1996 Camaro Z28 LT1 Project

[BP_Z28]

Wire brush to clean up the corrosion. Once all clean and done, you could put terminal grease on there to help prevent future corrision.

[alone_and_insane]

It's possible it was just the cold. Mine died in my Cobalt in about half a month, though, granted, it was during the really cold periods with ambient lows in the -5 to -10 range...but still, I had started it (started fine) and let it run for about 20 minutes to build up a good charge, before that time period. I'm sure my alarm didn't help matters, but I didn't have it armed...it was odd...

It hasn't been as cold in the last couple of weeks as it was before that, and it started up just fine then. I guess I really don't know anything about batteries, so what do long periods of cold temps do to them? One guy I talked to said that cells in the battery could have frozen, and if I tried starting the car with them frozen, I "killed" it and need a new one. I'm skeptical, though.

[hoogiesngrinderz]

Do a parasitic amp draw test. Shouldn't be over 40 milliamps after everything normalizes.

[Boost Addict]

Baking soda and water to remove the corrosion

[MP81]

It hasn't been as cold in the last couple of weeks as it was before that, and it started up just fine then. I guess I really don't know anything about batteries, so what do long periods of cold temps do to them? One guy I talked to said that cells in the battery could have frozen, and if I tried starting the car with them frozen, I "killed" it and need a new one. I'm skeptical, though.

It'd have to be mostly discharged in order for them to freeze - but if it was the past couple weeks, it wasn't really cold enough to have that happen.

Cold affects batteries by slowing down the chemical reaction and raising the resistance of the electrolyte, meaning your effective voltage is lowered, but that's only if there's a draw on it, causing the reaction to occur.

[alone_and_insane]

I put the car on the charger for a few hours yesterday while installing the trans cooler. Got in to start it up, and it did the same thing--as soon as I put the key on (not even trying to start it), and all power would just cut out. I took the battery to O'Reilly to get it checked, and it was fine. I went back to the shop and before I threw the battery back in, I took a wire brush to the positive battery cable to clear a little bit of rust/corrosion that was there. Got in the car, and it started pretty much immediately. Brake pedal went to the floor, so I still have some air in the system that I gotta work out. But I got the trans cooler in, so that step is complete.

[alone_and_insane]

One thing I forgot to mention: After only running it a couple of seconds, it started throwing a P0302 Cylinder #2 misfire code. Are misfire codes to be expected running it untuned with a new cam and heads, or do I have to do some other troubleshooting?

[Boost Addict]

Misfire codes are common. Usually a p0300 random cylinder misfire. Does it sound like it's firing on all 8?

Sent from my SAMSUNG-SGH-I537 using Tapatalk

[alone_and_insane]

It seemed like it as far as I could tell, but my ears aren't exactly trained to notice misfires haha.

[alone_and_insane]

So I ran it for a bit yesterday, and I have a massive coolant leak--and no idea where it's coming from. I got the car up on stands and poked around underneath for a good 20 minutes and for the life of me couldn't tell where the leak was coming from. The puddle was forming on the passenger side, near the end of the header. My first guess was heater core, but there was no coolant pool on top of the heat shields on that side and there was no evidence of coolant leaking out the heater hoses or down the firewall. Didn't look like it was coming from the sensor, either...


I also have to bleed my master cylinder. Watched a video online showing how to bench-bleed it, and it doesn't actually look as painful as I feared. Gonna do that Saturday.

[birdie2000]

Steam ports/coolant crossover on the back of the heads?

[mcalus]

Steam ports/coolant crossover on the back of the heads?

That was going to be my guess too. You should be able to reach your hand back there from the top and feel if it's wet did you put new gasket/washers on?

[nascarnate326]

Im guessing the gasket got messed up, or missed for the crossover.

When are you getting a tune?

[alone_and_insane]

Steam ports/coolant crossover on the back of the heads?

That was going to be my guess too. You should be able to reach your hand back there from the top and feel if it's wet did you put new gasket/washers on?

I didn't put new gaskets/washers on...I didn't do anything with the crossover tube. I'll have to check that out, but that does seem like a likely culprit.

Im guessing the gasket got messed up, or missed for the crossover.

When are you getting a tune?

I'm getting a tune once I'm done with stuff I need the car running for...i.e. running it to cycle the trans to fill the converter and cooler so I can get the proper fluid level. Once that's done and everything else is kosher, I'll send the PCM to [MENTION=833]BLKHAWK[/MENTION] (I'll have to give him a call, I haven't been able to get a hold of him through this site) for a baseline, then once my exhaust is welded back up, take it to him for a street tune.

[Lucky SOB]

Not sure about LT1s, but coolant temp sensor?

You have new head gaskets, right?