headers = dead SS

[V]

ok, well to get ready for the fbody nationals, i decided to finally install my edelbrock shortie headers, magnaflow catback, and spohn rear suspension.
I worked till 4am last night and finished the catback today, but when i started it, it ran like **** and the SES light came on. im working on borrowing a scanner as of now but anyway. the car is running very very rich, like to the point i honestly believe my entire exhaust system is filled with gas, well i sorta know it is since its dripping out of my intermediate pipe connections and by the clamps for the muffler, yeah not good at all. i have the edelbrock shortie headers, stock cats, and hi-flow y pipe. i did the header install myself and i know i didnt remove anything and forget to reconnect it, everything done in that aspect is fine, o2 sensors and all. I wasnt going to use cats but my Bassani ORY pipe was too twisted to use without fixing it with a torch so i figured id just use the cats i got with the used headers and hi flow y pipe. The only odd thing maybe going on is that i have o2 sims in place for the stock o2 sensors(being i had a ory pipe) and i left them in place even with the cats now. i dont think that should cause that big of an issue. i used a timing light on the 5 wires i could easliy reach(engine was hot) and I only got a signal at 2 of them. cylinders 1,5,7 apparently showed no spark, but 2,3 did. 4,6, and 8 i didnt check. Im stumped/ I put so mcuh time into this POS plus ive been sick all week so it just makes me feel worse. obviously i wont be attending the f body nationals now. and probably monday the SS is going to hawthorne chevrolet to get fixed since i dont want to be bothered with it anymore unless i can get a ghood idea of what the problem is before then. I'm really starting to hate cars.

[V]

ok the more ive been thinking about this and its symptoms, i honestly believe i have diesel in my tank, bad gas, or water.... i dont know how the hell it could have happened though. I drove the car into my garage on friday fine, but only ran like less than a min. however, when I had it out on thursday, I was running low gas, and had to put $20 in at a shell station in hawthorne. perhaps they just had bad gas/diesel mix? it seems the plugs arent firing, and diesel or water would do that and since its not burning the fuel, its dumping into my exhaust. i tried to light the puddle of liquid that was leaking out my exhaust and it didnt really burn like i thought plain gas should. but it had an oily texture(like diesel) i soaked a small piece of cardboard in the fluid and lit it, and it burned much quicker/longer than regular dry cardboard almost like an candle effect, ie diesel may have been doing this as well, and also when that was burning, part of the puddle was "flashing over" slightly with flames. I dunno if someone put something in my tank or what, but something is definately NOT right. any help with this like suggestions or such would be greatly appreciated. the car sat from thursday evening to tonight so i think thatever was in the tank may have settled and now is acting up, maybe it was mixed enough after i got gas thursday that i didnt really notice it much. tomorrow i may try disconnecting the fuel line and pumping some "fuel" in a can and check it out....and if it is a fuel contamination issue, that means pulling the tank, chnaging fuel filter, and changing all the plugs.

[nj85z28]

well that ****ing sucks huh

[j0n]

that ****ing blows...good luck with it

[V]

i pretty much confirmed that i do have some amount of diesel fuel in my tank. this afternoon i went to the gas station and got 2 gallons in a can from the same pump i got gas from on thursday, i checked that as well and sure enough it has the same symptoms as the fuel in my tank. it doesnt burn fully when lit, instead it leaves a dark oily wet residue that doesnt burn. me and a friend tried known good gas and it burned 100% and left no stain or mrak on the ground, only when we mixed in a noticeable amount of diesel, we got the same burning/residue effects. Tonight i am going to the hawthorne PD to file a report since my car is majorly hurting. luckily diesel doesnt have any long term effects/damage on a gas engine, all i gotta do it drain the tank and run a few tanks of good gas through and ill be fine, BUT, the new cats i just put on are soaked in diesel and gas mix, and my new magnaflow muffler was also pouring out the fuel mix so thats going in the trash. Shell will be getting a bill for all the labor and repairs, including, new injectors, fuel pump, new gas tank, fuel filter, headers, cats, and catback exhaust, around $2,500. and the station is not privetly owned, apparently it is directly corporation owned. oh and tomorrow morning im calling the NJ department of weights and measures and they will investigate, and if they find what i did, they will shut them down for a period of time, hehe. oh well what can you do...life goes on...

[j0n]

i liek the way ur handling it...btw id just wash out the headers/ypipe and just use the money for one of your other eleventy billion projects

[JL8Jeff]

Be careful how much you complain about them. If they find out you're modifying a car like that, they could cause you some headaches if they wanted to. Make sure you're running all the emissions stuff and O2's in case you "suddenly" get pulled over. I wouldn't say anything about the headers but mention it ruined your cats and muffler to see if you can get that stuff replaced.

[foff667]

wow that sux

[PDubs87Z28]

try this....go into that station and say you want to see the volume print outs on the tanks in the ground. In the back of pretty much every station there has to be a machine that calculates everything in the tanks: gas volume, water volume/humidity, temp. and other **** of each tank. it always monitors the tanks and shows when delivery is to be made and the condition of the gas. If you ask the management that you want to see that because of what has happened to you then he should let you see it. IF NOT Get a cop, file a police report and follow up on this and sue the station. Because its not just your car it can be happening to but ALOT of other cars too!
I don't think it would show diesel/gas mixtures but if you went bill nye the science guy styles on that, then run with your little experiment.

[V]

i filed a police report last night and this morning i call the nj department of weights and measures, and told them what happeneed, they sent a crew over to test the premium there around 11 am, BUT they said the tanks were almost 100% full, and appeared to have been filled in the last 12 or so hours, so of course the testing came out fine. the nj guy said my situation happens quite a bit and usually the gas companies catch on first and pump the tanks and refill them. so now theres really nothing i can do. the dept of weights and measure guy was very helpful and wanted to help me but without proper evidence he said he couldnt take the issue to court. i understand that, Shell could say i mixed the gas myself and put it in my tank. THe dept. of W&M are keeping their file open though since other people may come forward in a week or 2. the police are also keeping it on record in case anything more comes up. as of now, i'm gonna pull the tank, drain and rinse it, change the fuel filter, and change the plugs, while im there i'll put new plug wires on, after that, hopefully every thing will be fine. i'm also going to put my original cats back on and toss the fuel soaked ones. however, i'm not doing any of this in the near future. the car will sit in my driveway for a undetermined amount of time since im fed up with it. I'm going to finish my G/Fs monte first, then get my bronco on the road, after those 2, ill get my SS back up and running, hell maybe if its winter by then, ill just rip out the LS1 and build my 422. ah i guess only time will tell.

[PDubs87Z28]

best of luck with it

[Slow Z]

Let me get this straight... You got gas, it ran fine on the drive home, you took it apart and installed headers, fired it back up and now it runs like crap? Dont you think theres a VERY good possiblilty you messed something up while installing the headers? Burned a couple plug wires, messed up the firing order, something to that affect? I mean really ...think about it. Go over everything again. If you got a tank full of diesel then that means 20+ other people did too and I'm sure atleast one would have complained as well.

[V]

well it started smoking a little more than usual on the way home, Â*i installed edelbrock shortie headers, nothing extreme, as for the plug wires, none touch the headers at all and its an ls1 so theres no chance the firing order is off, all emissions stuff is still in place. Â*I only unhooked the front o2 sensors but they were reconnected and reading fine when we scanned it with autotap. the rear o2s are sims and were in place for over a year with no problems. Â*plugs 1,5,&7 were fouled bad, 1 was even wet a day after the last time i started it. Â*i did not touch anythingelse on the engine that would cause this, people even say the shorties flow the same as the 01-02 style ls1 manifolds so that was not much change(i found that out after i installed them, they were cheap so whatever) Â*If you have any idea what else it could be other than bad fuel, please let me know. Â*the SES light came on for codes p0200, p0300, and p03001 meaning injector cicuit malfunction, random/multiple cylinder misfire, and cylinder 1 misfire. Â*io had ideas about a bad injector or fuel pump putting out oo much pressure, but i dunno, i have a complete ls1 parts motor to pull parts from so testing things is not hard at all, but takes time i dont have. is there a way the test the ohms of an injector to see if its good, or how do you test one? i checked ohms and cyl. 1 is the same as all others. all in all though, im stumped with trying to figure it out if its anythign other than bad gas, i already tried replacing the coil and wire for cylinder 1, but same thing. Â*Id appreciate some troubleshooting help but the problem i always run into when asking for help on boards liek this is that so many people contridict each other then they argue their point that it becomes a waste of time. Â*thats why, im gonna drain all the fuel, to eliminate that possibility, then change the plugs and wires to rule those out as well. and if it still has issues, i may continue workign on it further or call it quits with the ls1 and yank it a few months earlier than planned. Â*and like i said also i got other projects i gotta work on so the SS will be put a side for a while.

[camaro2you]

damn that sucks, i know a gas station near me was like that they had a lot of water in their tanks and **** they just got bought out a couple months ago and i think some resturant is going up there so i dont have to worrry about their gas anymore. If i was closer to you i would come up and help you out if you needed it as i know its always easier doing gastank work with two people instead of one. best of luck with it.