LT1 rough idle, ticking, poping in exhaust

[evilbeef54]

Okay so i know it's not my 2nd gen, but i know there's a lot of good people here and hopefully you can help me.

I just had the headers and cut out put on, everything was running great, took it to the track last night made a few passes ran great. This morning everything was running great. However tonight when i started it up it idled real rough, the tach was bouncing between 850 and 500 rpm, when driving it slow a few times it feels like it misses and a few times there was a soft poping from the exhaust. Also with the engine idleign and the hood open there is a soft ticking sounds from the back of the drivers side valve cover. Once the car warmed up the missing, rough idle, and poping at slow speed seemed to go away. Could this be a valve adjustment problem? The other thing is i removed the intake, MAF, and intake elbow several times while i was trying to install an ignition and airflow controller (this plugs into the MAF) for the nitrous, however i did not run the nitrous last night and the controller is not hooked up right now. What do ya'll think valve adjustment, MAF issue, or something else?

 

[ZS10]

Something with the valve. Bent stem or something making it hang open maybe. For sure pull the valve cover and have a look.

 

[Nate81camaro]

^^What he said.

What were your times?

 

[evilbeef54]

^^What he said.

What were your times?

im about to head out of town for 4 days for work, i'll check it when i get back, what should i be looking for and checking.

I never got my ignition and a/f controller to work last night so i was on motor only and had some traction issues but i ran about 13.8 all night with an avg rt of about .08, not too bad for first time out and traction issues, damn i'm addicted though, i really need all the help i can get fixing this issue before next weekend so i can run again thanks for the quick responses guys, as i said i will be gone for the next few days but i will be on line a few times a day so if you guys have any suggestions on what im looking for or what to check i'd love to hear it, thanks.

Doug

 

[Nate81camaro]

Sure wish I had all the "problems" you had and could still pull off a 13 second run....LOL

Good luck getting 'er fixed.

 

[evilbeef54]

lol thanks, yea i was playing with tire pressure all night, first few runs NO traction for the first 1/2 track, i dropped the pressure and had it in 2nd gear lock out for the launch then shifted to drive after she was moving, that seemed to do a little better, i need some drag tires though, these street tires with the 4:10's dont exactally hook great, i nailed some good hole shots if i could just keep her from spinnin it should be low 13's on motor, now i just need to get the damn controller working so i can be on the bottle. What should i be looking for on the valves when i get home? how hard is it do do a valve adjustment on these cars (the 94 camaro)

also got another thing to check from another forum, someone else said one of my plug wires may have gotten burned up aginst a header, i'll have to check that out too

 

[TooLateVTEC]

Since you just put headers on, I would say look for a burned plug wire,O2 sensor wire,or something like that. Very easy to do (get burned I mean)

The ticking you hear could be an exhaust leak from a blown gasket or a loose header bolt. Check that out as well...with the engine cool lol.

Is the SES light on?

 

[evilbeef54]

no the light is not on, i will check all that out, thanks

 

[Air_Adam]

Check your plug wires. On the LT1 engines, because they are routed between accessories and so close to the pulleys, its very easy for one or more to rub through on a pulley and ground out, and make it act like that. I've had that happen twice on my '97 Z28.

 

[Damon]

Agreed, "ticking" can also be a plug wire arcing to gound somewhere- which can come and go if the problem is marginal/intermittent. It can also be an exhaust leak, but they don't go away when the engine warms up (and they always get louder the more load you put on the engine- a dead give away).