I ran my IROC on a road racing course for the second time yesterday. And for the second time, I drove the car home one 7 cylinders. On my previous visit, replacing the plug wires gave me all 8 cylinders and eliminated the tach twitch. At this time, I attributed the wire failure to the extreme heat (it was in the 90's) in the engine bay. During this first visit, I buried the temperature gauge twice.

Yesterday was in the high 50's. I only hit 220 degrees twice all day. Even so, I have had another plug wire failure (I assume). The other common thing between the two days is that I had excessive power steering fluid blown all over the driver's side of the engine. On both dates, the plug wires were coated.

This leads me to ask the questions - is it possible that the power steering fluid leeches it's way into the plug wires and shorts them out? I know that this is a weird question, but I just don't accept excessive temperature as the culprit again...

 

it might be happening or it could be happening. might want to look into spraying the wires with aerosol silicone, if it doesn't hurt the wires. i don't know if it does or not, for sure. also dieletric grease on the boots may help seal them.

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ICON Motorsports
1st & 3rd
MM Black Diamond 538 F&AM

 

Keith,

If the fluid level is correct (check when hot) and there are no external leaks, it is likely that the steering pump oil is foaming and venting. You may have some water contamination of the fluid, or an improper oil was used to fill the system, or the level is too low. Each situation can cause foaming.

There should be a rubber disc attached to the dipstick/filler cap that is supposed to supress the foam and prevent overflow. If your disc is missing, you could replace the filler cap. If the disc is there, your oil is either contaminated or excessively low.

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Later,
Vader
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If you want to beat the World, it might reach up and pull you down...
Adobe Acrobat Reader

 

Guys,

Thanks for the feedback. As far as the 7 cylinders is concerned, I found the problem last night. As I worked my way through replacing the plugs wires (easiest to hardest, of course), I found that the rear, driver's side wire had simply come off. So, the "power steering leech theory" is now suspect.

As far as the power steering cap is concerned, I didn't look to see if the rubber disk is in place. I will check this evening. Regardless, I intend to replace the cap with a new one and see if things improve. I suppose I won't find out until spring - the autocross/track season is officially over.

Previously, I had been told by other guys that have autocrossed/road raced 3rd gens that this is a common situation and I just accepted it. Maybe I should be more aggressive is trying to solve this problem...

Thanks for the information.