ok, i have a 1989 camaro rs with the L03 305 tbi with 181000 miles, and as far as i can tell the engine is all original. I removed the smog stuff, as the PO removed the cat, so it wasn't doing any good anyways, i plugged all the holes in the manifolds. It seems to be running rich, i have a light blue smoke at startup and you can smell the fuel at the tailpipes. after the car starts the smoke goes away. enigine is not eating oil or antifreeze. after the car has been running a while, and say i back out of a parking spot, and then get on the gas, the smoke comes back when i'm on the gas. when i'm on the road, and go to WOT the engine works as advertised, but doesn't really have that throw you into the seat feel to it.

was thinking that this may be related: my temp sensor seems to work only when it wants to. I deliver pizza, and was running the car pretty good tonight as it was busy at work, and the temp gauge stayed all the way down most of the night, once in a while it would creep up to 100, then it would drop back to the post. i have seen the gauge actually work correctly, but only when it wants to. I'm new to this computerized stuff, so i'm not sure, but does the computer use the temp of the engine to help figure the air/fuel mixture and run it rich till the car warms up? thats the only reason i think that the sender not working properly may be causing the running rich.

also (non-related), my oil pressure gauge reads 30 PSI at idle and as soon as i touch the gas, the guage jumps up as far as it can go. i don't really want to spend the money to get a new sender, cause the only one i seen on autozones site was really expensive. is there any thing i can do like pulling the sender and cleaning it to make it work properly again? the car sat for 2.5 years and got started once in a while, so i imagine that the whole oil system has some gunk in it. changed the oil when i first got the car and the oil was really dark. I put 5w30 valvoline max life synthetic oil into it with a fresh filter, and the oil on the stick still looks really good, no gunk or anything. only have about 100 miles on the new oil and filter.

any help on any of this would be greatly apprecated, cause i'm running through gas like crazy, and i need to try to get some kind of fuel milage back, and would like to have a properly functioning oil pressure gauge.

thanks, ken

 

i may be wrong but i do belive the temp sensor does have some figuring to do with the air/fuel ration mixture, alot of sensors have a combined part in calculating the fuel mixture, the mass air flow/ the throttle position sensor/the manifold absolute pressure sensor/ the temp sensor? /oxygen sensor/ etc

as far as the oil pressure 30 psi is about what mine idles at and about 45 cruising down the road but as far as reving the car the oil pressure will go up because the higher the rpm the more oil is being pumped, different weights of oil will make higher or lower pressures as well due to the temperature they break down at.

also when was the last time your oxygen sensor was replaced that would also cause the car to run rich( fuel smell in the exhaust, poor fuel milage, maybe power loss)
i hope this helps you.

 

Light blue on startup is most commonly associated with shot valve seals. Especially if it's been sitting for a while then started. It's a minimal amount of oil that gets burned off, so it wouldn't really be detected via the dipstick. Could be fuel related in your case, though.

Have you looked at the injectors? Make sure they're not leaking (should be a spray-like pattern, no visible drips).

The temp sensor for the gauge and the sensor for the ECM are 2 different sensors, and in no way work with eachother. If you wish to verify function of the CTS (the reference for the ECM), you can hook up a DVOM and check the resistance versus the temp of the engine (a known working gauge is a plus for this).

 

will check the injectors later today, got a chance to go to the lake for a while so i'm taking the chance... lol... i think that it may just be contacts on my temp sensor thats causing the gauge to be finicky.

the valves were another thing that was on my mind, especially with the mileage on the car, and the heads being all original.

as far as i know, the O2 sensor might actually be the original.

forgot to say this last night, once in a while the SES light will come on, but as soon as i shut the car off the light goes out and stays out till the next time it wants to come on. will the codes still be there with the light off?

as for the oil pressure, it shouldn't be 30 PSI at idle, and mine shoots all the way up as far as the gauge will go as soon as i touch the gas, and then it stays there till i'm back at idle. Normally, cars have about 7 to 13 PSI oil pressure at idle, i don't see why it would be 30 psi on ours unless we have really high pressure oil pumps.

thanks for the info guys. gotta go, heading out to do some fishing... YAY... lol

 

You can retrieve the codes by jumping the ALDL with a paperclip. ALDL is the little connector under the dash. The 2 terminals you want to jump are on the top row, the furthest two on the right. The SES light will flash the codes in sequence. Flash-Flash *pause* Flash-Flash-Flash would be a code 13 for example. You can run a search and readily find the list of codes.

Jump terminals A and B:


Wish I were fishing right now...

 

ok, went out and checked the injectors, they are spraying a really fine mist, so they are working right. only problem is that they seem (at least to me) to be spraying too much fuel. fuel was starting to puddle up on top of the throttle valves. Checked my SES and it gave me a code 32, YAY EGR problems... lol... haven't checked my temp sender or oil press sender yet. found an oil pressure switch on autozone for pretty cheap ($32), but i also seen an oil press sender somewhere online for quite a bit of money. I read that my car may have 2 oil press sensors? one down by the filter and one up by the dist., i saw one down by the filter when i did the oil change, and the wire was hooked up to it. may have to look at it again, and head over to autozone to see if what they have is the same one.

oh, will my egr not working cause me to be running rich? my fuel milage is crap and i need it to get better... thanks

 

I believe there's one down on the oil pan that is just an oil level sensor or something retarded like that.