my car ****ing sucks! (long, sorry)
09-15-2003, 01:30 AM
#1
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Abilene, TX
Posts: 464
my car ****ing sucks! (long, sorry)
okay... my car ****ing sucks. it's a piece, and i'm about ready to say the **** with it, fix it, and sell the mother****er before something else goes wrong with it.
let's backtrack... i just installed hooker LT headers, mufflex y-pipe, had my exhaust redone with my cutout put back on, put on a K&N cold air induction, nitto nt555r's, LCA's, relocation brackets, 3.73 gears... blah blah... still haven't even gotten around to putting the shift kit in. meanwhile, after i get my car running after the header install... the sucker is misfiring on 4 cylinders with all plug wires in the right spot
take it to the shop and spend another $750 to get all plugs/wires replaced along with the cap and rotor on the opti because my ****ing power steering pump is nearly blown out and leaked all over it and corroded the bastard out. get it back... wow, the car runs awesome. 3 days later... i have another burnt wire. next day, another one... along with a spark plug cracked on both sides. WOOHOO!
take it back to the shop, everything is replaced under warranty. they put longer wires on it, and it's all been pushed back and zip tied off so that they won't burn so easily. got some heat wrap in from MSD, which hasn't been put on yet. car runs great for about a week or even two...
then yesterday, it rains like a bitch while i'm at work. great news, that K&N CAI... makes it a ***** trying to drive in the rain since the jerk that had my car before me decided to cut out the fender well beneath the CAI. so when i hit deep puddles of water, i'm going MAYBE 3-4MPH... and i don't touch the throttle because i know it'll suck water up. a couple times, i had no choice because if i hadn't tapped the throttle, i would've been STUCK in a ****ing puddle. car makes it fine for a while... then it starts to spit and sputter. i get pissed off, park it, and hitch a ride with someone else. it dries up a bit, i go back, get my car and take it home. it's still sputtering a bit, but seems to even out and dry up... starts running great again. leave it parked for HOURS. get back in it... runs okay cold, works great a few minutes later. a while later on... it starts ****ing up again with the sputtering. take it home and park it for the night.
i get up and go to work today, no problems whatsoever. no problems all day. late this evening, i go out... when i go to leave to go to my girlfriend's work... the car starts ****ing up again. it bogs real hard like i had with the water, then the god damn SES light starts blinking in my face, and i'm like ****... how can i be misfiring now? evens out... runs fine for five minutes, then gets way worse. stop at my girl's work... a friend comes, we look at the car, and it doesn't appear to have any burnt wires or anything. the headers make a LOVELY ticking noise tho... which he thought was a problem until he realized that all LT's make that noise. my header bolts need to be tightened, but there's no way that's the problem. some of the wires have leaked *** power steering fluid on them, but i don't think that would do this either.
i'm ****ing stumped, and out of ****ing money... somebody please ****ing help me figure this **** out before i rip my ****ing hair out. my car is driving me insane. out of the three f-bodies i have owned, this one has had the most work done to it... and has, by far, ****ED UP THE MOST!
can anybody help me figure this **** out?
- jay
let's backtrack... i just installed hooker LT headers, mufflex y-pipe, had my exhaust redone with my cutout put back on, put on a K&N cold air induction, nitto nt555r's, LCA's, relocation brackets, 3.73 gears... blah blah... still haven't even gotten around to putting the shift kit in. meanwhile, after i get my car running after the header install... the sucker is misfiring on 4 cylinders with all plug wires in the right spot
take it to the shop and spend another $750 to get all plugs/wires replaced along with the cap and rotor on the opti because my ****ing power steering pump is nearly blown out and leaked all over it and corroded the bastard out. get it back... wow, the car runs awesome. 3 days later... i have another burnt wire. next day, another one... along with a spark plug cracked on both sides. WOOHOO! take it back to the shop, everything is replaced under warranty. they put longer wires on it, and it's all been pushed back and zip tied off so that they won't burn so easily. got some heat wrap in from MSD, which hasn't been put on yet. car runs great for about a week or even two...
then yesterday, it rains like a bitch while i'm at work. great news, that K&N CAI... makes it a ***** trying to drive in the rain since the jerk that had my car before me decided to cut out the fender well beneath the CAI. so when i hit deep puddles of water, i'm going MAYBE 3-4MPH... and i don't touch the throttle because i know it'll suck water up. a couple times, i had no choice because if i hadn't tapped the throttle, i would've been STUCK in a ****ing puddle. car makes it fine for a while... then it starts to spit and sputter. i get pissed off, park it, and hitch a ride with someone else. it dries up a bit, i go back, get my car and take it home. it's still sputtering a bit, but seems to even out and dry up... starts running great again. leave it parked for HOURS. get back in it... runs okay cold, works great a few minutes later. a while later on... it starts ****ing up again with the sputtering. take it home and park it for the night.
i get up and go to work today, no problems whatsoever. no problems all day. late this evening, i go out... when i go to leave to go to my girlfriend's work... the car starts ****ing up again. it bogs real hard like i had with the water, then the god damn SES light starts blinking in my face, and i'm like ****... how can i be misfiring now? evens out... runs fine for five minutes, then gets way worse. stop at my girl's work... a friend comes, we look at the car, and it doesn't appear to have any burnt wires or anything. the headers make a LOVELY ticking noise tho... which he thought was a problem until he realized that all LT's make that noise. my header bolts need to be tightened, but there's no way that's the problem. some of the wires have leaked *** power steering fluid on them, but i don't think that would do this either.
i'm ****ing stumped, and out of ****ing money... somebody please ****ing help me figure this **** out before i rip my ****ing hair out. my car is driving me insane. out of the three f-bodies i have owned, this one has had the most work done to it... and has, by far, ****ED UP THE MOST!
can anybody help me figure this **** out?
- jay
09-15-2003, 02:27 AM
#2
Banned
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 1,475
dude that was a lot of cussing 
i thought i was bad it's ok though dude i feel your pain 
been there done that for sure 
any how, you need to step back and look at the problems here.. for one u need to fix the problem where your panel is cut in your fender well or what not... i mean come on, you can't be having water getting to your air filter
that's just asking for trouble
as for the misfire, 99% of the time it's friggin plug wires dude.. make sure they are all in the right spot.. also, stop wasting time and get yourself some over the valve cover wires... it's gonna save you a LOT of headaches.. i went thru 3 sets of wires till i got this thru my head... it's not like the over the valve cover wires are anymore expensive, so might as well get them...
just check those wire's dude... more than likely you chewed another one up
i thought i was bad it's ok though dude i feel your pain been there done that for sure any how, you need to step back and look at the problems here.. for one u need to fix the problem where your panel is cut in your fender well or what not... i mean come on, you can't be having water getting to your air filter
that's just asking for trouble as for the misfire, 99% of the time it's friggin plug wires dude.. make sure they are all in the right spot.. also, stop wasting time and get yourself some over the valve cover wires... it's gonna save you a LOT of headaches.. i went thru 3 sets of wires till i got this thru my head... it's not like the over the valve cover wires are anymore expensive, so might as well get them...
just check those wire's dude... more than likely you chewed another one up
09-15-2003, 04:39 AM
#5
Registered User
Join Date: Nov 2000
Location: Kansas City suburb of
Posts: 2,734
This is why I am building a nice cheap 355.
I could spend alot of money and go with the big stroker or supercharger or even a turbo (dam that video was awesome) but.......I would be working on it every other weekend.
Reliability on a heavily modded car is for ****.
I work on the car enough as it is, I don,t need more problems, plus I am the rare car guy who is content to be just fast.
I don,t need to beat every other guy in the world, I am content to just beat some of them.
Just calm down and take a step back.
Do you have a beater to drive around?
You need a beater if you are going to highly mod a car.
Take for granted you are just going to have to work on it more, it goes with the territory.
I know a guy locally that spent big bucks building this 94 Z28, it had a built 355 with a supercharger and nitrous, thing put down 575 rwhp off the juice. It was everything he wanted, or so he thought.
It would run great one weekend and the next it was broken, this went on for some time with him trying to work the bugs out till one day he said screw this and sold the car, he bought a Z06 and never looked back. Was it as fast as his 94? Hell no. but he can actually drive it places and can be 95% sure it will get him there and back home, he can actually enjoy his car.
Long story I know but I hope it shows you a little about modifying a car, it never ends, the faster it goes the more you will have to work on it.
I could spend alot of money and go with the big stroker or supercharger or even a turbo (dam that video was awesome) but.......I would be working on it every other weekend.
Reliability on a heavily modded car is for ****.
I work on the car enough as it is, I don,t need more problems, plus I am the rare car guy who is content to be just fast.
I don,t need to beat every other guy in the world, I am content to just beat some of them.
Just calm down and take a step back.
Do you have a beater to drive around?
You need a beater if you are going to highly mod a car.
Take for granted you are just going to have to work on it more, it goes with the territory.
I know a guy locally that spent big bucks building this 94 Z28, it had a built 355 with a supercharger and nitrous, thing put down 575 rwhp off the juice. It was everything he wanted, or so he thought.
It would run great one weekend and the next it was broken, this went on for some time with him trying to work the bugs out till one day he said screw this and sold the car, he bought a Z06 and never looked back. Was it as fast as his 94? Hell no. but he can actually drive it places and can be 95% sure it will get him there and back home, he can actually enjoy his car.
Long story I know but I hope it shows you a little about modifying a car, it never ends, the faster it goes the more you will have to work on it.
09-15-2003, 05:23 AM
#6
Registered User
Join Date: Mar 2001
Location: Winston Salem, NC
Posts: 956
is your power steering pump still leaking? If so, you probably shorted out the opti again...also, replacing just the cap and rotor on the opti are typically a bad idea...replace the whole thing if you have to get in there. Thats one case where doing a search here would have been invalueable.
I had a scoop i my fenderwell on my 96 and never had a problem with puddles or getting the filter wet, so I'l bet thats not what caused anything....more likely the water got into an improperly sealing opti if anything...
As far as plug wire routing, if you do it carefully and take a lot of time getting the routing correct, you can get it to not burn wires. I have SLP shorties which are considered the easiest to burn wires on, and I have yet to do so because I took an extra half hour in the routing (and I have OVC wires with Bosch Platinum plugs which are shorter than normal)
Yes highly modded cars do break more, but I don't think thats what your looking at here. Sounds to me you just had a rash of bad luck going on (it happens with these cars). Get the stuff fixed up and you should be fine
I had a scoop i my fenderwell on my 96 and never had a problem with puddles or getting the filter wet, so I'l bet thats not what caused anything....more likely the water got into an improperly sealing opti if anything...
As far as plug wire routing, if you do it carefully and take a lot of time getting the routing correct, you can get it to not burn wires. I have SLP shorties which are considered the easiest to burn wires on, and I have yet to do so because I took an extra half hour in the routing (and I have OVC wires with Bosch Platinum plugs which are shorter than normal)
Yes highly modded cars do break more, but I don't think thats what your looking at here. Sounds to me you just had a rash of bad luck going on (it happens with these cars). Get the stuff fixed up and you should be fine
09-15-2003, 05:04 PM
#7
Super Moderator
Join Date: May 1999
Location: Inverness, FL
Posts: 4,060
All I gots to say is THANKS for not over-riding the language filter! Had you over-rode the language filter (like some do ) I probably would have just deleted this one!
Sit back, take a deep breath, have a beer, and relax a bit
) I probably would have just deleted this one!Sit back, take a deep breath, have a beer, and relax a bit
09-15-2003, 05:49 PM
#9
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Join Date: Nov 1998
Location: Columbia, SC, USA
Posts: 746
Yeah man, chill out. These cars are a bitch to work on, and can cost a fortune. When you went through the puddle, you probably toasted the opti again, that or the PS leak. I doubt that, cause I had one of my ps hoses loose and it was pouring like a sieve with no problems. Didnt even get on the wires or opti. If you don't want to spend money on a new fenderwell liner, simply get some plastic and block it off. You could use zip ties to hold it on. You gotta use your head when working on these cars, otherwise some shops will rape you cause you think they are hard to work on. They aren't HARD to work on, just a PITA. OVC wires would be beneficial, but not neccessary. I've had OVC on the drivers side and generic Bosch on the pass. for months now and haven't burned a single wire. Another thing, it might be your MAF that went bad. Disconnect it and drive around. You'll get an SES light but thats no big deal. If it still bogs and drives crappy its most likely the opti. Good luck with it.
09-15-2003, 06:30 PM
#10
Banned
Join Date: May 2002
Posts: 1,475
Originally posted by Brent94Z
All I gots to say is THANKS for not over-riding the language filter! Had you over-rode the language filter (like some do ) I probably would have just deleted this one!
Sit back, take a deep breath, have a beer, and relax a bit
All I gots to say is THANKS for not over-riding the language filter! Had you over-rode the language filter (like some do
) I probably would have just deleted this one!Sit back, take a deep breath, have a beer, and relax a bit
09-15-2003, 10:07 PM
#11
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Thread Starter
Join Date: Apr 2003
Location: Abilene, TX
Posts: 464
no problem on the language thing and i'm perfectly calm... just a little pissed...
the car has run great all day. i know none of the wires are burnt, we checked them all... and the way they are routed, it's damn near impossible to burn them.
i'm going to fix up that hole, and it's not like it was my ****ty workmanship that put that there... the guy who owned it before me was the jerk who decided to do that.
i'm guessing it's just the opti, but i'm wondering why it's not still going beserk. yesterday, about this time, it had started up again... maybe it was just wet and now it's dried out?
i've had three f-bodies, and i've done lots of work to all of them. my other 96 was my most heavily modded car, and it broke a lot... but this one has broke as much as that one in the 7 months i've owned it i'm thinking about taking my mods off, restoring it to factory... trading it on another one, and going on about my business
- jay
and i'm perfectly calm... just a little pissed...the car has run great all day. i know none of the wires are burnt, we checked them all... and the way they are routed, it's damn near impossible to burn them.
i'm going to fix up that hole, and it's not like it was my ****ty workmanship that put that there... the guy who owned it before me was the jerk who decided to do that.
i'm guessing it's just the opti, but i'm wondering why it's not still going beserk. yesterday, about this time, it had started up again... maybe it was just wet and now it's dried out?
i've had three f-bodies, and i've done lots of work to all of them. my other 96 was my most heavily modded car, and it broke a lot... but this one has broke as much as that one in the 7 months i've owned it
i'm thinking about taking my mods off, restoring it to factory... trading it on another one, and going on about my business - jay
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