuel trims should readjust reasonably quickly.

 

They did. I put about 40 miles on it the other day.

Although better now, that low RPM misfire is still detectable however.

 

I took the clear film off of my car about two years ago, or 10,000 miles. I haven't noticed any unusual wear or problems going without it. I don't like the look of the clear tape with the top down.



What's this going on with the steering wheel and how do I fix it?






Shouldn't there be a clear film under the top? And if so, where do I get one?[/QUOTE]

 

I own the same car and just love that color. I'm even thinking about going back to the stock wheels. Does anyone have a fix for the top, where the back edge curls up like in this picture?

 

I started "retraining" it with duct tape. Takes a while.