lonestar7

iTrader: (1)

Well, while I was home at lunch, I checked for fuel in the regulator vacuum line, didn't see any for the 3-4 min. I had it running, no fuel smell ether. Also, this time I had no SES light, usually get it when the car is started after sitting over night.

scottmoyer

If your power antenna had a problem, the previous owner hopefully disconnected the relay under the passenger dash above where the right knee would fall. I recently fixed my power antenna using a 3/32" cable instead of the nylon originally used by GM. It works great.

Bullydawg

iTrader: (7)

Beautiful Formula! I really love formula's... My car has the original power antenna and it works, I disconnected it as I don't listen to the radio, and when the car gets painted in 2 months, I am having the hole shaved.

burnout88

That rules out the regulator. Honestly, you are showing all the classic signs of leaking injector nozzles. My 88 had all of the exact same symtoms. Code 34 right on a cold start. What happens is the injectors leak down over time and cause a rich start. Just pick up the fuel pressure guage and do the little test I told you about earlier and that will confirm it.

http://www.amazon.com/Equus-3640-Pro...sim_sbs_auto_4

http://www.amazon.com/Hypertech-4004.../dp/B000A8N48W

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...XSW67KS11M98TK

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00...XSW67KS11M98TK

lonestar7

iTrader: (1)

The pressure leak down test is next on the list. I have an old gauge that I use on my Thunderbird Turbo Coupe, but the fitting won't work on a TPI system. I'm just going to get a new gauge with adapters for both Ford and GM injection systems.

This evening after work I replaced the rear sway bar end links. The old link bushings were badly deteriorated, dried out, cracked or completely missing. I don't know what material they used for the original bushings, but It wasn't rubber like the sway bar mount bushings( BTW, the rear sway bar measures 24MM in diameter) or other bushings in the suspension. It appears to be a white or cream color hard substance that has now turned very brittle.

I inspected to other rear suspension components and bushings. All the rubber bushings look good, nothing cracked or dried out. Didn't find any unusual looseness or play when testing with a pry bar. From the accumulation of dirt on the shocks, I'd say they have been there for some time. Even so, the car shows no indication of worn shocks when driving it, doesn't even complete 1 bounce when going over speed bumps ( they'er all over my neighborhood streets). Still, replacing them is on my list of things to do, I'm thinking about maybe some Koni adjustable, or similar shocks and struts.

I did 4 or 5 cold starts while I was while working on the car getting it to the driveway, on and off the ramps, etc. Never saw a SES lite the whole time.

I'm going to do the front sway bar end links tomorrow. I'm also going to inspect the front suspension/steering, check the brake pads and bleed the brake system, replace the rear hatch struts. I also want to do a complete scrub down of the wheels front and back while I have them off the car. Just hope it's not over 100degs here tomorrow, that would make for a long day!

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Oh no, a street rod mod!!

If you wana do it the 1LE/no radio mod like GM did, look for the plastic snap in cover.
Now granted it won't look near as clean but it will look racy and if you ever want to go back to a antenna it will be cheap to do.
Just a thought.

lonestar7

iTrader: (1)

Are original ignition key blanks still available for this car? The ones I got from the previous owner are pretty worn, would like to get some new ones cut before the pattern wears off the old keys.

burnout88

See link, also some old chevy dealers have them still.

http://www.classicindustries.com/cam...&p=1&sb=0&r=45

lonestar7

iTrader: (1)

I found treasure today, well sort of. I got the rear swat bar end links done yesterday and started on the front sway bar links today. I also wanted to inspect the brakes and front suspension, so I needed to pull the wheels. I started searching for the security lug nut key. It wasn't with the jack and lug wrench, so I look the in the hatch storage compartment and sure enough, it's there along with several spare lug nuts and covers. But wait, there's more. I see a very dirty, worn manilla envelope. I look in and pull out the original owners manual, which the previous owner said he lost. Also I find just about booklet and brochure that came with the car. More stuff is in there, I pull out some yellow and pink sheets that look like old receipts, one is the original sale invoice with the original owner's (the guy I bought it from) signature on it. I keep digging. I pull out a folded sheet of thick white paper, I unfold it, damn, it's the original window sticker. I know you can get reproduction stickers, but to me, having the original is very cool.

lonestar7

iTrader: (1)

I did a lot of work on the exterior today. I washed it again, cleaned up the engine bay, cleaned the wheels, and polished and buffed the paint. After I got a coat of wax on it was getting close to sundown, but it was looking pretty good. Like I said before, polished up it makes a good 10 footer.

Gordiggz

$16,475. That's about a year of onStar on a new GM today. Frankly I'd pay $500 more for a car with that much original paperwork, just cause it's priceless.

zimmstoy

iTrader: (3)

Looks great. I'm in Austin also - we should sync up at some point.

burnout88

WOW! Great find on the paperwork and what a difference the wax and buff makes on the paint. The car is really coming along nice.

1984DarkHorse

You can get original key blanks from your local chevrolet dealer or classic industries. I was able to get a set for my 89 with the passkey security chip insert.

90firebird

Beautiful car, and that Lt Orange Metallic looks great! Also sweet that it's an L98/posi car. I'm not an RPO wizard, what rear does it have (9 or 10 bolt)?

As was mentioned earlier in this thread, these cars deteriorate FAST when left out in the sun. The clearcoat oxidizes (like on your spoiler), dashpads crack, tops of rear seats tear... it's very common. When you're not driving it, please do as much as you can to keep it out of the sun. It's too nice not to!

scottmoyer

Every picture I look at, something doesn't seem right about the front fender appearance. I just figured it out when I enlarged a photo. The way the light is reflecting on the door and quarter panel is different than the front fender, probably due to the fender being misshaped. The panel gap is off at the leading door edge. It could be another instance of the car being improperly jacked up. Check the mounting point under the fender just forward of the front of the door. The flange may be bent outward causing the fender to bow outward and stick out further than the door when looking down the side of the car. It's the little details like that that'll really make this thing *pop*. Looks really good after the detailing.

lonestar7

iTrader: (1)

Yeah, the front door/fonder cut lines are off a bit on both sides. The hood is off a bit too, seems to be bowed up a little in the middle and not quite straight. It did take a hit in the front when the guys daughter ran it into a parked car in his driveway. Hit hard enough to pop paint off the bumper cover and leave some other marks on it. Maybe that has something to do with it.

TTOP350

iTrader: (8)

Agree. Its a very common problem on these cars and more noticable on cars w/out groundFX.
Snazzy car. cant stop looking at it!

jtsk

iTrader: (3)

Congratulations! That's a nice car. Great find!

Richboll

That car is really growing on me. I keep coming back and looking at it and I'm a Camaro guy!

lonestar7

iTrader: (1)

I did the leak down test last Saturday. At idle, was reading 38~39lbs. After cutting the engine off, the pressure remained the same for a few minutes and then rose slowly, I suppose from the gas in the rail vaporizing, and got to about 45lbs. in about 20 minutes. It then slowly dropped, after another 20 minutes or so it was back around 38lbs but not decreasing much after. I ran the test again, same result. If the injectors are leaking, it must be very erratically. I've had it about 2 weeks now, and this is what I have observed. If you start the car cold after sitting over night, you get the code 34 light about 1/2 of the time. If you restart the car after running a few minutes, like on a short trip where it doesn't reach operating temp., you almost always get the SES light, reguargless of whether or not you had one when first started. When you restart the car after after a longer trip when it's reached normal operating temp, you never get a SES light regardless of having or not having one when first started.

burnout88

You passed the leak down test. Do you have an ohm meter to test the injector coils. It's a cheap tool and good to have in your toolbox.

The second most common cause is the MAF relay's. The MAF Power and MAF burnoff relay. They should be replaced as a pair. They are cheap and about $10 each relay.

lonestar7

iTrader: (1)

I'm going to do that next, won't have time until this weekend. I don't have a lot experience with auto fuel injection systems, but I d meters. In general, when the injector coils go bad, do they read open, short to ground, or something else? From what I remember reading here, a healthy coil should have about 14~16 Ohms resistance, is the correct?

On the relays, do you have any preferred brands I should look for if it turns out I need to replace them?

burnout88

Bosch injectors will read 14 to 17 ohms good. Multec injectors 12 to 13 ohms good. 88 cars should have Bosch injectors. Anything below these reading and I would consider that injector bad. Any brand on the relays will work. It is a simple part.

lonestar7

iTrader: (1)

I measured the resistance of my injectors this evening. Here's the readings(Ohms). #1-16.5, #2-16.4, #3-16.4, #4-16.3, #5-22.1, #6-16.6, #7-16.8, #8-16.4. All but #5 were basically the same, #5 was a little high, could it be bad? While I was messing with the injector connections, I found a short piece of vacuum hose with a good size crack in it. It was a one connected to the back of the intake plenum on the passengers side. It was definitely sucking air there, I wonder if that could be causing the SES intermittent light? I replaced the bad hose, I'll know in a day or 2 if it makes any difference.

lonestar7

iTrader: (1)

I replaced the bad vacuum line and took it for a drive of about 10 miles. No SES on initial cold start up, seemed to be idling smoother right after start up than usual. I had noticed a few times on cold start up the engine would stumble a bit with the RPM dropping a second or two before settling down, would sometimes idle a little rough when warmed up too, would come and go. I'll have to go through a few more cold start cycles to see if the SES light code 34 problem is solved. But regardless, that vacuum leak needed to be fixed.

burnout88

22 ohm is not a normal reading. I have never seen one read that high. Generally, read low when going bad but I would be very very suspect of that injector. Test it with the engine hot.

Good find on the vac link that could very well be your code 34.

StevenB L98/LS1

over resistance on injector 5 is probably your problem with the idle surge.

lonestar7

iTrader: (1)

Replacing the injectors is on my "to do" list for the car. After looking at old post and discussions, it looks like the Bosch III 22lb might be the ones to go with. Anyone have experiences good or bad with them?

80schild

iTrader: (5)

I have them, they work well enough but they're noisy (ticky).

lonestar7

iTrader: (1)

Are those the remanufactured ones from South Bay?

80schild

iTrader: (5)

Yep. When I first put them in they were VERY noisy but I didn't have hood insulation at that time. The new insulation helped a lot, but they're still noisier than the stock ones.

85_ZED28

Beautiful Formula. What a great colour!!

burnout88

Personally, I am not a fan rebuilt injectors. They are almost always louder then new and who knows how many miles are actually on them.

scottmoyer

Does it matter how many miles are on them when they are rebuilt? Doesn't that basically make them new again? Why are they noisier? I'm not familiar with the inner workings of the injectors.

Guest

Drive. Whoever buys a car they love and doesnt plan to drive it is on crack. Mine is my daily and if something breaks, I fix it

DethVenture

Wow, Medium Orange Metallic is now on my favorite colors list. You're making my heart YEARN for a 3rd Gen even more, Arrgh. Beautiful car, hope you get her fixed up soon.

Subscribing for more fuel injector education.

burnout88

Well I am not going to pretend to an injector expert. Because I am not. But with any rebuilt part they generally only replace what is faulty with the component and test and clean the other parts. Some parts in the injector may be new but other parts very old.

On the three sets of injectors I have installed the rebuilt ones were always louder then the new ford svo injectors I have on my car. So that is my unscientific test and experience. I have no idea why that was the case.

lonestar7

iTrader: (1)

I just remeasured injector 5 with the engine hot, read 18.3 ohms. Still getting intermittent SES light, code 34. Otherwise, it's running like a champ.

lonestar7

iTrader: (1)

Wow, it seem like just yesterday that I was stuck in traffic on I-35 on a 108*day wondering if I was going to make it back to Austin from San Antonio. But as of today, I've had my Formula exactly 1 month.

Here's what I've done to it so far:

Replace front and rear sway bar end links.

Inspect and test suspension and steering components for wear and looseness, all ok.

Service all suspension/steering grease points.

Bleed brake system, replaced hardware on front calipers, inspected pads and rotors, adjusted parking brake.

Replaced hood and hatch support struts.

Took out seats and console, shampooed and wet vac seats and carpet.

Repaired loose console sides, replace broken console lid.

Deep cleaned and conditioned all interior plastic trim, tighten trim panel screws and replace missing ones.

Scrubbed out wheel wells and back side of the wheels, removed a huge amount of black tire powder and brown pad residue.

Polished out a lot of small imperfections and scratches, still a lot to go, takes a lot of time and elbow grease.

Been trying to track down source of intermittent code 34/ SES light. Replaced some bad vacuum hose, tested fuel pressure regulator, fuel pressure, injector leak down test, injector resistance. Still get the SES time to time.

Got plenty left to do. I have to say while it's been some long, hot days working on it, I've enjoyed it. I'm learning a lot and slowly making improvements. Sometimes after working on it all day and I get it back together and cleaned up, I just like to stand there and look at it. The designers got that one right, just love the look of it.

TallTim

iTrader: (2)

Amen brother

burnout88

Still reading high on #5 injector. Should be in the 16 ohm range with the rest of them. I am still leaning toward the injector on this issue or the relay set.

You should check your tps voltage also. A miss adjusted or out of spec throttle position sensor is another cause of a code 34 on start up.

https://www.thirdgen.org/forums/elec...s-voltage.html

lonestar7

iTrader: (1)

I'm going to do the TPS voltage check next. I just got a new MAF power relay, still looking for a burnoff relay, I'll replace them both at the same time when I get one. Not sure which way to go on the injectors. I had planed to replace them at some point. I've been reading about them in old postings. I've seen those who insist you need to replace all of them with a "matched set" if you have bad ones. Others just replace the bad ones and go with it. I can't afford set of brand new injectors right now. I could afford the reman Bosch III injector set that South Bay sells, but they seem to have mixed reviews here.

86T/A_Ram_Air

The Bosch III's work well.

burnout88

Don't replace just one injector. You will regret that. If you have to buy rebuilt to afford a full set then do that.

musicfreako

iTrader: (1)

I have the South Bay bosch IIIs. Yes, they're a little noisy, but they work and perform great!

89Formula3

Nice formula like the color reminds me of my old 89.