I'm new to this but you guys seem to have more vararity when it comes to answers so here it goes... I have a VIN E camaro that with lots of mods that was running great until one day it crapped out and I cannot figure out why. I'm pretty good with the troubleshooting but this one is beyond me. Here are the symptoms. High and unsteady idle, little bit of surging when driving between 15-45 mph, and here is the one I cannot figure out, when I press on the gas to go, the timing retards instead of advances. I have tested many things and replaced others. Still no luck maybe I am missing something. I have checked for vacum leaks, timing, est and esc has been replaced, IAC has been adjusted, TPS is facory set (I did not use the holley TPS because the resistance is way off), MAP has bee replaced, new cap rotor, spark plug cables tested ok, motor was rebuilt recently, I pulled the timing cover off and double checked the chain and cam timing, I even checked the continuity of all the cables coming in from all sensors and switches to the ECU... What have I missed?!!! Below is what I have under the hood.

small block 355, holley 502-6 tbi w/ 65pph injectors, 300-49 manifold,
stock fuel pump, stock ECM, Speed-Pro CS-179R cam int/exh @ 0.050 - 222/222 Vavle lift - .447/.447, 700 R4 tranny, 2.73 rearend, shorty headers 3 inch exhaust, ported & polished cast iron heads / 1.95 int and 1.50 exh, oh and no EGR (yet).

 

well with the holley tbi unit, i would definatly recommend a tune, that could be throwing it if, there can be a number of things do you have anyway to datalog?? i would try and datalog and post in the diy tuning bored see what they got to say. just a shoot in the dark but better then nothing

 

datalog... what is that, do you mean hook up a scanner and drive? That would be a new one for me... All I have are codes and sounds and symtoms.

 

Did these problems occur before or after your mods. You really need to look into chip burning. You are leaving many ponies out of the equation if you have not done so not to mention the drivability problems associated with the stock tune. By the way, welcome to the boards.

EDIT: I just read your post. Check out the "new to TBI" thread at the top of this page. There is an explanation to what data loggin is along with some links to get you started.

 

Thanks for he welcome and it looks like I will have quite a bit of reading to do... along with that I might need to see if any of that software works with a USB serial adapter seeing as my laptop soes not have a dedicated serial port.

The drivability problem started about one week after I rebuilt the motor... hang on before the rebuild the car was running with the 355 topped with stock manifold and 305 heads with the same 222 447 cam and stock tbi and the 3 inch exhaust and headers. The only new equipment on is the holley tbi, manifold and the missing egr valve. As for the chip burning yes you're right the chip is necessary and the plan was to get it running properly then have a chip made by Jet after sending them some info on what equipment I have on the engine to get all I can out of it.

 

i would give carefull thought to buying a chip. i was quoted (Jet) $400 i think but decided against it and instead learned the skill. i am certain the comments here and on other forum led me to that decision. the more your mods vary from stock the greater is the difficulty in optimizing the burn. the first one is a ballpark. the second one after datalog an improvement over first. it may take a multitude of burns to get it right. that requires a datallog for each burn. will Jet accept your datalogs?
i was successful running a USB to Serial radio shack adapter with windows XP.

 

Thanks for the tip on the USB adapter and yes I will be looking at the chip stuff but guess what... out of just plain dumb luck I found what the problem was. After making my checklist/flowchart I headed for the ignition system itself. I went to check the power cables from the starter. To check them I hooked up one electrode of my VOM to the fat pink wire that goes from the ign coil to the ignition, turned the key and put it to the wire for the ignition and of coarse it was good. Then it happened... when I reached in to grab another wire, BEEEP! I unknowingly pushed the other electrode against the engine block. I grabbed all the pos wires to make sure they were not touching the frame and tried it again and BEEP. I tunred the ign off and nothing.

All that time and $$$ and for nothing. My experience should of told me from the begining... if there is ever anything wrong with an F body, the first thing to go is usually the alternater, or the battery. Always check the electrical guys especially if you know that the sensors are good. ALWAYS check the electrical and START WITH THE SIMPLE STUFF.

ground
alternater
Spark plug cables
cap and rotor
fuses
amperage (on load)
voltage to the ECU (if its not between 4.5 and 5.5, ECU will go nuts)

Now I just have to take the car to someone who knows steering columns and ignition relays... by the way

does anyone know where the STARTER ENABLE RELAY is? It is supposed to have two yellow wires and two dark green wires (one with a black stripe).