So I just bought a 1994 Camaro Z28 auto and come to find out it had an exhaust leak. To retrack a little, the main issue was that when sitting at a light after the car reached operating temp the idle would surge up and down almost causing me to slam into the person in front of me. Moving forward now, I unplugged the 2 o2 sensors on the y pipe(because of the exhaust leak) and magically the surging stopped but when I pulled the sensors no lights came on or were on previously(is that normal?). Now my question is: Do you think that the exhaust leak is causing the surging making the o2 sensors get a false reading or Do you think the o2 sensors are bad(I don't think they have ever been replaced)? Thanks

 

so did the exhaust leak quit when u plugged the 02 holes off. seems to me the sensors are bad and could have been the leak. exhaust leak should not make it surge like that. should be something like vacum leak or egr, iac motor, map or,,, 02 sensors. hope its that easy for u.

 

I hope it is too, it's been such a pain in the a**. The exhaust leak is always there regardless, what I was asking is that do you think the exhaust leak is causing the surge because the o2 sensors are affected by it which in turn messes with the idle or do you think the o2 sensors are just bad. They are pretty expensive so I just want to be sure. I hope it's that easy too, it's been keeping me up at night thinking what the hell it could be lol. Thanks

 

try googleing, testing 02 sensors or how to test 02 sensors and see what comes up.

 

So I bought two o2 sensors because I figured they needed to be replaced anyway. I got the driver side off with no problem but the passenger side is another issue lol. Does anybody have any tips? I have the special socket for it but moving a wrench around is almost impossible without the socket slipping off the o2 sensor. By the way I am doing this underneath the car. Anybody done this before and have a secret to share lol?

 

Everything on the passenger side of the car sucks to work on, welcome to the LT1. All you really need to do is get the sensor loose. Since they use a tapered thread once you break it loose initially you should be able to spin it by hand pretty easily. Your best option is probably 12 point wrench and something to give you leverage.

 

with stock exhaust, i took the starter lose and moved it. used a six sided deep socket on a spark plug rachet.

 

So after 3 hours completely gave up on that o2 sensor lol. Took it to my buddies shop and it took them 3.5 hours to take it off because they had to torch it for every turn. BTW I did notice something when I was replacing the tie rod ends. When I try to spin the wheel it doesn't spin very freely. What things could be causing this (rotors, pads bearing) and how do I check them? Thanks.

P.S How much do you think a shorty header(stupid emissions) and y pipe should cost to install? I can't even get the exhaust flange bolt let alone the header bolts(the car was sitting a while before I bought it).

 

there is a small amount of brake drag. if excessive the caliper could be sticking. mine has a pretty good amount to and i am considering changing calipers to see if that will lessen it.

 

Ok cool. I also have a previous thread about my idling issue and yet again it has returned. I have replaced the TPS sensor, IAC, and o2 sensors. I have no vacuum leaks or codes. The car has idle surge at a stoplight almost making slam into cars in front of me, it will do it for about 5 seconds then stop for almost a minute then do it again. The car only does it when it is hot(past the 3/4 mark on the temp gauge). So i'm starting to think it is affected my temperature not closed loop as I previously thought. Any ideas is extremely annoying and makes me not to take me car out. Also I dont think my fans are kicking on should they by then?

Also my car idles at 600 550 rpm when in operating temp and under load. Is this normal?