C4 Tech/Performance L98 Corvette and LT1 Corvette Technical Info, Internal Engine, External Engine

rough idle

Old Feb 20, 2008 | 12:30 AM
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My '89 has new plugs/wires/cap/rotor, but still has not a rough idle but an idle that is not smooth. Otherwise it runs great. Any next suspect items?
Floridatim
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Old Feb 20, 2008 | 08:22 AM
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My 89 has the same thing too. The list of new parts on mine (to correct this problem) is much, much longer than your list. I believe this condition in "normal" for this year car. Oh yes, I bought a scan tool too
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Old Feb 20, 2008 | 11:30 PM
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I seem to remember mine running smooth before I killed the multecs with Seafoam. Now I have the same issue and are still throwing parts at it. I've got a friend with a scan tool and we are going to see what that yields. Whats funny on mine, one day it seems smooth and the next its kinda missing.
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Old Feb 20, 2008 | 11:54 PM
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Premium fuel, injector cleaner, it idles the same weather it has just been started or has been running for several hours. Is it injector time after just 83000 miles?
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Old Feb 21, 2008 | 10:21 AM
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Check the throttle body for carbon deposits, including the IAC and ports. Clean the throttle body and make sure you use fuel injector cleaner and NOT carb cleaner.

The 89's came with multec injectors and have had issues. Many of them fail at 70k miles. It may be time to get them replace.
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Old Feb 22, 2008 | 08:38 AM
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Originally Posted by floridatim
Premium fuel, injector cleaner, it idles the same weather it has just been started or has been running for several hours. Is it injector time after just 83000 miles?
This could be your problem, if you used injector cleaner this can kill stock Multecs in days. When I first bought my 89 it ran perfect, 2 days later after using injector cleaner it was missing badly. Come to find out the cleaner eats the epoxy around the injector coils and this shorts them out. Ohm your injectors hot and cold , they should all be around 16 ohms, if they aren't they need to be replaced. WW
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Old Feb 22, 2008 | 10:01 AM
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Shorted Multec injectors will make the car idle rough and more important...run like crap. The first post indicated the car runs great except for the idle. I would be surprised to find he has shorted injectors.
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Old Feb 22, 2008 | 11:30 AM
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Originally Posted by Sam Lam
Shorted Multec injectors will make the car idle rough and more important...run like crap. The first post indicated the car runs great except for the idle. I would be surprised to find he has shorted injectors.
Sam,
Im no expert but my 89 ran pretty good except for the idle and I had three injectors that where reading low, something like 12 to 14 ohms each. Maybe he just thinks its running fine because at higher rpms a slight miss is harder to detect. It also makes a difference if you have one injector that is way off or a few that are each a little off, but you may be right. Only a ohm test will tell.... WW
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Old Feb 22, 2008 | 03:59 PM
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WW: I do agree that the resistance of the injectors should be tested as this is an easy thing to complete. Perhaps floridatim will get "lucky" and this will be his problem. When the resistance of the Multecs get in the single digit range, the engine performance goes "south" quickly!
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Old Feb 22, 2008 | 07:51 PM
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I'd try to isolate a cylinder first - either read the exhaust temp at each - or take some 1/4 inch vacuum hose and cut it into 1/2 inch lengths. Then stick a piece between each plug wire and the distributor and with a grounded test light, touch the vacuum hose to kill the cylinder while monitoring a tach. Any that don't drop the same as the others needs to be looked at. And if it happens to be the #7 cylinder (especially since it's an '89), look for rust on the plug threads and run a compression/leakdown test.
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Old Feb 23, 2008 | 12:28 AM
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Originally Posted by SunCr
I'd try to isolate a cylinder first - either read the exhaust temp at each - or take some 1/4 inch vacuum hose and cut it into 1/2 inch lengths. Then stick a piece between each plug wire and the distributor and with a grounded test light, touch the vacuum hose to kill the cylinder while monitoring a tach. Any that don't drop the same as the others needs to be looked at. And if it happens to be the #7 cylinder (especially since it's an '89), look for rust on the plug threads and run a compression/leakdown test.
I might just try this test myself. It seems I'm forever seeking miss issues.
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