TPIMarow6.6

lately my car has been running a little rich it seems and when i drive a little aggressive then i let off and hold the rpm's then touch the gas a little. it sounds like a 12gauge shotgun going off out the back of my car. i know it must be some kind of rich issue but im not sure if a bad sensor would make this happen. i brought my car to autozone/advanced auto and there scanners are either broken or they dont have the right one. and i tried checking the codes on my own and it wont flash at all or even give me a code 12 so i dont know if im not doing it right. its a 93 lt1 automatic. the cat is gutted and has a flowmaster exhaust. anyone have a clue. the car seems to run strong and doesnt miss a beat otherwise.

sellmanb

I'll assumme the 93 lt1 is in your "other 3rd gen".

I dont think the LT1's ever were OBD1. I'm not sure if you can jump the A and B terminals either. I know the 93 model year for Camaros was a "one-off" since they still used TV cables, and some other minor variances though, so I am not sure.

It sounds like a combination of timing off (or the opti crapping out, or just needs a tune-up), the gutted cat (that really doesnt free up horsepower unless it's clogged you know?) and the infamous flowmaster decel gurgles.

TPIMarow6.6

only thing i can think of is i had a coolant line break above it and it sprayed all over, possibly temporarily shorting out the optispark. im not really sure myself. i tried checking the codes previously by jumping A and B like it states on another site i found and it didnt show anything.

sellmanb

I would hate to say to replace the opti and find out, because they're kinda spendy! But if you could get one from autozone or something, put it on and try it out. Find out if it's the solution or not. If it's not, take it back and say "it didnt work! I want my money back, I'm going elsewhere for my parts" heh.

Damon

LT-1s were OBD1 up through 1994 or 1995 (forget which). I could use my old Diacom scanner on my 94 Formula with no problems. It shouldn't be that difficult to get a scanner that works with your car's computer. I'm not sure if you can jumper the ALDL and have it spit out codes like a 3rd gen, through.

If you suspect ignition problems the first thing I replace on any LT-1 (before I go to the Opti) is the coil wire. They chew through coil wires pretty bad for some reason.

If your car still has the original platinum "100,000 mile" plugs in it you've found your problem. The little platinum "puck" on the side electrode usually falls off LONG before 100K miles. That opens the gap up to about .075" (from .050 stock) and then everything upstream in the ignition goes to heck in a handbasket- wires, opti, coil, module. All are put under enormous strain trying to jump a gap that big- eventually something goes pop and you're left scratching your head. Unfortunately, it's often the opti (which is a bad design to begin with, especially in the earlier 92-94 cars).

Token

exhaust leak? when I had a collector leak, from the highway letting off the gas at 2000rpm would cause big backfires on my stock 305.


also, what's the status of the cat?

TPIMarow6.6

supposedly the cars plugs were changed not long before i got it. then i had a coolant leak that made my cts short out and cause a very massive rich condition(clouds apon clouds of black smoke) and im not sure if the plugs could be partially fouled out but the car still runs strong. im not sure if the wires were changed. i think they were obd1 up to 94 and the caprice's were 94-95(i think in 95 you could use either or both scanners?) it must be putting some raw gas in the exhaust and then it ignites.....

TPIMarow6.6

nothing has changed with the car, im still not sure on what it could be, i dont want to buy a new optispark because of the price...but it seems to run really rich when i first start it in the morning, it blows black smoke, and if you let it run for a while then take off it blows black smoke as well..... still think its the optispark...?