Hey everyone,
I took my car to a shop to get it to pass inspection Saturday Morning. They played with my timing @ cleaned my combustion chambers with that Run Rite stuff. Later that day, I got on the gas & found out the car has NO power after about 3,500rpm. It feels like the car isn't getting enough gas or something if I have it floored, the RPMS don’t even climb. I cant imagine anything they did to the timing would only mess up the higher RPM's (But I may be wrong.) So that leaves two possiblites:
1) The RUN RITE stuff may have screwed up something. (Mabey the stuff it got out of the combustion chamber clogged up my cat?)

2) There is another problem that has nothing to do with what the shop did & is just a conisidence.

 

Probably fouled your O2 sensor.

 

Put the timing back where it belongs, before worrying about ANYTHING else. That's probably all it needs. The "Run Rite" probably didn't hurt anything except your wallet.

 

Agreed, put the timing back first. If that doesn't fix it, then maybe check the O2 or cat. Some of those fuel system/engine cleaners can really kill an O2 sensor.

 

I checked the timing it was set at 0*. So bumped it back to 6* advanced. But it didn't help. I guess I am just going to take it back and see what the shop says.

 

Any codes coming up?

 

Just remember the old saying, "If it aint broke...." Dont mess with the timing unless you have too.

 

No codes....
But I put a full tank of gas in it yesterday, and that seemed to help quite a bit. I am wondering if the pump is going bad now?

 

Or just running the last of the Run Rite additive thru, and finally burning pure gas again?

 

Actually, Run Rite isnt added to the fuel tank. It is added directly to the throttle body.

 

OK, I've never used it so that's something new.

If you were having fuel pump problems, a fresh tank of gas wouldn't change things. If you can get access to a fuel pressure gauge w/ a long hose, like the one TPIS sells, you can tape it to your windshield and read pressure while driving for a while.

 

There is a definate possibility of a clogged cat. I dont know if teh RUN RITE stuff dissolves deposits but I decarbonized my old 305 with water and alot of crap came out of teh exaust. I imagine that could really do a number on a cat. Does teh exaust get real quiet or is there any unusual noise? One way to check for a clogged cat is to hook a vacuum gauge up to one of teh vacuum ports. Open the throttle all the way up by hand and rev the motor up to around 4500 rpm and then allow the throttle to snap shut. The vacuum gauge should go immediatly from 0 in. Hg to around 20+ in. Hg. If its slow to recover then there is an exaust restriction.

 

Fix it.

 

Fix what?
The timing? I already moved it back to where I had it before.

 

This is just a thought...if you ran the car w/ the timing retarded from spec (0 deg) for a while, the ECM would have adjusted your closed-loop fueling quite a bit. Most likely it would have removed a good bit of fuel, given it was seeing rich exhaust output being ejected from the cylinders from being ignited too late.

You then put the timing back to spec, but didn't clear the ECM...so for a while, it was running with the "corrected" BLM values it had learned. Took some time for it to re-learn fueling with the spark back to corrected advance...but as it did, you noticed improved behavior.

Maybe you want to just reset the ECM completely tonight? Just pull the ECM fuse, or remove the batt neg cable for a few minutes. That will erase the learned settings and put you back to default.

 

Ya know, I used to think that, but the LS1 guys are proving me wrong.

They're big on running a can of Sea Foam (Napthalene) thru their PCV inlet, letting it soak for way longer than the 15min recommended, and then running the car to burn out all the crap. Major smoke cloud for a few minutes, even on late model C5s.

Their O2 sensors, basic Delco pieces, appear to be able to take it. I've seen guys who do the Sea Foam thing every other year, still running all four stock O2 sensors, car's happy as a clam.

(I'm still thinking JerseyMark's problem is the ECM block-learning itself while he was running zero advance.)

 

Just did it on my lt1 and made a post I think it was 4-5 months back. That crap rocks .

 

Remove a spark plug and inspect. Sometimes if enough crap has built up in your system it will foul the plugs pretty bad when its all trying to be burned up by the cleaner you are spraying through the engine. One quick glance should tell you if thats the case or not.