that's good ,I only had a few cars that had gas guage off a bit ,an so far none that did not work ,my 95 z runs out at 1/8th of a tank ,so when I get anywhere near 1/4th I need to gas it up ,the other works find the 99 3800,yes with my 95 I had to put a new stereo in it to ,yes all the new ones have the aux for mp3 player

 

have a look at your 02 sensors. they get old and as they do performance lowers. can also get fouled like a spark plug and show false readings. my first lt1 93 got 27-28 hyway and 24 or so stop and go. this one got 25 untill i built it and installed 370 gears. now its 18 or so.

 

Did a little under the hood cleaning yesterday and saw that there was oil and dust on the rocker covers. I'm guessing that that is pretty normal, so at this point not much of an issue.


Took a look at the coolant dipstick and saw some grock so I pulled the radiator cap and saw the top of the coolant fins, also with some grock on them. Plans are to clean and flush the radiator with either the Prestone cleaner or Barr's, and refill with 50/50 Prestone. Any thoughts on which will do a better job? The last radiator flush I did was on my '55 Sedan (wish I had that back!) many years ago so I have virtually no experience with newer cleaners.


I've been thinking of pulling the radio again and installing a new fuse holder in the proper place. The previous owner apparently tapped into the accessory wire which is causing the radio to lose it's memory every time the ignition switch is turned off. I haven't totally figured out the wires coming out of the radio, but it seems to me that the memory function should be tied to a constant hot wire and the power lead connected to the accessory wire. Cheaper than a new radio. If I recall, there is an orange wire and a brown wire. Not sure which is which and I don't remember or which the fuse holder is attached. Haven't been able to find my volt meter so I'm flying blind here. PITA to find a station every time I take the car out. Oh, BTW do both power leads require a fuse?


Thanks for your help.

 

shbox is good 4th Gen LT1 F-Body Tech Aids look under electrical this is bose diagram http://shbox.com/1/bose_wiring.jpg

 

be careful with that kinda flush I had that going on with my 95 I did a flush ,an man it got worse ,make sure its done right ,you may want to concider a new radiator ,with mine about 1000 miles later I developed a head gasket leak ,though iwas doing a burn out so that could have not helped ,my water light came on I kept wondering ,an that's how I got to my engine swap ,just my experience an was told if I changed the radiator,an cleaned everythin elce real good I had better chance ,sometimes a flush can be like opening up a can of worms ,an some work fine ,couse you never get all the gunk out ,even with the old hose trick with mine it may have been a hose that did not get cleared enough that was clogged ,you may concider having someone do it ,they will flush the whole system

 

New question: How come my ABS INOP light came on, and then went away? It was chilly this morning, mid 30's, and when I fired Kate up to head to the golf course, it took a couple of tries to get her started. Ignition to start; nothing, no dash lights, nothing. Ignition off and back on; nothing. Repeat, this time it started but the ABS INOP light didn't go off. Drove to the GC, played, got back in Kate, fired her up and the ABS light went out. WTF!.


Maybe new tunes tomorrow, we'll see what the ABS does then.


Cold weather related? Strange.

 

check and clean battery terminals and cable ends. wire brush the heck outa them. also power junction box (small plastic box by battery) wire ends, take the wires off and clean em.

 

these older cars sometimes things happen that cant be explained ,I had my check qauges light come on 2 times in 4000 miles then go right off ,did the same cleaned all the terminals,seems fine

 

if it happens again check your third brake light. if it goes out the abs will fail and cause a abs light.

 

Kate has a new battery so those terminals should be o.k., but I'll check and clean the power junction box. Third light works fine. No issues yesterday.


Got new tunes yesterday. I decided not to fiddle around and try to correct the PO's prior mess. Interesting in that the installer was "fuddled" because when he hooked up the front speakers, the rear speaker started to work. Huh. Anyway, got to mess with the equalizer a bit so I can get a bit more bass from the back. Sounded pretty good while he was installing it.


Haven't decided on the coolant thing yet. Temp has been running around 180, but previous experience has shown that when you are out or almost out of coolant, the temp gauge won't show hot. Probably because there isn't any hot coolant reaching the sensor. I'll drop some plain water in it today and see how much it takes. Then I'll decide. Is there a drain for the cooling system on the radiator? If so, will it drain the entire system? Been saving up gallon jugs to put all the juice in when I do get around to doing it.


I put about 50 miles of local in-town driving on her yesterday and noticed the small vibrations were still there. Hate to say it, but I think I need new tires to get rid of them.


Also have an annoying mysterious clunk coming from the back of the car. Seems to be suspension related. Last time it was in the air, I shook shocks, tugged on just about everything else and didn't sense any movement. Also checked the spare tire and jack, both tight in their holders.


Small annoying problem with the new hatch strut I put in. The hatch end of the strut doesn't seem to want to hang on to the ball end of the hatch. Every so often it falls off, whacks the plastic spare tire cover and scares the crap out of me. Unfortunately I threw the old strut away so I don't have a back-up clip to try. Not a big issue because if it falls off, I can still reattach and hold the hatch up.


Kate is becoming more dependable, I'm working on the second full tank of gas, so about 350 miles on it since I got her.


Just though I'd mention, there's a '94 Z-28 on Craigslist here for $600. Need head gaskets and a fuel pump. Has been sitting for a year. Been thinking about it. On the down side, I'm running out of room for projects. Also been down the fuel pump road before.