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1981 has me puzzled

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Old Jul 3, 2011 | 01:19 PM
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Default 1981 has me puzzled

hello all, I have a 1981 corvette, it was running like crap, hesitating and bogging down when you gave it gas from a start. I had carb rebuilt and new solenoid installed. Told that the solenoid was still not working and to replace computer. Better with the hesitation and bogging but would spit and miss and surge when i got on the gas. I changed the computer and it definately ran better after warm up though idle was a little rough. Check engine light came on after installing the new computer and still no clicking under the hood. I tried jumping the terminals and could not get the check engine light to flash any codes it just stayed solid. After a few weeks I had it out for a drive, check engine light still on and running decent, and all of the sudden the check engine light started flashing, car mildly backfired a few times, check engine light went out and seemed to be running ok by the time i got it home. Now when I put it in the run position I now hear the clicking under the hood and the check engine light flashes along with the clicking. When I start it check engine light will flash very fast and then eventually turn off. Simply put....what just happened.
Any help would be appreciated and sorry for the long post.

Last edited by nipski6; Jul 3, 2011 at 01:21 PM.
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Old Jul 3, 2011 | 04:27 PM
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I personally never heard of those symptoms before. Have you tried to reset the computer by disconnecting the battery for several minutes, to see if it repeats what it is doing now? It is NOT uncommon to purchase another computer that is bad to begin with.

When my '81 still was computer controlled, I got alot of info here:
http://www.corvetteactioncenter.com/...egistry-forum/
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Old Jul 3, 2011 | 05:20 PM
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Yea, I did reset the computer and it still does the same thing
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Old Jul 4, 2011 | 08:20 AM
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Suggest going through the Factory Manual steps for the computer, to determine is it is bad or not. Could just be the EPROM...which of course is no longer available...but aftermarket one is.

Do you have the 81 Service Manual??
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Old Jul 4, 2011 | 08:58 AM
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No I do Not
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Old Jul 4, 2011 | 09:59 AM
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Read the error codes stored in the computer.

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