My "check engine soon" light is on in my 89 iroc z 350 5 speed. I got the car a few weeks ago. When i bought the car from the guy, he had a black piece of tape over the check engine light, so i didn't see it until i had purchased the car, and was cleaning it.

Car runs perfect, the guy i bought the car from seemed real legit and trustworthy. Car runs perfect with no problems what so ever.

My question is, is the check engine light being on, out of the ordinary in these cars? Or should i immediately take it to the shop and get it checked?

Oh, and the car also has 334,000kms, around 200,000miles. Could the light be on because maybe it goes on after a certain amount of time automatically? A routine check-up kind of thing???


-Thanks for reading hope you can help!

-c4maro

 

First problem I see is the 350 5-sp (no stock 350 TPI with a 5-sp) the honest seller sold you. Another Red-Flag the black tape over the SES light. If it was a swap, the prom may not have been chanfged??? My personal opinion is this buy is going to cost you.

 

I love how you jump to conclusions so quickly

I simply asked whether or not the light being on or not, should be a concern to me or not. I did not ask about the t5-350 combo. I know they do not come with 5.7L's and manual transmissions, but this car was originally a 5.0l with a auto. Now it has a t5 and a 350.

And the man was a very successful family man, and certainly trustworthy lol. I would assume the previous owner put the tape over the light.

So back to the point, is the SES light being on, a problem? Or should i just forget about it.

EDIT*: And what were you saying about the "prom"?

-c4maro

 

get a paper clip and do the blink code to find what the code is, or go to an auto store that offers free scanning (i.e. autozone or advanced auto). find out what the code is. then we will be able to tell you what the problem is. if its running fine, its probably something dumb like low evap pressure or egr, if thats even monitored on obd1 (i cant remember if it is or not)

 

[QUOTE=c4maro;385440]I love how you jump to conclusions so quickly

I simply asked whether or not the light being on or not, should be a concern to me or not. I did not ask about the t5-350 combo. I know they do not come with 5.7L's and manual transmissions, but this car was originally a 5.0l with a auto. Now it has a t5 and a 350.

And the man was a very successful family man, and certainly trustworthy lol. I would assume the previous owner put the tape over the light.

So back to the point, is the SES light being on, a problem? Or should i just forget about it.

EDIT*: And what were you saying about the "prom"?

Well to jump to conclusions, just ask your honest seller what Prom (chip) he used in the ECM
(computer)??? Or did he just cut the wires and went from there with the SES light taped over. I love these halfa-- swaps. What induction is on the engine?? I bet it is a carb and if it is, just put the tape back on the SES light.

 

Naw its TPI. Thanks for the advice Casey!


Im going to get pictures of it soon, but to get the gist, it looks IDENTICAL, to this. When i take a picture of the car, you wont be able to pick out a difference from this car or mine lol.

 

i agree with micro. Mine would come on and off sometimes. but only under load. so i gave up since it didnt change anything.

Scan it and tell us what they say. Probably nothing to worry about.

 

It sounds like the swap has everything to do with an SES light. No SES is programmed to come on after a certain time or mileage. My bet is something somewhere wasn't done correctly during the swap and the previous owner was tired of seeing a bright orange light.

Check to see what the code is, then you'll figure out if doing anything is necessary or if putting more black tape on it is the fix you need.

Like black eluded to, there are just SO many 3rd gens that are hacked up and basically white trashed out to the point of being the butt of jokes. I hope yours is not one of them.

 

Since you said it was TPI from the stock 305 TPI. just a little info. Since there is No Stock Prom (chip) for a 5-sp 350 and again just a guess. The stock 305 Auto Prom will NOT play well with what was installed. A lot of unknown varibles with the swap, hence the SES light.
Your best solution, with what little you know about your honest sellers swap is the black tape over the SES light. Good luck.......

Picture of my engine swap with no problems using the correct parts that were needed.

 

Hmmm.....I thought all sellers were honest and up front about their car...yeah right!!
If it's nothing serious, it could be that he came to the same conclusion about the SES light that you might come up with...out of sight out of mind.