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

need help car is backfiring

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Old Apr 5, 2008 | 03:50 PM
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Default need help car is backfiring

i need help when i took the car out of storage this year the car was backfiring slightly. I thought that the backfire was due to having bad gas or the opti was going bad. so i put 5 gal of fresh gas in the tank with a fuel stablizer. still was backfiring. I then instslled an msd opti and it ran about the same for a little while and progressivley got worst. so i then pulled the spark plugs and all of bank 2 was carbon fouled and bank 1 was gas fouled. any ideas of what it might be?
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Old Apr 5, 2008 | 05:39 PM
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St. Jude Donor '07
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Lots of possibilities.
Running rich?
Leaking injectors?
Timing way off?
Wrong temperature plugs?
Lots of short drives?
Plug wiress in wrong order?

FYI:
Fuel stabilizer is worthless in a summer vehicle. So is iso-alcohol in all vehicles. Winter stored vehicles' fuel stays cool enough to not lose the additives to aid in evaporation. Summer stored vehicles' tanks can get warm enough to allow these to evaporate and cause varnish. All fuel in the US is 10% alcohol minimum. Anything more than 10% will not absorb any more water or un freeze a line.
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 11:31 AM
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Originally Posted by williammackean
Lots of possibilities.
Running rich?
Leaking injectors?
Timing way off?
Wrong temperature plugs?
Lots of short drives?
Plug wiress in wrong order?

FYI:
Fuel stabilizer is worthless in a summer vehicle. So is iso-alcohol in all vehicles. Winter stored vehicles' fuel stays cool enough to not lose the additives to aid in evaporation. Summer stored vehicles' tanks can get warm enough to allow these to evaporate and cause varnish. All fuel in the US is 10% alcohol minimum. Anything more than 10% will not absorb any more water or un freeze a line.
i think that i can eliminate timing because there is no way that you can adjust the timing on an lt1 because base timing is determined by a keyway in the cam gear. As far as the plugs i have been running the same kind for about 4 years now (ngk tr-55) with no problems. ill have to double cheack the plugwires but i dont think that is the problem because it runs fairly smooth at idle. im leaning toward the o2 sensors are bad because when i took removed the plugs from bank #2 they were all carbon fouled and bank #1 was for the most part fine.
any other input on this would be great because i dont want to start throwing parts at the car.
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 11:56 AM
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St. Jude Donor '06-'07
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I Hate to be the one to ask, but do you have a FSM? You should be able to figure it out w/ one. I will say that it sounds like a injector problem. Try ohming each injector, I think LT1 injectors should be about 14 to 15 ohms.

I would try that first, just to make sure they are OK.

Randy
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 11:59 AM
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St. Jude Donor '07
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Are you getting any codes?

I'm not an LT1 expert, but I would imagine that any sensor issues that would cause performance issues would throw a code or two.

Generally, carbon fouled plugs indicate a weak ignition system or computer driven control issues. That it is bank-biased tells me that it could be the sensors.
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 12:07 PM
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Have you cHecked your exhaust to see if there are any rust holes in it.
My dad's 89 has the left side exhaust missing right now and when you tap the gas it backfires each time, i removed the exhaust because of the rust.
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 01:35 PM
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Originally Posted by Damien89
Have you cHecked your exhaust to see if there are any rust holes in it.
My dad's 89 has the left side exhaust missing right now and when you tap the gas it backfires each time, i removed the exhaust because of the rust.
the whole exhaust is less than a year old and is stainlee w/the exception of the headers.
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 01:42 PM
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Originally Posted by comp94
the whole exhaust is less than a year old and is stainlee w/the exception of the headers.
Did the headers move the position of the O2 sensor further 'down line?' If so, I think you need a heated O2 sensor to operate properly. It may not throw a code and will run the mix off. (So it was with my L98, anyhow.)
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 01:42 PM
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Originally Posted by williammackean
Are you getting any codes?

I'm not an LT1 expert, but I would imagine that any sensor issues that would cause performance issues would throw a code or two.

Generally, carbon fouled plugs indicate a weak ignition system or computer driven control issues. That it is bank-biased tells me that it could be the sensors.
i wish that it was throwing codes but its not throwing any.
I did replace the o2 sensors a few years ago and it is showing some of the same signs of when they went bad the first time the only real diffence is the backfiring. The other thing that leads me to belive that its the o2 sensors is that i replaced them w/autozone replacements (money was alote tighter when i replaced them).
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 01:45 PM
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Originally Posted by williammackean
Did the headers move the position of the O2 sensor further 'down line?' If so, I think you need a heated O2 sensor to operate properly. It may not throw a code and will run the mix off. (So it was with my L98, anyhow.)
yes they did move the location of the o2 sensors further away but i think that they are heated o2's from the factory because they are 4 wire.
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 01:49 PM
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Originally Posted by RandyJ75
I Hate to be the one to ask, but do you have a FSM? You should be able to figure it out w/ one. I will say that it sounds like a injector problem. Try ohming each injector, I think LT1 injectors should be about 14 to 15 ohms.

I would try that first, just to make sure they are OK.

Randy
yes i do have a fsm. the injectors are fairly new fms injectors but ill ohm the injectors just to make sure
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 01:58 PM
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Is it back firing through the intake or out the exhaust? Is there a mis-fire or loss of power accompanying this or do you just hear a popping sound? Does it happen on acceleration, deceleration, at cruise, or random?
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Old Apr 6, 2008 | 02:05 PM
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Originally Posted by newbecorvetteguy
Is it back firing through the intake or out the exhaust? Is there a mis-fire or loss of power accompanying this or do you just hear a popping sound? Does it happen on acceleration, deceleration, at cruise, or random?
its backfiring throught the exhaust and there is a loss of power (car stalls out) i havent even driven the car on the road yet just moving it in and out of the garage.
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