Back in Black

Yeah thats what I was thinking. My LTFT's are at +12.5 above 1/2 throttle or more, so it's a good bit lean. No vacuum leaks that I can find, so I just need to find time to tune soon.

12.5 at heavier throttle and lots of high RPM KR? Check your fuel filter!!!

Thank you for the reminder Derek...It's likely I never would have thought of that myself lol. Luckily the fuel filter doesnt have many miles on it. Perhaps 10,000? Hopefully thats not a real issue. I just figured the high LTFT was from so much air moving through there now and the air being so cold right now.

Z-type wrote:

Finally!



I'm very happy with it, but I need to tune badly. I'm getting consistent knock above 4,000 RPM, but I rarely go there. I'm loving the bottom end torque and the overall power increase and ease of driving. I have a fun time go-fast car (the T-type) so i think besides tuning, this is probably it for mods for the Riv. I'm very VERY happy with it and how it runs and drives now. Drives and handles like the GS it should have been.

EDIT: Holy crap, my engine is filthy. Damn Winter.

I wonder if GM / Buick could have done these mods in production, and called the car a Wildcat? That 4000+ RPM knock should not be that tough to tune out with some mods to the fuel tables. And an alternate fuel mapping essentially for the EPA drive cycle should get it through mileage and emissions. That is, I am thinking you might want to check and remap the coasting/cruising maps to take advantage of the power and improve mileage when you're not whamming the loud pedal. Just saying......

Your thoughts?

Albertj

Z-type wrote:

Thank you for the reminder Derek...It's likely I never would  have thought of that myself lol. Luckily the fuel filter doesnt have many miles on it. Perhaps 10,000? Hopefully thats not a real issue. I just figured the high LTFT was from so much air moving through there now and the air being so cold right now.

Do you have a fuel pressure gauge you can put on the fuel rail? What are your IPWs at full throttle? Are you maxing out the injectors for some reason? (might point to fuel pump issue)

Albert - thats my ultimate plan, after i figure out high RPM fueling issue. I certainly want to try and maintain my good fuel mileage.

I actually did check it a couple weeks ago and it was at 47 PSI. Seemed ok to me at the time. My injectors are cleaned and flow matched, but i doubt theyre getting maxed out, looking at the way the stock MAF table is. I have a few things im going to try with the tuner tomorrow and Ill update in my tune thread.

I cant really check the injrctor pulse at WOT becaue of the knock. I dont want to get to WOT until i have a better MAF adjustment and other related things.

Maybe someone can get you the fuel mappings off a Bonneville SSE of similar vintage, to start?

I have a stock 98 Riv file from Scott, and it is clearly a better tune from the factory than the 97's already. Perhaps that might be as good a place to start? Theres so many things different about the '98 tune it just bring back the normal thought "what was GM thinking?" .

Finally joined the 100,000 mile club. Got the car nearly 3 years ago with 83,000 on it. It's bittersweet...I was getting cozy with just the 5 digits on my odometer.

Nice millstone pics Andrew, congratulations. Calendar viewing for April coming up

wiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii............

Haha thanks guys. I've been planning this roll-over for months JUST to get the pictures.

And yes Jim, I love flipping to the next month in our calendars and seeing who's next!

I was able to do some actual work on the car this past Sunday. Things that it needed.

Ever since I got the car the exhaust seemed a little loud and I knew the mufflers were rusty, no biggie, they sounded good. But there was always a little growl coming from somewhere up front and I recently discovered it was the catalytic converter, apparently with some sort of hole in it. On cold mornings there was always an obvious cloud of vapor coming from that area, so I decided to replace it to get rid of the noise.


I was lucky enough that this new converter slipped over the old exhaust tubing, so I could just bolt the front and clamp the back. Bingo. I COULD NOT get the old O2 sensor out so unfortunately I had to shell out for one of those, but no harm done. I also had to modify the shield for the O2's wiring but that was after this picture.


HOLY CRAP this car is so quiet now. I had no idea how bad the exhaust leak was until it was gone. What a relief.

So since it was warmish I decided it was time to get the Winter crud off the car, so out came the clay bar and wax. Unfortunately, at the time, I had to do it in the house garage which isn't particularly well-lit.


Aaaaand here's the clay bar. After the passenger door. The car was so bad...


It came out good though. It will get a proper full detail when the weather is actually Spring, and when I can put my summer wheels back on.

Thanks

Uh oh, look what time it is!


Time to get rid of the Winter wheels and tires. You did your job valiantly, Blizzaks. See you in December.


Much better. And I'm still loving those exhaust tips.










I also finished waxing the areas i didn't have time to finish last week, and discovered that a bracket for my headlight is broken from the deer I took out a couple months ago. I think I have another headlight assembly from my '95, so I hope that's easy to install. I can't remember how it's bolted in. Anyway, yay summer wheels!

My birthday was the other day and I made sure I took the day off, so I spent most of the day doing whatever I wanted. However, it was raining. I took the time instead to clean out the interior of both hot rods!

Bad picture, I know.


The Riv turned out incredible except for the driver's side floor mat. I had rubber mats all Winter so the rest of the floor is pretty much the same as I left it. Everything else was just dusty. I also cleaned and conditioned the seats again with Lexol. I still have a little more scrubbing left on the driver's seat but it's been kinda bad since I bought the car. It'll come out. Love it.


I did the same thing with the T-type. I realized I have never really shampooed the carpet in the last 8 years of ownership, and MAN was it dirty. The carpet went from gray to black! I also Lexol'd the seats and they're getting a little more supple and squishy. I need a new steering wheel though, the leather is all cracked and flaking off.

Well Happy belated man!  Sucks that it was raining, but I'd rather mess with the Rivi instead if being at work too.

Damn I wish I had that much space....

Happy birthday, dude. Your Lesabre is awesome.

Happy birthday Andrew!

ANDREW Happy Birthday

Thanks for the Birthday wishes! (From last month....)


Got my first real problem with the Riv in a long time. My ABS pump kept kicking on and off while leaving stop lights/stop signs. I got into the parking lot at work and the ABS light and Traction control lights came on. Brakes feel fine. Im taking it to Buick tomorrow to see if they can see what the issue is.

Im REALLY hoping it's just a wheel speed sensor...

Ended up taking the car to my friend down the road, I didn't know he had a $15,000 Snap-on scanner. Came up with one Powertrain code, and 3 Chassis codes.

P1573 - PCM/ECBM Serial Data Problem
C1225 - Left Front Wheel Speed Sensor Open Circuit
C1276 - UART SDL Circuit Signal
C1278 - PCM Detected Communication Problem

Ok, fine. Wheel speed sensor like I thought, but what the heck is up with the other codes? Continuing on, I jacked the car up where it was at my friend's and wiggled the wheel. The ABS kicked on an off like it did before if I wiggled it hard enough. The bearing seemed good, but I was triggering something. I took the car home and got it up on the lift, took the wheel off, and played with the wiring. I didn't see anything obvious even with the wire loom removed, but every time I touched the bearing side of the wiring, the pump activated. Where the wiring enters the back of the hub, it's a little rusty. Probably corroded and breaking. Well there's your problem!

New Timken hub on the way.

I'm thinking since the issue is an open circuit, it was breaking the communication with the PCM/ECBM which caused the other Chassis codes.

Z-type wrote:

Ended up taking the car to my friend down the road, I didn't know he had a $15,000 Snap-on scanner. Came up with one Powertrain code, and 3 Chassis codes.

P1573 - PCM/ECBM Serial Data Problem
C1225 - Left Front Wheel Speed Sensor Open Circuit
C1276 - UART SDL Circuit Signal
C1278 - PCM Detected Communication Problem

Ok, fine. Wheel speed sensor like I thought, but what the heck is up with the other codes? Continuing on, I jacked the car up where it was at my friend's and wiggled the wheel. The ABS kicked on an off like it did before if I wiggled it hard enough. The bearing seemed good, but I was triggering something. I took the car home and got it up on the lift, took the wheel off, and played with the wiring. I didn't see anything obvious even with the wire loom removed, but every time I touched the bearing side of the wiring, the pump activated. Where the wiring enters the back of the hub, it's a little rusty. Probably corroded and breaking. Well there's your problem!

New Timken hub on the way.

I'm thinking since the issue is an open circuit, it was breaking the communication with the PCM/ECBM which caused the other Chassis codes.

You're probably right about the bum sensor in the hub, clear the code history and replace that hub.

Got the new hub in the mail, installing tomorrow!